The Qseven Consortium has released version 1.0 of the Qseven specification, which unlike previous computer-on-module (COM) standards, focuses primarily on mobile and ultra-mobile applications. The specification defines fast serial differential interfaces such as PCI Express and Serial ATA, but omits support for legacy interfaces like EIDE and PCI in order to provide ideal support for today as well as future CPU’s and chipsets.
Qseven is also the first COM standard that defines an integrative software interface. This application programming interface (API) covers several important embedded features such as Watchdog Timer, I²C Bus, LCD brightness control, BIOS user memory, and system temperature. As a result, Qseven modules from different manufacturers can be easily interchanged without modifications to hardware or software. The standard defines battery-management functions and a maximum consumption of 12 W.
The Secure Digital SDIO interface is also a new COM feature. Rugged and inexpensive SD-Cards can be used as bulk memory. Qseven defines an 8-bit SDIO interface that can support MMC 4.0 cards, thus providing a maximum data transition rate of 52 Mbytes/s. The Secure Digital Standard also enables other applications such as WLAN, Bluetooth, RFID, etc., while using the same card format.
The Qseven specification is available for free and may be used without license fees.