Comm Bridge Chip Gives MP3 Players FireWire Speed

Targeted at FireWire-ready MP3 players, the OXFW900 employs an embedded ARM7 processor and firmware to form a FireWire-to-IDE bridge chip. The chip has been combined with a 1394 PHY, flash, MP3 decoder, DAC, CPLD and LCD to form a ready-to-prototype MP3 player. This reference design supports data transfer speeds of up to 14 MBps and any 2.5'' hard diskÑa 5-GB disk has sufficient capacity, for example, to store a whopping 70 albums of music. Integrating a serial bus protocol (SBP-2) target controller, the OXFW900 is said to be simple to design in, being supported by all common OSs. Requested blocks defined by the protocol are translated by an on-chip ORB coprocessor into IDE commands, with return messages automatically stored at a host address. OXFORD SEMICONDUCTOR INC., Mission Viejo, CA. (949) 348-1235.