Cost Application Processor That Targets Simple-Featured Mobile Phones

27th April , 2004

Europe : Renesas Technology America, Inc. today announced the SH-MobileL (product name: SH7322), a new model in the SH-Mobile series of application processors. The new chip has been carefully optimized to deliver the best possible balance of functionality and performance for the next generation of mobile phone systems. It is expressly designed and priced to help keep system costs low so that new camera-equipped multimedia phones will be sufficiently affordable to gain widespread popularity.

According to Brian Davis, director of business development, advanced solutions group at Renesas Technology America, "Renesas engineers, working in response to inputs from mobile phone makers, analyzed requirements, eliminated nonessentials, and configured the 120MHz SH-MobileL to provide an optimized set of critical peripheral functions. Particularly important were those functions related to the camera-support and image-display capabilities that will be standard features for popular models of the next wave of affordable mobile phone systems. For example, the processor has high-definition camera and image processing support functions."

Specifically, the SH-MobileL processor allows direct connection of a 2-megapixel-equivalent, UXGA-size (1600 x 1200 pixel) camera module. This makes possible mobile phone systems that can capture and perform electronic-zoom display of high-definition images. It also enables versatile display features such as superimposed screens through the use of functions such as on-screen display (OSD) and hardware cursor (HWC). The SH-MobileL has the SDRAM interface that is essential for executing high-speed moving image processing, and it includes an interface for a small-sized memory card for storing image data.

Like all SH-Mobile devices, the new SH-MobileL application processor connects to the baseband LSI of a mobile phone system and performs dedicated voice, image, or similar multimedia application processing. A dedicated interface allows the chip to be used in multiple types of communication systems. Three types of on-chip memory (32Kbyte RAM with single-cycle access capability, 32Kbyte CPU cache and 16Kbyte X-Y DSP RAM) enable high-speed application execution using Java programs, MPEG-4 moving image processing, and MP3 or similar voice processing.

Renesas Technology's SH-Mobile series application processors are market leading components for mobile phones. Because the SH-MobileL has the same SH3-DSP CPU core used in previous SH-Mobile chips, phone manufacturers can shorten system development times for new models by reusing software developed for those high-functionality chips. A development platform equipped with a keyboard, small LCD panel, and ultra-miniature camera is available to simplify and accelerate the creation of new multimedia application programs.

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