What is USB OTG ?

 What is USB OTG ?

  USB On-The-Go, an extension of the USB 2.0 specification for connecting peripheral devices to each other. USB OTG products can communicate with each other without the need to be connected to a PC. For example, a digital camera can connect to a PDA ( Personal Digital Assistance ), or a mobile phone can connect to a printer or a scanner, as long as all the devices are USB OTG-compatible. USB OTG grew from the increasing need for portable devices to be able to communicate with each other as the culture of technology moves away from a PC-centric world.Now-a-days Consumers and corporate users need to connect their mobile devices to each other and to various peripherals.  This is confirmed by dozens of connectivity methods used by different mobile product manufacturers including proprietary docks, dongles, slots, connectors and 7 different memory card technologies. To move past this state of chaos, several mobile phone, PDA, and mobile product manufacturers have collaborated to develop a standard technology using a version of the popular  USB specification tailored for mobile applications.  The result is USB On-The-Go (OTG).  USB OTG is a new supplement to  the USB 2.0 specification that augments the capability of existing mobile devices and USB peripherals by adding host functionality  for connection to USB peripherals.  Since USB has traditionally consisted of a host-peripheral topology where the PC was the  host and the peripheral was a relatively dumb device, these new features were needed to upgrade standard USB technology for mobile devices.

 These new features include: 

• A new standard for small form factor USB connectors  and cables. 

•  The addition of host capability to products that have traditionally been peripherals only, to enable point-to- point connections.   

•  The ability to be either host or peripheral (dual-role  devices) and to dynamically switch between the two. 

•  Lower power requirements to facilitate USB on battery powered devices.  

Announced on December 18th 2001 by the USB Implementers Forum, USB OTG technology allows vendors to enable their products to connect to many of the standard USB products that have shipped to date.  Over 1.4 billion USB-enabled PCs and peripherals have been shipped, and connection to these products is the primary reason USB OTG is being rapidly adopted where other connectivity technologies are having limited success. 

This is it about "USB OTG (On-The-Go)" . Let me know your suggestions in the comments below.