EUF-CON-T0865 Tablets and eReaders with i - Freescale

May 2010 

Market Solutions Seminars 

Tablets and eReaders with i.MX Applications Processors 

Freescale, the Freescale logo, AltiVec, C-5, CodeTEST, CodeWarrior, ColdFire, C-Ware, mobileGT, PowerQUICC, StarCore, and Symphony are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., 

Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. BeeKit, BeeStack, CoreNet, the Energy Efficient Solutions logo, Flexis, MXC, Platform in a Package, Processor Expert, QorIQ, QUICC Engine, SMARTMOS, TurboLink 

and VortiQa are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2010 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 

TM

Automotive 

• Historic leadership in Telematics 

• Ramping in radio and infotainment 

• Initial designs in advanced clusters 

Smart Mobile Devices 

• Thought leader for smartbooks 

• Focused investment in tablets 

• Strong smartphone player 




Freescale Multimedia Markets 

2 

eReaders 

• Dominant market share in emerging 

eReader market 

• Aligned with market leaders 

Embedded Multimedia 

• Broad traction in the embedded market 

• Connected display based devices in 

consumer and industrial markets 

TM



and VortiQa are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2010 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 3 

Freescale Applications Processors (i.MX) 

Consumer Focus in 2010 

smartbooks eReaders 

TM

PC / 

Laptop / Netbook 




Smartbook = Best of Two Worlds 

Smartbook Phone / Smartphone 

� Portability 

� Great Internet & Entertainment Experience 

� All Day Battery Life 

� Instant On, Persistent Connectivity 

TM

Example of 

Consumer usage: 

High tier smartbook 

Smartbook 

Smartphone 

eReader 

PMP 

Right Edge = Consumer Qualification 

Left Edge has no meaning 

i.MX31 Next Gen family 

• ARM1136, 532MHz 

• Graphics 

• mDDR 

i.MX27 family 


• ARM926, 400MHz 

• Video 

STMP37xx Next Gen 

• ARM926, 266-400MHz 

• Integrated PMIC 

V2IP 

i.MX27 

Smartbook 

gen 1 

i.MX515 




Consumer Reference Designs Roadmap 

*: Part of Freescale’s Smart Application Blueprint for Rapid Engineering (SABRE) 

series 

2008 

Nettop 

i.MX515 

PND 

i.MX357 

2009 

Smartbook 

gen 2* 

i.MX515 

eReader* 

i.MX51e 

Remote Control* 

RF4CE 

2010 

Smartbook 

gen 3* 

eReader* 

i.MX508 

TM




Freescale i.MX51 Reference Smart Tablets 

7 

TM

Evaluation unit 




Industrial design 

TM

SABRE smartbook gen 2 Key Specifications 




Size 200 x 128 x 14.9mm 

(7.87 x 5.04 x 0.59 inches) 

Weight 376 grams (13.3 ounces) 

Processor Freescale i.MX515 

Memory 512MB DDR2 

Display 7" (1024 x 600) touchscreen 

Storage 4GB - 64GB internal 

Micro SD removable 

Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n 

Bluetooth 2.1 

GPS 

Optional Connectivity 3G modem, RF4CE 

LED / Status lights Camera, Power, Wi-Fi, Modem 

Ports USB 2.0 and USB mini (also for charging) 

Audio in / Audio out 

SIM card 

Audio Speaker, microphone 

Camera 3 Mpixel (Video Recording up to VGA @ 30fps) 

Battery 1900mAh, USB charging 

Sensors Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor 

Key Software Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1, Android, 

Thundersoft Millos, Ubuntu 

Stand Optional, includes keyboard 

TM




Block Diagram 

TM

11 

OS Target Markets Comments 

Chrome/ 

Chromium 

Android 

Ubuntu 

Millos 

Clamshell smartbook • Aimed at cloud computing 

• No touch screen support today 

Smartphone 

Smaller tablets (less than 7 in) 

eBook 

Clamshell smartbook 

Bigger tablets 

(7-10 in) 

Smartbook 

Smartphone 

• Optimized for smartphones 

• Touch screen support 

• Tremendous pull in multiple markets 

• Supports netbook applications 

• Smartbook flavors 

•Not available on SABRE gen 2. 

