Cover Story
HDMI vs. USB3.0: Collision in Mobile Applications
Spread
Next-Generation Interface Targeting Mobile Devices
Part 1: Battle Direction
USB Targeting All Types of Devices; HDMI Focusing on Mobile Devices Again
After 8 years, next-generation specifications will be launched for USB, which is the standard interface for peripheral devices. Next-generation specifications will also be announced for HDMI, which has been dominant in AV devices. Until now, USB and HDMI have been coexisting peacefully, with USB being dominant in PCs and mobile devices while HDMI, in stationary AV devices. This situation, however, is changing drastically. With the emergence of next-generation specifications, the two standards will clash in the mobile device market. Will it be USB or HDMI that will triumph?
Part 2: Trends in Standards
Dramatic Functional Expansion, and Clandestine Features for Supporting PCs
USB 3.0 has achieved major functional enhancements, including a ten-fold increase in data transfer speed.While the new functions are promising, there are also concerns about noise countermeasures and cable thickness.HDMI is also targeting mobile devices and on-board devices in vehicles, and its network functions will also be enhanced. Meanwhile, in the PC industry, activities surrounding DisplayPort are also picking up pace. With backing from Intel, the number of compatible PCs and monitorsmay increase. The latest trends in each of these interface standards are summarized below.
Special Feature
Dissecting Cellphone Antennas - Potential for Future Integration of One-Seg Capability
Modern cellphones contain antennas for various types of wireless functions, including 3G specifications, GSM communication for overseas, GPS, and Bluetooth.Furthermore, beginning with winter 2008 models, most of them even contain an antenna for receiving One-Seg broadcasting signals. Therefore, we dissected various companies’ cellphones that contain One-Seg antennas to find out how they overcame various technical hurdles. The results are beginning to shed light on the current status of antenna design and the remaining issues related to cellphones and One-Seg.
Expanding Use of Printed Circuit Boards with Integrated Components; Solder Becoming Greener
Report from NEPCON WORLD JAPAN
NEPCON WORLD JAPAN, Asia’s largest exhibition for manufacturing and assembly technologies related to electronic devices, was held from January 20 through 22, 2009 in Tokyo.Two major topics stood out. The first was the expansion in the use of so-called component-embedded printed circuit boards, where passive components and LSI chips are embedded inside a printed circuit board.Until now, the use of component-embedded printed circuit boards has been limited to compact modules of portable devices, but it has become clear that the use of these circuit boards will expand to include PoP (package on package) where the main board of a device and LSI packages are three-dimensionally stacked together. The other major trend is a new environmental initiative being taken by the solder industry, which has successfully eliminated the use of lead. Solder will evolve along three major axes in the future, namely halogen elimination, recycling, and energy conservation.
Guest Paper
Highlighting the Current Status of LED Illumination - Survey to Gauge Interest Among Architects and Lighting Fixture Manufacturers
Results of “2009 Survey to Gauge Interest in Introduction of LED Illumination”
Since their introduction in 1996, white LEDs became widely used thanks to cellphone manufacturers’ decision to switch to color displays. More recently, these LEDs have become established as backlights of laptop PCs, and are now being used even in some automobile headlamps. The level of expectation for using white LEDs as illumination sources is also rising, and both LED manufacturers and lighting fixture manufacturers are enhancing technical development and product line-ups. How do the users - architects and illumination designers - view white LED illumination? A recent survey conducted by Nikkei Market Access highlights the expectationsheld of LED illumination and the realty.
Documentary
History of Struggle to Eliminate Lead from Solder; 10 Years of Twists and Turns (Part 4)
In the summer of 2002, Shimadzu Corporation was having an extremely tough time keeping up with demand.It had tripled the production capacity of its Atsugi Factory (in KanagawaPrefecture), which was producing fluorescent X-ray analyzers. Even then, the company was far from satisfying all customer orders. Seminars the company held to explain chemical substance analysis methods were always overflowing with attendees. The original plan had been to hold only two sessions, each with a maximum of 70 attendees, but the company ended up holding additional sessions. Not only Shimadzu Corporation but the entire analytical tool industry was at a loss about how to grapple with the totally unexpected change occurring in front of them.Sales people at analytical centers that use ICP-AES systems to perform quantitative analysis of chemical substances were completely overwhelmed by a surging number of inquiries coming in, and were screaming, “We just cannot handle the numbers.”
Tutorial
Key Points of A-D Conversion Everyone Should Know (Final Session)
Grounding Circuitry Design Methodology; Isolation between Analog and Digital Grounding Circuitries a Must
An A-D conversion circuit always contains both analog and digital circuitries.What is important in design is the grounding circuitry.Essentially, the analog grounding circuitry must be isolated from the digital grounding circuitry, but a creative scheme is required in actual implementation. This final session introduces a specific grounding circuitry methodology, assuming a multi-channel A-D conversion circuit.
Thermal Design of Thin-Profile TVs (Second Half)
Analysis for Determining Threshold Design Values; Thermal Circuit Network to Ensure Excellent Heat Dissipation
To achieve compact, lightweight, thin-profile, and highly functional devices, it is necessary to maximize the heat dissipation performance while avoiding the addition of specialized parts or major design changes. For this, use of simple modeling and thermal hydraulic analysis is essential. This session combines these two requirements to identify the thermal issues and discusses a methodology for evaluating solutions.
Keyword
Streaming
Nearly as Powerful as Cable TV in the U.S.
Key Person
Wipro Technologies Ltd.’s Theodore Forbath: Japanese Corporations Must Break Away from 20th-Century Development Processes
NE Interview
Adobe Systems Inc.’s Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch: Signing Up One Million Flash Developers to Popularize RIA
Microsoft’s Silverlight and Sun Microsystems’ Java/FX are often cited as technologies that rival Flash and AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), both of which are Adobe System's RIA (rich Internet application) technologies. But, the real rival is Ajax, which can be implemented using only JavaScript. The Ajax runtime environment is more widely available than that of Flash.
Along with HTML and JavaScript, Flash is a standard web application software technology.From a development perspective, several hundred types of framework currently exist for Ajax. In contrast, Flex, which is the installation framework for Flash, is highly productive and has also been standardized.
World Report
From India: Supporting the Poor with IT Technologies; Gaining Useful Knowledge from Slums
India has recently been advancing both economically and technologically, to the point of now being called an “IT Superpower.”The system integration technologies of India’s top-notch companies such as Infosys Technologies Limited, Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS), and Wipro Limited are some of the world's best, and are also the pride of the Indian people. Until the 1970’s, India's GDP growth rate had remained sluggish at between 2% and 3%, which was often ridiculed as the Hindu Rate of Growth.However, since the economic liberalization in 1991, the growth rate surged and has more recently been maintained at between 8% and 9%.
News
- Glitch in Billing Mechanism for Blu-ray Discs
- Panasonic Announces PDP TV that Wirelessly Transmits 1080p HD Images
- Fujifilm Launches a Revolutionary Camera with Ultra High Sensitivity and Full Auto Settings
- Chinese PHS Service to Be Terminated at End of 2011
- Integrated BOM to Promote Utilization of Cost Information in Upstream Design
