WinUSB

WinUSB is a generic USB driver provided by Microsoft, for their operating systems starting with Windows XP. It is aimed at simple devices that are accessed by only one application at a time (for example instruments like weather stations, devices that only need a diagnostic connection or for firmware upgrades). It enables the application to directly access the device through a simple software library. The library provides access to the pipes of the device.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

* Doesn't need the knowledge to write drivers
* Speeds up developement

Disadvantages

* Only one application can access the device at a time
* Doesn't support isochronous transfers
* On other operating systems, the device still needs a custom driver

Other solutions

One solution is the use of a predefined USB device class. Opeating systems provide built-in drivers for some of them. The most widely used device class for embedded devices is the USB communications device class. A CDC device can appear as a virtual serial port to simplify the use of a new device for older applications.

If the previous solutions are inappropriate, one can decide to write a custom driver. For newer versions of Microsoft Windows, it can be done using the Windows Driver Foundation.

References

cite web |url=http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/usb_20_031507.zip |title=USB 2.0 Specification |accessdate=2007-03-27 |publisher=USB Implementers Forum, Inc. |date=2007-03-15 The newest wersion can be found at [http://www.usb.org/developers/docs USB.org]