Capabilities and successes built up in mobile phone market propel new SH-Mobile based devices into many other types of multimedia products

Naoki Yamamoto Assistant Manager SH-Mobile Strategic Marketing System Solution Business Unit2, Mobile Product Marketing Dept. System Solution Business Group Renesas Technology Corp.

The SH-Mobile R application processors recently added to our popular SH-Mobile series will help drive the growth of diverse markets. The many hardware and software resources built up by the success of the SH-Mobile product line in mobile phones are now being directed into other areas. Customers can gain competitive advantages by adopting powerful and versatile SH-Mobile R processors in multimedia equipment such as TV-enabled car navigation systems, Video-VoIP equipment, and portable media players. According to Naoki Yamamoto, SH-Mobile strategic marketing engineer, "The application-enabling capabilities of the new SH-Mobile R series will help inspire, implement, and speed to market many exciting new information and entertainment products."

The ability to make phone calls is but one of many functions of the latest mobile phones. These versatile devices pack features such as still and video camera functions, audio recording and playback, GPS navigation, game player, TV receiver, personal organizer, and electronic payment functions. Indeed mobile phones are now more aptly described as multimedia data communication terminals.

Mobile phone makers typically use a dedicated processor to handle some or all of the multimedia functions, an approach that simplifies the development process. Renesas developed the SH-Mobile series of application processors in early anticipation of this system design trend. Over time, this very successful product line has accumulated a growing span of technical capabilities, as well as an extensive range of hardware and software resources, as manufacturers in Japan and overseas have adopted the devices in hundreds of mobile phone models.

Encouraged by that success, Renesas has developed the SH-Mobile R series of ASSP (Application-Specific Standard Product) devices (see Figure 1). The new devices make it possible for customers to use the SH-Mobile's accumulated resources and capabilities to develop multimedia products for a vast span of opportunities outside mobile phones. By doing so they can facilitate innovation and improve both development costs and lead times.

"All sorts of different multimedia technologies and applications have been incorporated into mobile phones, many of which have been very well received by consumers. Renesas SH-Mobile R devices allow customers to quickly and cost effectively add to many types of products the multimedia features proving to be so popular on mobile phones. These application processors can support next-generation video standards. They will make it easier for engineering teams to invent and apply new information and entertainment features" Mr. Yamamoto said.

Middleware, multimedia accelerators, and extended-temperature-range devices facilitate new applications

In broad terms, SH-Mobile R series based on three key concepts (see Figure 2). The first concept is the reuse of the wide range of middleware developed for previous SH-Mobile devices. Middleware already exists for functions such as video, audio and speech, communications, copyright protection, and more. The availability of this proven middleware facilitates rapid system development for customers' engineering teams.

The second concept is the incorporation into the chips of various types of multimedia accelerators. For example, the SH-Mobile R devices incorporate our VPU4 (Video Processing Unit 4) video processing circuit, a hardware IP module developed for SH-Mobile processors that support one-segment broadcast service for terrestrial digital television in mobile phones. The VPU4 can perform coding and decoding of the H.264/MPEG-4AVC standard for video compression at 30 frames per second for VGA-resolution (640 x 480) screens. It can also support other broadcast standards, such as DVB-H used in Europe and DMB used in South Korea. Clearly, the VPU4 built into SH-Mobile R chips simplifies the development of multimedia products that incorporate a receiver function for terrestrial digital broadcasting (see Figure 3).

The third concept is the inclusion of standard versions — WTR models — that are specified for a broad range of operating conditions, including an extended temperature range: -40°C to +85°C. This capability is important, for instance, for vehicle-mounted multimedia devices, which must tolerate wider temperature ranges than mobile phones. SH-Mobile R models that achieve extended reliability are planned, too, because some vehicle and other target applications have very long life cycles compared to mobile phones.

"These three concepts combine to give the new product line important advantages and benefits that will appeal to our customers around the globe," Mr. Yamamoto said.

The new application processors have several features that differentiate them from the SH-Mobile series chips used for mobile phones. Perhaps the most important of these is that SH-Mobile R devices use external SDRAM and therefore have an internal SDRAM controller and an optional bus width of up to 64 bits. This partitioning can't be used in applications where high mounting density and slim profile are of paramount importance, which is why previous SH-Mobile models for portable multimedia products have been produced as SiPs (System-in-Package devices). The SiPs contain both the SDRAM and processor in the same package, an approach saves space but limits options for SDRAM type and capacity.

