Ordering Information
iChip Plus CO561AD-D Datasheet
1
1 Introduction
Description
The iChip Plus Internet Controller is a
low-cost intelligent peripheral device that
provides Internet connectivity solutions to a
myriad of embedded devices. iChip Plus
supports dial-up, wireless and 10BaseT
Ethernet LAN Internet connectivity.
As an embedded, self-contained Internet
engine, iChip Plus acts as mediator device
between a host processor and an Internet
communications platform. By completely
offloading Internet connectivity and
standard protocols, it relieves the host from
the burden of handling Internet
communications. From the perspective of a
host device, the complexity of establishing
and maintaining Internet-related sessions is
reduced to simple, straightforward
commands that are entirely dealt with within
iChip Plus’s domain.
A serial bus interfaces iChip Plus to a
device’s host processor via an on-chip
UART. iChip Plus also directly interfaces a
serial data modem, through which it
supports independent communications on
the
Internet via a dial-up ISP connection. In
addition to supporting dial-up modems,
iChip Plus also supports GSM and CDMA
modems. Furthermore, the iChip Plus
directly interfaces an Ethernet controller to
gain access to the internet through a standard
LAN.
Through its host Application Programming
Interface (API), iChip Plus accepts commands
formatted in Connect One's AT+i extension to
the renowned Hayes AT command set.
Commands are available to store and manipulate
functional and Internet-related non-volatile
parameter data; transmit and receive textual
Email messages; transmit and receive binary
(MIME encoded) Email messages; serve and
fetch HTML web pages; manipulate TCP and
UDP sockets; and download parameter and
firmware updates for the host device or iChip
Plus itself. iChip Plus supports several levels of
status reporting to the host. When the host CPU
issues standard AT commands, iChip Plus gains
direct access to the modem and automatically
operates in transparent mode, emulating a direct
host-to-modem environment.
iChip Plus supports 10BaseT Ethernet LANs and
all serial data modems that support the AT
command set. A dedicated AT+i command
enables switching iChip Plus between LAN or
modem mode.
Upon receiving an AT+i command, iChip Plus
operates in Internet mode, controls the modem or
Ethernet controller, and independently manages
standard Internet protocols to transmit and receive
messages. iChip Plus provides all the necessary
procedures to log onto an ISP, authenticate the
user and establish an Internet session.