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Device Working Group Committee

The USB Device Working Group ("DWG") enables and promotes increased interoperability and reliability between USB products through documents that augment, enhance and extend USB specifications.

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Device Working Group

USB-IF Board of Directors

The USB-IF board has responsibility for all aspects of USB promotion, compliance and specification development in support of the core specification. It sets policy and procedures for all DWG activity and has final approval prior to release of all DWG specifications.

DWG

The Device Working Group is an oversight group for monitoring processes and specification development for committee activity under its scope. This scope generally includes specification development activities that support the Primary USB specifications and define the way that specific devices are used in USB.

Membership is open to all USB-IF members in good standing and is required for membership in any of the working groups within DWG. Membership in subcommittees that create specifications will require that an IP agreement specific to that specification be signed by an officer of the participant’s member company.

DRB

The Document Review Board (DRB) is chaired by the DWG chair and is made up of working group chairs and USB-IF board members. The DRB has responsibility for administering the DWG and ensuring that proper processes are followed by the working groups. They also support the USB-IF board by offering recommendations on approval of specifications, new work items and other board decisions.

Audio

The Audio Device Class Working Group is chartered to develop specifications that define how digital audio devices, including MIDI devices, will operate over the Universal Serial Bus. This working group is not currently active, having released the 2.0 version of their specification in August 2006. DWG members may still join this group to monitor any future spec activity.

CabCon

The CabCon Working Group (CCWG) is open to any DWG members, and has responsibility for USB connector standard activity. They make recommendations on new connector work activities, write change requests to improve connectors defined in the existing USB 2.0 Standard and assist the USB-IF Compliance subcommittee with connector compliance issues.

Cable and Connector

The Cable & Connector Working Group is a sub-group of CCWG and is chartered with developing the Micro USB Supplement to the USB 2.0 specification. The spec will define a new Micro- series of connectors for use in small hand held devices such as cell phones, PDA's and cameras.

Membership in this group requires signature on the corresponding IP agreement.

Comm WG

The USB Communications Working Group (CWG) is open to any DWG members, and has responsibility for organizing development activity in the networking and communications area. The CWG has created three specifications:
- Communications Device Class 1.1 - 1999
- Wireless Mobile Communications 1.0 - 2001
- Ethernet Emulation Model 1.0 - 2005
There are two subgroups that require IP agreements to participate:
- Communications (CDC), to revise CDC 1.1 & WMC 1.0
- Network Control Model (NCM), to create new networking subclass(es)
The CWG reviews any proposals for new USB communications subclasses.

Communications

This sub-group of the Communications Working Group is dedicated to working on the 3 existing Communications Device Class specifications:
1) USB Communications Device Class (CDC) 1.1, which includes subclasses:
- Telephones
- PSTN modems
- ISDN TAs
- Ethernet adaptors (and cable modems)
- ATM devices (e.g. ADSL modems)
2) USB Wireless Mobile Communications (WMC) subclasses 1.0, including:
- wireless handsets
- cellular system modems
- wireless network access
- multifunction communications devices
- communications device management
- OBEX
3) USB Ethernet Emulation Model (EEM) subclass 1.0

Committee work is focused on:
- Implementing maintenance Review Requests on the existing specifications.
- Reorganizing CDC 1.1 into a common communications class specification and several daughter subclass specifications, without changing the technical content.

Membership in this group requires signature on the corresponding IP agreement.

NCM

The USB Networking Control Model (NCM) subgroup is developing new Communications Device subclass specifications for high speed network adaptors, including new wireless media types:
- 3G/4G cellular
- WLAN (802.11)
- WMAN (802.16)
- Ultra Wideband (Ecma-368)

The work may produce two subclasses:
- One focused on IEEE 802-style layer 2 (e.g. Ethernet) frames
- One focused on Internet Protocol (IP) datagrams

Membership in this group requires signature of the corresponding IP agreement.

Mass Storage

The Mass Storage Class Working Group is open to any DWG members and addresses issues related to using hard drives, flash media, optical devices and other types of mass storage devices over the Universal Serial Bus.

Lockable Mass Storage

Lockable Mass Storage is tasked with creating a specification that allows users to lock their mass storage device so that the data stored on it will not be vulnerable in the event the device is lost or stolen.

This feature specification extends the USB Mass Storage class to allow hosts and devices to lock and unlock storage, without breaking the legacy host behavior that exists today and without resorting to vendor-specific descriptors and requests.

DWG Members may join this group only after executing the IP Agreement corresponding to the specification under development by this group.

Mass Storage Compliance Test

Mass Storage Compliance is an open sub-group of the Mass Storage Working Group and handles distribution of and feedback concerning the Mass Storage Compliance testing software integrated into USBCV.

Engineering releases of the Compliance Test software will be available here for testing before public release. Interim releases and enhancements may also be available here between public releases.

Note that these non-public releases are subject to their own license agreement. The license agreement is provided as part of the .zip file containing the software. Be sure to read the terms of that agreement.

The sub-group mailing list can be used for feedback and technical questions regarding the software, and discussion of how the software implements the Compliance Test specification, as well as discussion of the specification itself.

Media Transfer Protocol

The Media Transfer Protocol Group is chartered with developing a specification to define the control and object exchange (sync) mechanism over USB to be used by multimedia portable devices such as cell phones, portable music players and digital still cameras.

USB-IF Members may join this group only after executing the IP Agreement corresponding to the specification under development by this group.

Battery Charging

The Battery Charging Working Group is chartered with creating specifications that define limits as well as detection, control and reporting mechanisms to permit devices to draw current in excess of the USB 2.0 specification for charging and/or powering up from dedicated chargers, hosts, hubs, host chargers and hub chargers. These mechanisms will be backward compatible with USB 2.0 compliant hosts and peripherals.

DWG Members may join this group only after executing the IP Agreement corresponding to the specification under development by this group.