New SATA Revision 3.1 Released to Integrate Consumer Electronics Interface USM

The SATA-IO organization today announced the launch of the new serial communication standard specification "SATA Revision 3.1" (Strictly speaking, the abbreviation of SATA 3.1 is incorrect), and has specifically added the SATA USM interface designed for portable storage applications.

SATA USM stands for SATA Universal Storage Module, which is SATA Universal Storage Module. The standard was released in early January 2011 and provides a removable, scalable storage solution for consumer electronics design. According to this specification, developers can design sockets into TVs, game consoles, set-top boxes, computers, docking stations, and other consumer electronics devices to connect SATA interface storage devices for capacity expansion.

The SATA USM interface is based on the native SATA 6Gbps specification (that is, SATA Revision 3.0). Therefore, no bridge chip is required, no data lines are required, and no additional power is required.

This is the first standard specification for self-powered external storage devices and is an attempt by the SATA-IO organization to extend the SATA standard beyond the traditional PC storage space.

Companies such as Antec, GIEC, Hisense, Ionics, Lenuss, Seagate, and Thermaltake will all launch SATA USM standard products in the near future.

Other improvements and enhancements to SATA Revision 3.1 include:

-mSATA: The SATA standard introduced for mobile computing devices now has an enhanced auto-detection mechanism that does not require a dedicated mSATA interface and is more interactive.

- Zero-supply optical drive: Reduce the power consumption of the optical drive of the SATA interface in standby mode to zero, and further reduce energy consumption and emissions.

- Required Link Power Management: Enables efficient power management of all SATA devices and reduces overall system power consumption.

- Queue TRIM command: Allows the SATA interface SSD to execute the TRIM command without affecting normal operation to improve SSD performance.

- Hardware Control: Supports device master identification, allowing masters to use SATA devices more efficiently.

The SATA Revision 3.1 standard specification is now available for free to SATA-IO members. Non-members can purchase for $25.