Foundry chip maker TowerJazz and fabless chipmaker and Modiotek Co., Ltd. joined hands to cash in on growing demand for smart TVs. The two companies signed a joint development agreement to tape out a next-generation DSP, or digital signal processor, for a wireless camera companion for use in smart TVs.
Under the join-development efforts, TowerJazz's 0.13-micron CMOS process will be combined with Modiotek's technology expertise in DSP to lay the foundation for rapid and cost-effective DSP product development and its reference design.
According to a study by DisplaySearch, shipments for smart TVs are estimated to reach approximately 125 million units in 2014. The connected TV market is developing beyond mature regions like Western Europe, North America, and Japan into emerging economies like China and Latin America. .
Leveraging TowerJazz's 0.13-micron CMOS process, Modiotek's latest DSP – M90 - integrates a low-power H.264 video encoder as well as all the functionality into a single silicon die to be used with wireless camera applications.
As smart TV consumers extremely demand slimmer solutions, there is almost no room for a camera module on the TV. So, a wireless camera companion can be a thin and small form factor alternative to a built-in camera solution, allowing smart TV to wireless communicate with the wireless camera to bring up the camera-related applications like video phone, gesture control, and gaming.
This type of concept is alluring major worldwide TV manufacturers to implement wireless camera peripheral their TV product line-up in the coming years.
Modiotek launched the world's first DSP-based reference design for smart TV remote controls in 2010 and has continued to develop and mass-produce DSPs with varieties of remote control reference system designs since then.
Compared to MCUs that are fully on or off, Modiotek DSPs are configurable, so inherently that they can achieve superior performance in remote control and wireless voice communication with lower power consumption.
In addition, the remote control reference system designs can utilize various wireless technologies, such as 2.4GHz RF, Bluetooth 2.1, and Bluetooth 4.0.
Moore importantly, customers can differentiate their applications by leveraging the flexibility of Modiotek DSPs. Programmable DSPs allows them to custom-configure them to best fit their application while maximizing system performance, minimizing system power and reducing system cost.
"Our relationship with TowerJazz dates back nearly a decade, and in that time we have worked closely together to develop the most leading-edge processors and semiconductor technologies," said J. T. Chung, General Manager of Modiotek. "We appreciate TowerJazz's technology strength, quality assurance, capacity support, and customer service. Developing next-generation DSPs with TowerJazz is a good example of how two companies can collaborate extremely well to push semiconductor technology to another level."
"Modiotek is meeting the demand of consumers for more and more functionality associated with one device. We are excited to be chosen by Modiotek, the pioneer in the Smart TV market. We look forward to continue working with Modiotek on next generation DSPs for this leading edge emerging market," said Ilan Rabinovich, VP of Customer Support and GM of CMOS Business Unit.
Founded in 2006, Modiotek is a Hsinchu, Taiwan-based fabless chipmaker. Its expertise in DSP allows the company to design compact, inexpensive, user-friendly and widely accessible vision-based remote controller for smart TVs.