USB-IF Compliance Updates

Number of Updates: 9

Table of Contents
ID Updated Subject Reason Mandate Effective Date
112 April, 2017 Loopback Tests Required for USB 3.1 Host and Hub Silicon Certification All hosts and hub silicon certifications require loopback test results Required January, 2016
101 May, 2015 USB Certification of crystal-less SuperSpeed products Crystal-less products are not eligible for USB certification Informational May, 2015
95 October, 2014 Engineering Change Notices to the USB 3.1 Specification Publication of USB 3.1 errata Informational August, 2014
97 July, 2014 USB 3.0 Hub Vendors to Implement USB 3.1 DSPORT State Machine Clarification of the DSPORT implementation of SuperSpeed hubs. Required January, 2015
96 July, 2014 End of Life for USB 3.0 Hubs The USB 3.1 Specification mandates hubs support Enhanced SuperSpeed Required January, 2017
90 February, 2014 USB 3.0 Certification Platform Update to the hardware used to perform USB interoperability testing Required March, 2014
85 June, 2012 Support of SSC in USB 3.0 Products Clarification of certification requirements regarding SSC Required July, 2012
78 June, 2011 Blue Pantone (color) in USB 3.0 Connectors Clarify the requirement to use the blue pantone defined in the USB 3.0 Specification Informational June, 2011
66 October, 2009 Questions Regarding Intel PIPE Specification USB-IF unable to respond to questions involving the Intel PIPE Specification Informational October, 2009

USB Certification of crystal-less SuperSpeed products
Mandate: Informational
Effective Date: May, 2015
Crystal-less SuperSpeed products require specific testing which are outside the scope of the already existing compliance plans. Until such a time a compliance plan specifically targeting Crystal-less SuperSpeed products is released, crystal-less SuperSpeed products cannot be certified.
Top
Loopback Tests Required for USB 3.1 Host and Hub Silicon Certification
Mandate: Required
Effective Date: January, 2016
USB 3.1 Host and Hub silicon certifications require loopback testing to be performed. Loopback testing is done through an honor system. Vendors are required to perform loopback testing prior to attending an authorized test lab or workshop. Loopback testing must be performed on the final configuration of the HW/FW of the device under test.
Top
Questions Regarding Intel PIPE Specification
Mandate: Informational
Effective Date: October, 2009
The "PHY Interface for the PCI Express Architecture" (also known as the Intel PIPE Specification), is intellectual property of the Intel Corporation. It is strictly an Intel Corporation specification and the USB-IF does not distribute or provide support for it. Please contact admin@pciexpressdevnet.org for any PIPE related questions.
Top
Blue Pantone (color) in USB 3.0 Connectors
Mandate: Informational
Effective Date: June, 2011
Section 5.3.1.3 of the USB 3.0 Specification defines Blue (Pantone 300C) as a recommended color for USB 3.0 A-connectors.

The use of blue pantone thermoplastics in USB 3.0 connectors is recommended on systems with a mix of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports. For certification, the USB-IF does require that the user be able to clearly and easily distinguish between a USB 3.0 and a USB 2.0 port on a system; however, it is left to the system implementer on how to accomplish this.
Top
Support of SSC in USB 3.0 Products
Mandate: Required
Effective Date: July, 2012

All SuperSpeed USB products are required to properly support SSC.  Satisfactorily passing all required SSC compliance tests is necessary in order to obtain SuperSpeed USB certification. All testing of the product must be performed with SSC enabled.

Peripheral vendors MAY provide a utility to consumers that enables and disables SSC on the product.  Whether to enable or disable SSC is to be the consumer's choice.
Top
USB 3.0 Certification Platform
Mandate: Required
Effective Date: March, 2014

Hosts, hubs and peripherals must be certified using Windows 8.1 (64-bit OS).  USB-IF uses DELL XPS8700 ( 4th Generation Intel® Core? i7 Processor, 8 GB Memory ) and testing is performed using the on-board Intel host controller (Z87 Chipset).  The latest Microsoft USB driver stack is used, and is updated by running Windows Update.  The BIOS should be updated to the latest version, and can be downloaded from the Dell website ( Link for DELL XPS8700:  http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-8700/pd?oc=fdcwgp1312&model_id=xps-8700) .  Please follow the PDK TechGuide document (TechGuide_xHCI_SSUSB_PDK_Ver1.9) for modifications to the DELL XPS8700 system.  If you have further questions about the system configuration, email ssusbcompliance@usb.org.

Please note the following testing requirements:

  • Peripherals and hubs must verify LPM L1 Interoperability using the Fresco Logic PDK (Windows 7).
  • If a peripheral supports UASP, it must also have interoperability tested on Windows 7 using the Fresco host controller.  This will validate BOT functionality.
Top
Engineering Change Notices to the USB 3.1 Specification
Mandate: Informational
Effective Date: August, 2014

The USB-IF has published Engineering Change Notifications to the USB 3.1 Specification. The ECNs are included with the download of the USB 3.1 Specification.  A brief summary of the ECNs include:

  1. Change to the SuperSpeedPlus Header Sequence Number
  2. Clarify SSP behavior switching from SCD1 to Polling.LFPS
  3. Relax transition conditions from Polling.LFPS to Polling.RxEQ for a SuperSpeedPlus port
  4. Definition of the Precision Time Measurement (PTM) LMP value
  5. Typographical corrections in Table 6-12, which defines the SKP ordered set for SuperSpeed Gen 2
  6. Change to the SKP OS definition
  7. Change to the Start Link Command (SLC) value
  8. Clarification to the SuperspeedPlus Ping.LFPS tRepeat requirement
  9. Change to the 10Gbps system jitter budget
  10. Clarification of the TSEQ rules for Gen 2 operation
  11. Redefine wHubDelay
  12. Change to Latency Tolerance Messaging (LTM)
  13. Change to the reference CTLE transfer function
  14. Define a single, normative transmitter equalization requirement for Gen 2 operation
  15. Definition of the LFSR15 polynomial for CP12
  16. New parameter tHubDriveResume for initiating U3 exit
  17. Increase in the VBus maximum voltage limit (applies to both USB 3.1 and USB 2.0)

A definition of USB Retimers and Re-drivers (referred to as Repeaters) has been added to Appendix E of the USB 3.1 Specification.
Top
End of Life for USB 3.0 Hubs
Mandate: Required
Effective Date: January, 2017
Vendors that develop USB 3.0 Hubs will be able to certify these hubs until Jan 1, 2017. These hubs shall be clearly marked as USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Hubs.
Top
USB 3.0 Hub Vendors to Implement USB 3.1 DSPORT State Machine
Mandate: Required
Effective Date: January, 2015
Note that starting Jan 1, 2015, USB 3.0 hubs will be required to implement the DSPORT state machine as defined in Section 10.3 of the USB 3.1 Specification.
Top

Site sponsored by USB Implementers Forum, Inc., creators of USB technology.
VTM Engineering and Technical Services Group
About Us | Privacy Statement