MediaQ Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) is set to announce a new family of ARM-based system-on-chip processors for next-generation multimedia-oriented handheld devices such as PDAs and mobile phones. According to MediaQ, the new Katana “application processors” simultaneously reduce power consumption while boosting performance, as a result of the inclusion of dedicated on-chip hardware accelerators for 2D and 3D… graphics, native Java byte-code execution, JPEG encode, and digital camera support.

Three Katana processors are scheduled for release this year . . .

• MQ9000 — integrates the family's baseline functionality (see block diagram below), which includes: an ARM922T core, embedded memory, a 320 x 480 pixel color graphics controller for S-STN and TFT LCDs, a NAND Flash memory controller, a CCIR656-compliant camera interface, three serial ports, and interfaces for USB, 4-bit SDIO, and a keypad. Dedicated hardware acceleration engines include 64-bit 2D Graphics, MPEG-4 post processing, and Java.
• MQ9100 — baseline functionality, plus hardware JPEG compression for cameras that can stream VGA images, enabling users to capture high-quality images in real time.
• MQ9150 — baseline functionality, plus hardware JPEG compression for capturing megapixel camera images.

Additionally, both the MQ9100 and MQ9150 can support two LCDs simultaneously, as required by new “flip-style” handset designs.

Baseline Katana functionality
According to MediaQ software development manager Rakesh Jain, embedded operating system support for the Katana family processors will include PalmOS, Windows CE .NET 4.2 (along with Pocket PC and Smartphone 2003), uITRON, and Linux. The embedded Linux port is being done by Lineo uSolutions (Japan), he added.

The MQ9000 is available now, and engineering samples of the MQ9100 and MQ9150 are expected to be available in July and September, respectively, the company said.

 
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