1、By Jacques Noel, Vice President, Cellular 3GSM Business Line, Mobile Communications, Philips Semiconductors.1. Please define the different architecture between smart phone and voice dominate cell phone.We see 3 main types of architecture:- For Voice centric, the chipset is built up around a single B
2、B processor performing both the telecom and the other application tasks. There is also a trend towards the integration of the different functions you would today find in more “complete” phones, when applications become more mature. - For VAS (Value Added Services) phones, the system is built up arou
3、nd a powerful baseband complemented with a companion chip or an application co-processor. The baseband runs the main functions including MMS and related applications. The companion chip or the application co-processor is there to perform the highly MIPS-hungry functions such as video processing. The
4、 product roadmap shows that those co-processors are integrated into the baseband when the function becomes mature enough and the feature is reaching high level of penetration.- For Smart Phone (Business phones), then the application processor becomes the system master, the GSM/GPRS telecom modem bec
5、omes one of the connectivity peripherals (others being e.g. WLAN, Bluetooth, USB .). This is typically the ideal tool for a “mobile office”.In fact, architecture will evolve with the maturity of applications trendy applications of today being basic applications of tomorrow.2. Please describe the uni
6、que of your companys smart phone solution, it should include the total solution advantage and unique features of modules such as baseband, application processor, RF, memory, power management, image processing, camera sensor etc.)Philips Semiconductors is active in the different segments we mentioned
7、 and provides attractive solutions. For Smart phone specifically, on top of its system leadership for the Telecom pipe, Philips is one of the market leaders for CMOS Sensor. Philips is recognized as being the market leader for power management and offering extreme long lifetime in both talk and stan
8、dby mode (some of our customers can reach about a month standby time). We are also very active in all the components and features towards the functionality convergence needed in Smart Phone, such as Bluetooth and WLAN 802.11 for connectivity, etc, all based on the Nexperia Mobile Platform to enable
9、easy system integration and to provide the needed flexibility to handle both leading edge telecom and mobile multimedia capabilities. On top, Philips has the associated RF solutions and is defining the optimum integration paths. Leading-edge audio and mobile display solutions are also part of Philip
10、s portfolio.Last but not Least, Philips Semiconductors works with the market leaders on some applications processor and, as an example, with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communication for its P800 Smart phone.3. As an important element, please provide the detail information of application processor, it incl
11、ude architecture, I/O, rate, frequency, size, process, power consumption etc.Typical Application Processors announced are ARM 92x based running at speed ranging from 100MHz to 200MHz with processor bus running at generally half of the processor speed. Actual offering is in 0.18um down to 0.12um proc
12、ess technology.Roadmaps in deeper submicron technologies (90 and 65 nanometers) are showing frequency moving up to the 300 to 400MHz within the next 2 to 3 years, targeting even better power figures.These processors not only offer lots of available MIPS on the ARM subsystem but what is differentiati
13、ng them is the attached accelerators which are offloading the ARM core for intensive computational functions which allows important power dissipation savings:- DSP cores: mainly used for programmable audio codecs or audio enhancement (MP3, WMA, AAC, ATRAC3, noise cancellation, Voice Recognition, Tex
14、t-to-Speech,.)- video hardware accelerators (JPEG, H263, MPEG4 encode, MPEG4 decode, 2D/3D graphic, H264 codec,.)- DRM (Digital Right Management) , encryption and security blocksWhat is also differentiating them is the integrated interfaces:- integrated camera interface- connectivity like USB 1.0, U
15、SB OTG, BlueTooth, 802.11b, NFC- standard memories like NAND in order to satisfy short term requirement. A software implementation (code on ARM926) is possible. However performance requirements with larger resolution LCD (QVGA) and more complex scenes and also to reduce power dissipation, hardware a
16、cceleration of OpenGL will be required. IP blocks have been announced from several sources, in anticipation of the deployment of this standard. Open GL will be supported through a Symbian OS.Direct 3D mobile is also an option Philips is investigating.8. Do you think if the RF module should be integr
17、ated into baseband module? Whats the challenge to integrated? How to overcome the process problem? We know some leading vendors have announced one chip solution for voice dominate cell phone, do you think if it should be integrated for smart phone architecture? Whats you comment?The main targets are
18、 for RF are: - excellent support of evolving standards (GSM/GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, etc.)- high sensitivity and power efficiency in RF are key to provide wide area coverage and excellent talk-time- small footprint, low component count and competitive cost- ease of use for hand-set manufacturer.For coming
19、years we can support this demand with our BICMOS processes combined with advanced packaging options to integrate ICs, inductors, capacitors, filters in one package (System in Package). We have been implementing this approach with our Power Amplifier Module approach, and it has recently been introduc
20、ed for WLAN modules as well (refer to press announcement). In fact we are following the integration scheme already proven with our DEC-T products where we also a strong market leader.9. Do you think if it need two different operate systems for voice and multimedia traffic in smart phone? For the mul
21、timedia OS, do you think witch one should be suitable for Chinese smart phone OEM, Symbian, Pocket PC, Smartphone, Linux, Palm OS etc?There are many options in terms of OS for the mobile phone, and per today, the consumer has very hard time to identify the benefits of having a phone with an open/mul
22、timedia OS. Furthermore, still a very large part of the mobile phones, and even a very large part of the digital consumer products in general, are using embedded OS. Thus it is very questionable if any OS at all will really emerge. If yes, Symbian and Linux are the ones having the biggest probabilit
23、y of success. As a fact of life, we are facing this uncertainties and thus as Philipss chipset is prepared to support any OS market will require.10. Power consumption is the biggest challenge for smart phone, would you please provide 3 methods to cut the power consumption?There are many ways to cut
24、power consumption. It can be at system, architecture and design levels. As example of techniques Philips, as a leader in power management, is actively working on:- optimizing digital design for power consumption:* using latest deep submicron CMOS processes (lower voltage, smaller (= more efficient)
25、design)* implementing techniques that allow to switch frequencies and to switch blocks off - using high-efficiency power supplies (DC/DC converters)- implementing dynamic voltage management:* reducing frequency of processor and peripherals to minimum requirements* adapting supply voltage according t
26、o frequency and temperature- using hardware for signal processing intensive tasks (MPEG encode, decode, 2D/3D graphic, encryption)- implementing the right memory architecture (embedded SRAM and localized buffers to reduce external memory accesses)11. It is no suspicion that the smart phone platform
27、will become higher integrated. It is forecast that the smart phone industry will be like the TV or PC industry, the solution will be highly integrated with 3 or 4 chips and the suppliers will be consolidate ultimately. Do you agree with this opinion? Please give your comment.As in the TV market, Phi
28、lips System Solution approach has been set-up to drive the integration roadmap and to support the architecture consolidation with few major highly integrated components in the system.Considering the Semiconductors industry, after the consolidation of the mobile phone manufacturers, we are seeing the same for semiconductors providers. Supplying system solutions is a must today to be a major player on this highly competitive market.12. Others you want to suggestion to Chinese handset OEM.Nothing in particular.
