Universal Serial Bus (USB) and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), the two interface standards that have grown with the home audio-visual (AV) equipment industry, are in direct competition with each other. The battlefield is the mobile equipment market.
USB is already used in a wide range of products including peripheral equipment like personal computers (PC) and monitors, camcorders, digital cameras, portable media players (PMP) and mobile phones. It continues to survive in the wildly fluctuating PC and mobile industries, and has become firmly established.
HDMI, on the other hand, has spread primarily in televisions, optical disc drives and other home-use AV equipment. It grew abruptly with new concepts like High-Vision TV and full-high definition (full-HD) imagery, taking the throne in the AV equipment industry. In the first half of 2009 the next-generation specification will be solidified, targeting new fields like mobile and automotive equipment, and marking its full-fledged entry into the mobile sector.
USB is not taking this lying down, however: USB 3.0, the next-gen specification delivering a data transfer rate at least ten times faster, has been completed. Fueled by the higher performance, USB is aimed at achieving even wider usage in PCs, PC peripherals and mobile gear.
And as the two industry heavyweights make the transition to next-gen specs at about the same time, other interface technologies are perking up, including new radio interface technologies designed for mobile equipment, and unexpected entries in the PC and AC equipment sectors.
The battle for interface domination will be fought out in 2009 and 2010 in a diverse market.
by Tadashi Nezu
The new specification for the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, one of the most important interfaces for peripheral equipment, is the first in eight years. The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), the leader in audio-visual (AV) equipment, will reveal its own next-generation specification shortly. Until now USB has been the interface of choice in PCs and mobile equipment, and HDMI in home-use AV systems, but things are changing. The next-gen specifications make it clear that there is a battle looming in the mobile equipment market, and the winner is as yet uncertain.
For an interface, fighting about standards is almost everything. New standards appear and eventually fade away, replaced by newer and better ones. It's survival of the fittest.
In the battle for
survival, USB has an exceptional record. Since it first appeared in
1996 it has defeated a long succession of interface standards, steadily
expanding its area of application (Fig 1).
The first USB 1.0 and 1.1 versions achieved growth in mice, keyboards and similar applications, stealing the roles formerly held by the PS/2* or parallel ports, for example. In April 2000 the high-speed version, USB 2.0, directly competed with the IEEE1394* standard so strongly supported by the AV equipment industry, and pushed it back to a tiny corner of the market.
* PS/2: An interface standard for connecting keyboards, mice, etc. Name derives from the name of IBM's PC.
* IEEE1394:A serial interface used to interconnect AV equipment, PCs, PC peripherals, etc. It offers an isochronous transfer mode, making it possible to ensure constant transfer of high-efficiency coded video streams.
USB leveraged its power supply functions to penetrate the mobile equipment market as well. New miniature connectors like the Mini and Micro were developed for mobile gear, supporting growth into products like digital cameras, media players and mobile phones. Today, USB has become an indispensable interface in a number of fields, including PCs and mobile equipment.
There is another standard with a long history of successful evolution, though: HDMI. Launched in December 2002, HDMI is today the standard interface for AV equipment, especially TVs, thanks to surging demand for high-definition (HD) video content. It is capable of handling 1080p HD imagery without high-efficiency coding, making it the perfect choice as the transfer medium for home-use AV equipment. The adoption of high-bandwidth digital content protection* (HDCP) technology has provided an extra impetus.
*HDCP (high bandwidth digital content protection): A copyright protection technology used in HDMI, DVI, etc, originally developed by Intel.
Until now, USB and
HDMI have coexisted, each to its own domain. It was understood in the
electronics industry that USB was used in PCs and mobile equipment, and
HDMI in home-use AV equipment. This balance is on the verge of braking
down, however, and it is more likely than ever that the two leaders in
the interface world are headed for a direct collision. The battlefield
will be mobile equipment, as the next-gen standards from both sides,
slated to appear in 2009 and 2010, are strongly oriented toward such
applications (Fig 2).
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