Motorola Readies Multimedia Chip

Motorola is announcing a new applications processor Tuesday that is designed to improve the performance of multimedia applications and the security of mobile transactions in cell phones and handheld devices.

Basic voice-only cell phones have traditionally used two processors, a digital signal processor to manage the communication process, and another processor to operate the phone's keypad, contacts list, and calendar operations. But with the rise of new smart phones that incorporate digital cameras and connect to broadband networks, a third processor is often needed to ensure that audio and video playback runs smoothly.

Motorola is adding several hardware accelerators to its new i.MX21 chip in order to offload computationally intensive tasks required by software for security applications and streaming video, says Kathleen Wiggenhorn i.MX product marketing manager.

By executing those tasks in a hardware accelerator rather than by sending software instructions through the main processor, Motorola has reduced the power consumption and improved the overall performance of the chip, Wiggenhorn adds.

The hardware accelerator used for the security controller allows several pieces of sensitive information, such as credit card numbers or digital rights management code, to be stored in a secure portion of the chip away from the memory, Wiggenhorn says.

Easier Connections

Motorola placed a USB controller on the chip so users can connect other peripheral devices such as printers or mice to their personal digital assistant (PDA) or cell phone without having to go through a PC. The chip can switch from a USB device mode to a USB host mode, allowing it to serve either as a peripheral to a PC or as the host of a device such as a printer, Wiggenhorn says.

The chip also supports smart LCDs that refresh themselves only when they detect that an image has changed on the screen. Normal LCD displays must constantly refresh in order to detect changes in onscreen images, which consumes a great deal of power, Wiggenhorn notes.

The i.MX21 is based on the ARM926EJ-S core developed by ARM. It can be used by device designers as the applications processor in a smart phone, or it can power a PDA as a stand-alone chip.

Several customers are currently evaluating the i.MX21, which will be available in sample volumes Tuesday. Current Motorola customers Tapwave, makers of the forthcoming Palm OS-based Zodiac gaming handheld, and Siemens are examining the chip, Wiggenhorn says.

Texas Instruments' OMAP family of processors and Intel's XScale chips are the primary competitors to Motorola's MX family, says Ed Valdez, director of platform marketing for Motorola.

The new chip will likely be used in high-end smart phones and PDAs, Valdez says. Motorola's venerable Dragonball family will remain in production for low-end phones and PDAs, he adds.

More Jobs for Chips

As smart phones become more accepted by users, phone designers will likely add more and more processors to handle tasks such as Wi-Fi, Global Positioning System features, and Bluetooth, says Will Strauss, principal analyst with Forward Concepts.

Battery life is considered by many users to be the most important component of a mobile device, and power is best conserved by using several processors running at relatively low clock speeds, versus using a single processor with a fast clock rate, Strauss says. Each processor is small enough that adding multiple chips doesn't increase the size of the phone's motherboard dramatically, he says.

The i.MX21 can be clocked as high as 400 MHz, and will be generally available in the first quarter of 2004, according to Motorola.