TOKYO, Japan, November 26, 2013 — Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) today announced the development of its new terrestrial digital broadcast reception middleware that supports the ISDB-T (Integrated Service Digital Broadcasting — Terrestrial, Note 1) standard for platform solutions of automotive information systems.
Recently, the automotive information devices have seen not only a shift from single-function products, such as car navigation systems, to fusion with the cloud and other IT technologies such as smart phones but also integration of functions for safer operation, such as monitoring the area around the car with in-car video cameras. Thus there are new desires for multimedia systems with even higher functionality and performance and users are facing problems such as increases in the difficulty of developing software that can implement these systems, increased development costs, and longer development periods.
Renesas has been providing a wide range of middleware products to the market. In 2005, Renesas led the industry by releasing middleware for ISDB-T (one-segment) broadcast reception for use in car navigation and other automotive information devices. Then, in 2009, Renesas developed middleware for ISDB-T (full-segment) broadcast reception. Renesas has also released a sequence of SoC products for automotive information devices, including the R-Car H2 and the R-Car M2, which were released in March 2013 and September 2013, respectively.
Given this background, Renesas is now providing middleware for terrestrial digital broadcast reception that supports the R-Car H2 and R-Car M2 SoC products developed using the technologies accumulated in these earlier efforts as solutions that can easily construct terrestrial digital broadcasting viewing reception systems for automotive information equipment.
Key features of the new middleware:
(1) Optimized for the hardware
The new middleware efficiently controls the video image processing (synthesis, enlarge/reduce, IP conversion and other functions) hardware included in the R-Car H2 and R-Car M2 using dedicated drivers, and this allows optimization so that the maximum performance of the SoC device is acquired. This allows terrestrial digital broadcast viewing systems to be implemented without complex hardware control by the user system.
(2) Powerful error tolerance functions
The middleware includes the powerful error tolerance functions required in automotive information devices. In particular, it provides both fade processing for audio noise reduction and video complementation processing using concealing processing to supplement missing data so that it can output as smooth audio and video as possible even in cases where television broadcast reception conditions are poor. This can contribute to achieving smooth television viewing even when reception conditions are degraded during vehicle motion.
(3) Control flows that can handle increasingly diverse multimedia requirements
It is now desired to be able to construct systems that operate stably even in the high-load environments associated with the increasingly high functionality of multimedia functions such as two-screen output and running multiple applications at the same time. To respond to these sorts of needs, this new product contributes to the implementation of stable terrestrial digital broadcast viewing systems by implementing control flows that multiplex and manage bus bandwidth for both the video and audio data as well as the instruction data that controls the hardware.
Furthermore, the middleware implements a control flow that excludes, to the greatest extent possible, compression processing that could degrade video image quality to respond to desires for performance with respect to increased image quality video. Thus this product makes it possible to develop products that support a wide range of usage scenarios by having the user system dynamically select from these control flows.
In addition, the new middleware also supports a content copyright dedicated protection system (Note 2, ARIB: Part 3 of the STD-B25 standard, Note 3) standard that does not use an IC card (the B-CAS card, Note 4), and thus contributes to flexible user system development that does not use only the earlier copyright system (which requires a B-CAS card).
Renesas plans to develop middleware that supports overseas digital TV broadcast standards by expanding the functions of this new product in the future.
(Note 1) ISDB-T (Integrated Service Digital Broadcasting – Terrestrial):
A communication standard adopted in Japan for terrestrial digital broadcasting.
(Note 2) Content copyright dedicated protection system:
A reception restriction method in digital broadcasting defined in the ARIB standard STD-B25, part 3.
(Note 3) ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Business):
An industry group that creates and institutes standards relating to cellular telephones and digital broadcasting in Japan.
(Note 4) B-CAS card:
An IC card used in limited reception systems for digital broadcasts.
Refer to the separate sheet for the main specifications of the new middleware.
Availability
Samples of the middleware are scheduled to be available in December 2013. (Availability is subject to change without notice.)
About Renesas Electronics Corporation
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world's number one supplier of microcontrollers, is a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions and a broad range of analog and power devices. Business operations began as Renesas Electronics in April 2010 through the integration of NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723) and Renesas Technology Corp., with operations spanning research, development, design and manufacturing for a wide range of applications. Headquartered in Japan, Renesas Electronics has subsidiaries in approximately 20 countries worldwide. More information can be found at www.renesas.com.
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