Memory technology secures multimedia ICs

Zoran Corporation, a leading provider of digital solutions for applications in the digital entertainment and digital imaging markets, uses the Kilopass' XPM memory technology.

Zoran Corporation, a leading provider of digital solutions for applications in the digital entertainment and digital imaging markets, uses the Kilopass' XPM memory technology.

Zoran has been licensing the XPM memory intellectual property (IP) since 2004.

"Kilopass' XPM memory technology makes it possible for us to reduce the number of parts in our designs", said Gerard Yeh, Vice President of DTV VLSI Engineering at Zoran.

"Our current products for the high-definition television market use a TSMC 0.18um process with 8Kbit of XPM memory".

"Security applications for consumer products is an important area where XPM can make a big difference in efficient and cost-effective chip design", said Kilopass' Charles Ng, Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing.

"For home entertainment products, such as Zoran's high definition TV designs, XPM offers low-cost, programmable, and safe storage of security keys for digital content protection applications".

Kilopass' silicon-proven, low-cost and highly secure XPM memory technology, offers the benefits of post-manufacturing programming of nonvolatile memory implemented in standard-logic CMOS processes, including 0.18um, 0.13um and 90nm.

Applications for embedded XPM memories include analogue trimming and calibration, chip IDs, security keys, DRM (digital rights management), HDMI, memory repair, CMOS image sensors, digital logic configuration, and secure firmware storage.

HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) permits uncompressed video transfer between a digital video source and an HDMI-enabled video receiver, normally a consumer electronics device such as a digital television.

HDMI transfers both video and audio signals.

Encryption is done by an HDMI transmitter found in the video source, such as a DVD player or set-top box, while decryption is done by the HDMI receiver.

HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multichannel digital audio on a single cable.

It transmits all ATSC HDTV standards with extra bandwidth available for future enhancements and requirements.

When used with the HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) authentication protocol, an HDMI-enabled receiver must securely store secret device keys, and this requires a highly secure field programming capability.

Kilopass' XPM memory technology provides this security.

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