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UniPro (or Unified Protocol) is a high-speed interface technology for interconnecting integrated circuits in mobile and mobile-influenced electronics. The various versions of the UniPro protocol are created within the MIPI Alliance (Mobile Industry Processor Interface Alliance), an organization that defines specifications targeting mobile and mobile-influenced applications. The UniPro technology and associated physical layers aim to provide high-speed data communication (gigabits/second), low-power operation (low swing signaling, standby modes), low pin count (serial signaling, multiplexing), small silicon area (small packet sizes), data reliability (differential signaling, error recovery) and robustness (proven networking concepts, including congestion management). UniPro version 1.6 concentrates on enabling high-speed point to point communication between chips in mobile electronics. UniPro has provisions for supporting networks consisting of up to 128 UniPro devices (integrated circuit, modules, etc.). Network features are planned in future UniPro releases. In such a networked environment, pairs of UniPro devices are interconnected via so-called links while data packets are routed toward their destination by UniPro switches. These switches are analogous to the routers used in wired LAN based on gigabit Ethernet. But unlike a LAN, the UniPro technology was designed to connect chips within a mobile terminal, rather than to connect computers within a building. ==History and aims== The initiative to develop the UniPro protocol came forth out of a pair of research projects at respectively Nokia Research Center〔(Nokia's Discobus research project ), led by Michel Gillet〕 and Philips Research.〔The MICA (Mobile Interconnect-Centric Architectures) project, led by Peter van den Hamer, started within Philips but later became, via NXP, part of ST-Ericsson.〕 Both teams independently arrived at the conclusion that the complexity of mobile systems could be reduced by splitting the system design into well-defined functional modules interconnected by a network. The key assumptions were thus that the networking paradigm gave modules well-structured, layered interfaces and that it was time to improve the system architecture of mobile systems to make their hardware- and software design more modular. In other words, the goals were to counteract the rising development costs, development risks and time-to-market impact of increasingly complex system integration. In 2004, both companies jointly founded what is now MIPI's UniPro Working Group. Such multi-company collaboration was considered essential to achieve interoperability between components from different component vendors and to achieve the necessary scale to drive the new technology. The name of both the working group and the standard, UniPro, reflects the need to support a wide range of modules and wide range of data traffic using a single protocol stack. Although other connectivity technologies (SPI, PCIe, USB) exist which also support a wide range of applications, it should be noted that the inter-chip interfaces used in mobile electronics are still diverse which differs significantly from the (in this respect more mature) computer industry. In January 2011, UniPro Version 1.40〔(UniPro 1.40.00 Specification ), requires an account at the MIPI website〕 was completed. Its main purpose is full support for a new Physical Layer: M-PHY® including support for power modes change and peer device configuration. In July 2012 UniPro v1.40 has been upgraded to UniPro v1.41〔(UniPro 1.41.00 Specification ), requires an account at the MIPI website〕 to support the newer higher speed M-PHY v2.0.〔(M-PHY v2.0 Specification ), requires an account at the MIPI website〕 The UniPro v1.4x specifications have been released together with a formal specification model (SDL). The final draft of Version 1.6〔(UniPro 1.60.00 Specification ), requires an account at the MIPI website〕 of the UniPro specification was completed in August 2013. Its acknowledgements list 19 engineers from 12 companies and organizations: Agilent, Cadence, IEEE-ISTO,Intel, nVidia, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Synopsys, Texas Instruments and Toshiba. The UniPro v1.6 Specification is an update to the UniPro v1.41.00 Specification, and consists solely of the UniPro specification document, SDL is no longer supported. The UniPro v1.6 Specification references the following documents: * Specification for M-PHY®, Version 3.0〔(M-PHY v3.0 Specification ), requires an account at the MIPI website〕 * Specification for Device Descriptor Block (DDB), Version 1.0 To date, several vendors have announced the availability of UniPro IP blocks and various chip suppliers have created implementations that are at various phases of development. In the meantime, the MIPI UniPro Working Group is setting up a conformance test suite〔(MIPI Alliance Specification for UniPro v1.4 Testing ), requires an account at the MIPI website〕 and is preparing future extensions of the technology (see UniPro Versions and Roadmap). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「UniPro」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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