USB 3380, PCI Express to USB 3.0 Peripheral Controller

© PLX Technology, www.plxtech.com

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6/22/2012, Version 1.4

Standard PCI Express registers allow the existing Root

Complex to configure and send data to and from the USB

3380.

Figure 2: Adding a USB 3.0 client port to a PCI

Express-based Printer with USB 3380

Migrate a PCI Express Endpoint to a USB 3.0

Product

The USB 3380 is designed to easily convert an existing

PCI Express endpoint/adapter card to a standalone USB

3.0 product.

Instead of a CPU configuring the PCI Express endpoint,

the USB 3380 can itself act as the PCI Express Root

Complex, with configuration information coming from its

internal 8051 CPU or from the USB host. Auto-

Enumeration Technology allows a standard USB host to

detect this new USB device even if no firmware has been

run. This means that firmware can actually be downloaded

to the USB device after initial boot-up.

Figure 3: Creating a USB 3.0 WiFi dongle with a PCI

Express based Wireless LAN adapter and the USB

3380

The USB 3380 includes PCI Express clock and other

standard signals to compensate for those usually found in a

typical PCI Express Root Complex environment.

The

USB 3380 supports one pair of buffered, 100 MHz HCSL

output clocks, for its downstream port when configured in

Root Complex mode.

The clock output pair can be

disabled by software or serial EEPROM when not in use,

for additional power savings. This feature greatly reduces

system BOM cost by eliminating the need for an extra

clock buffer on the PCB.

Shared memory in the USB 3380 functions as main

memory for holding descriptors or other control data. The

integrated 8051 CPU can also be used to configure the

device to resemble a standard USB class device (like a

communications or video device) even if there is no local

intelligence on the peripheral.

Development Tools

PLX offers hardware and software tools to enable rapid

customer design activity. These tools consist of a hardware

module (USB3380EVK), hardware documentation

(available at www.plxtech.com), and a Software

Development Kit.

The USB3380EVK is a x1 PCI Express adapter board that

easily plugs into any standard PCI Express slot. The

USB3380EVK-RC includes an optional PCI Express slot

for plugging in another PCI Express endpoint.

Both USB host and peripheral-side software is included

with the USB3380EVK. The host-side software consists

of USB drivers and test applications. The peripheral-side

firmware is used to configure the USB 3380 to resemble a

standard USB class device (like a printer or mass storage

device) for which no USB host drivers will need to be

written. For custom applications, firmware APIs are

provided to abstract the USB transactions to reads and

writes. While this software is available for various

operating systems, it is written in standard C with

portability in mind.

Product Ordering Information

Part Number

Description

USB3380-AB50NI G

One x1-port PCI Express Gen 2.0 to

USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Peripheral

Controller (10x10mm

Visit www.plxtech.com for more information.