Toshiba 2000 Annual Report Download - page 33

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31
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The corporate R&D Center conducts research programs that seek to anticipate
and meet the emerging needs of end users and that help to define the future
direction of Toshiba. The adoption of the in-house company system has helped
to clarify this role. Each of the nine companies works in defined markets, against
recognized competitors, a focus that makes it easier to refine core technologies
and accelerate the pace of research.
Under the mid-term business plan, and in support of the product areas being
nurtured by the inter-company value chain, we are concentrating our energies on
the critical fields of mobile communications and netw orks. The following para-
graphs introduce some of our recent advances in technologies that w ill shape
the next generation of products.
MPEG-4 System LSI for Next-
Generation Mobile Phones
This DRAM-embedded system LSI for MPEG-4
video/audio encoding will enable realization of
cellular video phones incorporating next-genera-
tion IMT-2000 technology. The LSI integrates
two essential elements: the multimedia signal
processors, with 16M DRAM, that are needed to
support videophones and multimedia browsers
on cellular phones; and a video input/output
interface supporting direct connection to a
camera or display. Mounting these functions on
a single chip and adding newly developed en-
ergy-saving circuitry cuts power consumption to
only 240mW—73% lower than for multiple
chips doing the same job. This high-perfor-
mance, low-energy design is essential for practi-
cal MPEG-4 on cellular phones.
As a key device for bringing videophone and
multimedia browser capabilities to mobile
phones, this new LSI will allow phone users to
enjoy the Internet’s rich audio and visual content
with a handset offering the same compact dimen-
sions as current models. A multitude of applica-
tions, including video telephony, will open the
way to a world of personal mobile multimedia.
“Software Defined Radio” Technology
Every new generation of cellular phone brings
new capabilities. But until now, anyone wanting
to enjoy them had to trade up for a new hand-
set, an expensive proposition. Toshiba’s “Soft-
ware Defined Radio” makes the upgrade a
software solution, not a hardware one, and can
be applied to Japan’s PDC and PHS formats and