New Multimedia Application Processor Chips for 2.5/3G Mobile Phones

STMicroelectronics unveiled first details of a new family of multimedia application processor chips that will enable portable terminals to play music, take pictures, record video, and host two-way visual communication in real time. These processors are aimed at 2.5/3G mobile phones, personal digital assistants and other portable wireless products with multimedia capability. In addition, the new family of chips will find applications in automotive multimedia.

Called 'Nomadik', ST's multimedia application processor family offers ultra-low power consumption, which is facilitated by the optimal partitioning of the chip between hardware and software, combined with ST's low-power CMOS technology and low-power design know-how. This translates into longer battery operation for consumers and performance scalability for product manufacturers.

ST's new multimedia processor chips are based on the combination of an ARM926EJ-S™ core together with programmable 'smart accelerators' that operate independently and concurrently to handle the key video and audio coding functions, including pre/post-processing. This distributed processing approach simplifies software development for developers because they only need to write code for the ARM® core. In addition, since multimedia functions are not typically executed on the main processor core, there is more headroom for adding new software applications in the future.

Nomadik processors build on ST's legacy of success and proven expertise in the digital multimedia segment. A pioneer in MPEG video decoding, ST is today the leading producer of MPEG decoder chips for set top boxes. The company is also a leading supplier of DSP-based audio products and the number one vendor of digital radio receiver chips. Thanks to ST's broad product portfolio, the Nomadik architecture leverages a wide range of complementary functions such as CMOS imagers, smart card ICs, Flash memories, biometric verification chips, Bluetooth radio chips, and data storage solutions.

The Nomadik processors are designed to be compliant with the recently announced OMAPI software and hardware interface standard jointly developed by ST and Texas Instruments. This interface standard will simplify software development by making it possible to write native applications once for different hardware platforms.

Inside the Nomadik chip the ARM926EJ-S processor core runs at up to 350MHz in ST's 130nm CMOS process and up to 500MHz in ST's 90nm CMOS. The core includes on-board cache, Java acceleration in hardware, and strong real-time debug support.

ST's Nomadik architecture supports the popular operating systems for mobile devices, including Symbian OS, the Microsoft WinCE family and Linux. A comprehensive Nomadik tools environment is provided for software development. The Nomadik architecture is highly scalable in terms of both computational power and smart peripherals, allowing easy upgrades to add more features and easy feature-reduction for simpler price-sensitive products.

The programmable audio smart-accelerator implements the main industry-standard digital audio encoders and decoders including MP3, MPEG2-Layer II, MPEG2/4-AAC, Dolby Digital, and many others. The programmable video smart accelerator achieves the industry's lowest power consumption running H.263 and MPEG-4 CODECs using an extremely optimized ST proprietary technology. The new H26L (H.264) standard will also be available in future Nomadik implementations.

Nomadik offers a standard baseband modem interface to provide modem independence for mobile phone applications. As with the baseband modem, a simple interface supports communication with wireless PAN (Bluetooth), and wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g), and position location (GPS) chipsets from ST and other manufacturers. This flexibility gives manufacturers the freedom to choose their own mix of connectivity solutions across their product line.

ST will deliver the first samples of Nomadik processors using 130nm technology early in 2003. These processors will be offered in a stacked package together with Flash memory chips. Future versions of the chips will be in 90nm CMOS and include support for 3D graphics and content security.

"The Nomadik multimedia application processor will help accelerate the adoption of smart phones, and provides an ideal balance between the requirements of Open OS processing, rich multimedia and long battery life," said Mike Inglis, Executive Vice President Marketing, ARM. "The ARM926EJ-S core and the PrimeXsys™ Platform have helped ST to create a multimedia application processor that enables exciting media rich phones."

A leading supplier of semiconductor devices to the mobile industry, STMicroelectronics is the only microelectronics company offering a complete range of products for mobile terminals. This product range includes baseband processors, power management chips, RF devices, display drivers, Flash memories, fingerprint sensors, multimedia processors, CMOS image sensors, MEMS acceleration sensors, and GPS chipsets.