Jan 21 2010

CES 2010 – TVs and Connectivity

Published by at 6:51 pm under Uncategorized

The CES big product trends were focused on 3D and tablet devices.  There were several component and design trends that were driving these devices.   Most of the products on the show floor were using standard products as components with customization either with programmable logic devices (e.g. FPGAs) or through specialized firmware/software.  There were very few new custom chips or ASICs in this year’s products.
On the TV side, there were a number of design changes to the 2D products.  The biggest feature changes were the shift to higher scan rates – 120hz and 240hz for LCDs, 600Hz for Plasma, a shift to LED and low power back light, and also adding internet connectivity with embedded application.  In order to support the higher scan rates, the drivers are utilizing smaller process geometries and more memory, To support the new backlight schemes, there are new standard product control chips which have been designed to target the new Energy Star requirements on the sets/ The addition of internet connectivity and the resulting application capability (VOD movies, You Tube, Photo sites, web search, Hulu, etc)   This requires both an operating system (Linux derivatives ) and a local compute engine.  These processors are dominated by the ARM, ARC and MIPS cores which are being embedded into the control electronics.  So far, none of the new 2D sets have incorporated higher speed connectivity that is found in HDMI 1.4 or higher capacity/bandwidth storage that is found in USB3.0 or SD XC interfaces.
Increased reliability, reduced power and cost was also featured in both TV and radio products.  Imagination Technology showed several IP products based on their META processor and thier frequency agile radio technology.  These appears in new radio products from PURE, and support over the air radio in the format for several countries as well as internet radio with search and apps such as facebook/twitter access.  On the TV side, ESS Technology has introduced their first full silicon Multi-standard CMOS TV tuner called the Radix.  The tuner is a monolithic replacement for traditional can tuners.  The product is price competitive with those tuners due to advanced design methods that eliminate the need for manual or post assembly calibration of the tuners and by using low cost foundry processes.  Their new format agile tuner, features fast channel selection and  employs a number of  patented circuit techniques for handling the continuous time signal path, and not having data dependent signal corruption.  The part features SNR specs on the same level as the can tuners while the packaging and power profiles provide increased immunity to interference from the back light and remote control circuitry.  The parts are available in Q1 ‘10 and feature a 400mW operating power over 48-10005MHz when using a 40-QFN package.
Continuing the embedded processors for apps trend, connectivity is now making its way into health care products (such as the TABSAFE) and the Mommy Tech (locator) products.  The Continua health alliance is promoting (along with Freescale) the Zigbee protocol for data between as base station/pc and a mobile medical device such as the Nonin Pulse-oximeter, or a blood pressure cuff.  The Tabsafe product is an evolution of an existing product from the clinical community that is now being made available for the home marketplace with data logging to a computer and/or your doctor on daily medication dispensing and dosage.  With the new connectivity, the physician can now modify a dose rate and pattern automatically to insure conformance on the dispensing of the medication.

The CES big product trends were focused on 3D and tablet devices.  There were several component and design trends that were driving these devices.   Most of the products on the show floor were using standard products as components with customization either with programmable logic devices (e.g. FPGAs) or through specialized firmware/software.  There were very few new custom chips or ASICs in this year’s products.

On the TV side, there were a number of design changes to the 2D products.  The biggest feature changes were the shift to higher scan rates – 120hz and 240hz for LCDs, 600Hz for Plasma, a shift to LED and low power back light, and also adding internet connectivity with embedded application.  In order to support the higher scan rates, the drivers are utilizing smaller process geometries and more memory, To support the new backlight schemes, there are new standard product control chips which have been designed to target the new Energy Star requirements on the sets/ The addition of internet connectivity and the resulting application capability (VOD movies, You Tube, Photo sites, web search, Hulu, etc)   This requires both an operating system (Linux derivatives ) and a local compute engine.  These processors are dominated by the ARM, ARC and MIPS cores which are being embedded into the control electronics.  So far, none of the new 2D sets have incorporated higher speed connectivity that is found in HDMI 1.4 or higher capacity/bandwidth storage that is found in USB3.0 or SD XC interfaces.

Increased reliability, reduced power and cost was also featured in both TV and radio products.  Imagination Technology showed several IP products based on their META processor and thier frequency agile radio technology.  These appears in new radio products from PURE, and support over the air radio in the format for several countries as well as internet radio with search and apps such as facebook/twitter access.  On the TV side, ESS Technology has introduced their first full silicon Multi-standard CMOS TV tuner called the Radix.  The tuner is a monolithic replacement for traditional can tuners.  The product is price competitive with those tuners due to advanced design methods that eliminate the need for manual or post assembly calibration of the tuners and by using low cost foundry processes.  Their new format agile tuner, features fast channel selection and  employs a number of  patented circuit techniques for handling the continuous time signal path, and not having data dependent signal corruption.  The part features SNR specs on the same level as the can tuners while the packaging and power profiles provide increased immunity to interference from the back light and remote control circuitry.  The parts are available in Q1 ‘10 and feature a 400mW operating power over 48-10005MHz when using a 40-QFN package.

Continuing the embedded processors for apps trend, connectivity is now making its way into health care products (such as the TABSAFE) and the Mommy Tech (locator) products.  The Continua health alliance is promoting (along with Freescale) the Zigbee protocol for data between as base station/pc and a mobile medical device such as the Nonin Pulse-oximeter, or a blood pressure cuff.  The Tabsafe product is an evolution of an existing product from the clinical community that is now being made available for the home marketplace with data logging to a computer and/or your doctor on daily medication dispensing and dosage.  With the new connectivity, the physician can now modify a dose rate and pattern automatically to insure conformance on the dispensing of the medication.

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