External SDRAM is appropriate for SH-Mobile R application processors — as it is for many microcomputers — for three reasons. First, these devices will be used in applications where the density and space requirements aren't nearly so critical as they are in mobile phones. Second, the applications the processors target have broad variations in the amount of SDRAM required. And third, products that use SH-Mobile R devices may have an expected life of five to seven years, so the supply of memory chips must be ensured.

Another differentiator is that the SDRAM used with SH-Mobile R processors operates with a supply voltage of 3.3V, whereas the memory used with SH-Mobile models for phones operates at 1.8V. The change to 3.3V external SDRAM allows the selection of memory chips that are less expensive and more readily available.

A third difference is packaging. Existing SH-Mobile chips are packaged in chip-scale packages (CSPs) with a 0.5mm pitch, requiring expensive board assembly equipment that can utilize very-high-density mounting techniques. By contrast, SH-Mobile R chips have BGA packages with a 0.8mm pitch. The wider terminal pitch allows the use of less sophisticated, less costly production machines.

The first model in the SH-Mobile R series, the SH-Mobile R — model name: SH7722 — enters full-scale production in early 2007. "The SH7722 has an SH4AL-DSP CPU core that operates at frequencies up to 266MHz to deliver a maximum processing performance of 478MIPS. This is a big jump in processing performance, since the previous maximum operating frequency in the SH-Mobile product line was 216MHz," Mr. Yamamoto emphasized. "This level of performance is sufficient for the parallel processing of a browser and multiple large-load applications, as well as interactions with a general-purpose operating system."

The highly integrated SH-Mobile R chip has a camera interface that allows a direct connection to a 5-megapixel-class camera module. A versatile low power hardware implementation enables a rich set of image-processing functions, including image scaling, rotation, color conversion, and blending of multiple planes of images. A built-in JPEG hardware accelerator enables the fast capture and display of JPEG images, while an on-chip 24-bit TFT color LCD controller delivers excellent image quality. An on-chip 2D graphics accelerator delivers responsive graphic user interface (GUI) performance for enhanced graphic quality.

Other features of the application processor include a video output unit for connections to National Television System Committee (NTSC) and phase-alternating line (PAL) TVs, and a USB 2.0 function (high-speed compatible) that enables fast links to PCs. The SH7722's 4-Gbit NAND/AND flash memory interface provides an ECC error correction capability that has been improved from 3 to 4 symbols. An SD Memory Card (SD Memory/SD I/O) interface supports an optional CPRM function, enabling the implementation of terrestrial digital broadcast recording and playback.

Renesas is already planning the future expansion of the SH-Mobile R product range. Progress is likely to occur in two different directions (see Figure 4). One is the addition of models that offer further improvements in the performance of the CPU and on-chip accelerators. The other is the addition of new models that incorporate a receive function for "full-segment" TV broadcasts, an improved terrestrial digital TV service that can display images with the same 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution as high-definition television (HDTV).

SH-Mobile R application processors are sophisticated, high performance devices. As such, they require a range of solid, capable hardware and software support products, an array of which Renesas has assembled. A primary example is the Renesas E10A-USB emulator. Another is the "SH-Mobile R Solution Engine" development platform from Hitachi ULSI Systems, which serves SH-Mobile series devices and can also be used with SH-Mobile R chips (see photograph 1). Operating system support encompasses embedded Linux, ?ITRON, and Windows CE.

Renesas plans to release in the 3rd quarter of 2007 the "SH-Mobile R reference platform" a small-size reference platform for SH-Mobile R processors (see photograph 2). Resources on this development board include a VGA-sized LCD touch panel display, SD card slot, USB connector, Ethernet connector, flash memory, and SDRAM.

Renesas offers efficient multimedia middleware packages for H.264, MPEG-4, MP3, and AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), as well as G.7xx series speech codecs and echo cancellation algorithms. Certain DRM (Digital Rights Management) functions are also available for the design of audio-visual systems that protect copyrighted material. In addition, third-party partner companies are working to pre-qualify V2IP stacks, 2D and 3D graphics libraries, and other key technologies used in embedded multimedia applications that use the SH-Mobile R application processor.

Middleware planned for release by Hitachi ULSI Systems include a One-Segment Middleware Package that provides one-segment receiver functions. When it becomes available, system engineers will be able to add those functions to their designs simply by installing the middleware package in the Solution Engine for the SH-Mobile R processor.

A set of development tools designed specifically to aid the development of small, SH-Mobile R based data terminal development is supplied by Akita Electronics Systems. These tools, which include the PND (Personal Navigation Device) and BSP (Board Support Package), are compatible with the Microsoft Windows CE 5.0 and Windows Automotive 5.0 SP2 operating systems and can be used with a wide range of different middleware.