USB CDC/ACM Class Driver for Windows CE and Mobile
Features
Supported PlatformsDemoDocumentationPrices
Thesycon’s USB CDC/ACM device driver provides a serial port emulation on Windows CE by implementing a serial link emulation protocol on USB.
The driver exposes a Win32-compatible COM port. The driver works with devices that are compliant to the Communication Device Class (CDC) specification, subclass Abstract Control Model (ACM). However, the driver supports three different USB protocol flavors which are described in more detail below.
Supported USB Protocols
CDC/ACM Compliant Protocol
The device needs to implement the Abstract Control Model (ACM) subclass defined in the USB Communication Device Class (CDC) specification. This protocol requires two USB interfaces, a data interface which consists of two endpoints (bulk in + bulk out) and a control interface which consists of one interrupt in endpoint. Furthermore, on EP0 the device needs to implement the class-specific requests defined by the CDC specification. Because this USB protocol is compliant to the CDC/ACM standard on some operating systems (e.g. Linux, MacOS) the device can work with in-box drivers.
Reduced CDC/ACM Protocol
This mode uses the CDC data interface (bulk in + bulk out endpoint) only. No control interface (interrupt in endpoint) is required. The device needs to implement the CDC class-specific requests. So it is still possible to support baud rate settings and serial control/status lines. This mode is useful if the number of available endpoints is limited by hardware restrictions. However, as the protocol is proprietary a specific device driver is required for every operating system platform to be supported by the device. In the future, Thesycon will provide further device classes such as Mass Storage device class.
Bulk-only Protocol
The device implements the data interface (bulk in + bulk out endpoint) only. The device does not provide an additional control interface and does not need to implement any class-specific requests on EP0. Because bulk transfer mode provides flow control there is no need to support serial control/status lines. The advantage of the bulk-only protocol is that the implementation efforts on the device side are reduced to a minimum. However, because the protocol is proprietary a specific device driver is required for every operating system platform to be supported by the device.
USB CDC/ACM Class Driver Features
- Exposes a virtual COM port that is compatible with the Win32 serial port API
- COM port can be used by standard Windows programs such as terminal programs
- Can be used either as a serial port or a modem device (using unimodem driver)
- Hot plugging of devices is fully supported
- Provided as source code
A similar driver is also available for Windows 2000 to Windows 7.
Free Downloads
Demo Version
The demo version of the driver stops working after 30 minutes. To reset the demo timer the driver needs to be uploaded and loaded again. This can be done by rebooting the platform or disconnect and reconnect all USB devices were loaded for.
Documentation
Product Sheet - USB CDC/ACM Windows CE and Mobile 
Licensing conditions & Prices
USB Vendor and Product ID
When designing a USB device you need an official USB vendor ID (VID) which is unique world-wide. Vendor ID's will be assigned by the USB Implementers Forum (www.usb.org). There is a fee of $1500 US.
Thesycon owns a USB vendor ID and provides a subset of product ID's (PID) to customers who licensed our USB software.
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