Imagine the convenience of being able to connect wirelessly to all the USB peripherals of your choice using your mobile device. That would open up a lot of possibilities. With devices powered by next generation Snapdragon processors next year, you will be able to do just that with what we call Snapdragon USB Over Wi-Fi.
Snapdragon USB Over Wi-Fi is designed to facilitate robust Wi-Fi connections to legacy USB peripherals virtually everywhere you go, from your office, to your car, to your home entertainment system. It is doing this initially by wirelessly connecting a USB host in the mobile device to a Wi-Fi serial bus (WSB) hub that has a wired (legacy) connection to USB peripherals. (See “1. Centralized” below.)
As the wireless USB ecosystem evolves and as more peripheral vendors opt to include Wi-Fi Serial Bus components in their peripherals, direct wireless connection from your mobile device will be possible; there will be no need to go through a WSB hub. (See “2. Mobile Centric” above.)
Snapdragon USB Over Wi-Fi is designed to eliminate the need for USB connectors on mobile devices themselves, which is of great benefit to consumers and manufacturers, given the limited real estate for mini USB connectors on smartphone form factors in particular.
Another advantage of Snapdragon USB Over Wi-Fi is that it is designed to enable the reuse of existing USB class drivers typically provided by operating system vendors. This minimizes interoperability testing for various classes of devices; e.g., Audio, Video, HID, Mass Storage, Media Transfer Control, etc. And this enhances the likelihood of adoption of WSB by vendors of USB peripherals.
As part of the Wi-Fi Alliance, Qualcomm Technologies has not only contributed to the Wi-Fi Serial Bus standard, but is driving the WSB standard and technology into the mobile space.
For the latest information on commercially available Snapdragon processors and all the features they support, please visit Snapdragon.com.