• Optimized applications 




Software solutions 

WinCE Small Tablet • Highly integrated WinCE6 and WinCE 7 platforms 

TM

Specifications: 

� CPU: Cortex A8, up to 800MHz 

� Process: 65nm, LP/GP 

� Core Voltage: 0.7-1.1V 

� Package: 19x19 0.8mm BGA 

13x13 0.5mm POP (qual Q310) 

� Temp Range: -20 to 85C 

-40 to 85C 

Key i.MX515 Features and Advantages 

� High performance CPU: Cortex A8 

� 512MB mDDR/DDR2 at 200MHz 

� HDD: PATA interface 

� Ethernet 10/100 

� Low power multimedia 

� Delivers rich graphics and UI in HW 

� OpenGL ES 2.0 3D accelerator (AMD Z430) 

� OpenVG 1.1 graphics accelerator (AMD Z160) 

� Neon Vector floating point co-processor 

� Display up to WXGA 

� Drives high resolution video in HW 

� Multi-format D1 video encode 

� Multi-format HD720 video decode 

� High quality video processing (resizing, de-interlacing, 

etc) 

� Displays: Parallel or Component 

� Mixed signal integration - HD720 TV out and high speed 

USB with embedded PHY 




i.MX515 Applications Processor 

System 

Control 

Secure JTAG 

Power Mgmt 

PLL x 3 

Clock Reset 

Timers 

Timer x3 

PWM x2 

Watch Dog x2 

Memory 

ROM 32KB 

RAM 96KB 

Security 

Sahara v4 

Trust Zone 

RTIC 

SCC v2 

SRTC 

32KB 

i-cache 

Neon 

12 

i.MX515 

CPU Platform 

Cortex A8 

32KB 

d-cache 

Multimedia 

ETM 

Vector Floating 

Point Unit 

OpenGL ES 2.0 + VG1.1 

HW Video Codecs 

HD720 TV-Out 

Imaging Processing Unit 

Display Controller 

Resizing & Blending 

Inversion / Rotation 

Image Enhancement 

Camera 

256KB 

L2-cache 

eFUSES Smart DMA 

Connectivity 

Fast IrDA 

HS MMC/SDIO x4 

CSPI HS x2 / LS x1 

UART x3 

HS I 2 C x1 

I 2 C x2 

SSI/I 2 S x3 

1-Wire 

ATA-6 

USB OTG HS+PHY 

USB HS x3 

SPDIF Tx 

GPIO 

Keypad 

Ethernet 

Ext Memory I/F 

mDDR 200 MHz 

DDR2 200 MHz 

TM




Smartbook Trends 

Freescale has been working with the Savannah 

School of Art and Design to understand the 

market for Smartbooks: 

• Over 1,000 in depth interviews conducted 

• Multiple segments explored 

• Future trends and use models revealed 

• Industrial design concepts conceived based on 

the information 

TM




Block Diagram 

TM




Block Diagram 

TM




Block Diagram 

TM

Freescale eReader Solutions 




17 

TM




The eReader vs. the Tablet Computer 

eReader Smartbook Tablet 

• Target market: avid readers 

• Buyers have an average age of 43 and 

earn at least $35k annually with an 

average income of $72,030 

The Book Industry Study Group, 

2010, www.bisg.ort 

• Target market: a younger, social 

networking crowd that wants to check 

latest Facebook update 

• The target customers are largely different segments 

• Both types of devices use eBooks 

• Both markets are expected to realize significant growth 

• Both will hasten the acceptance and pace towards more eBooks 

TM

Most eReaders use Freescale’s processorsToday 

Freescale ended 2009 

with 70 to 90% market share 




TM

Example of 

Consumer usage: 

High tier smartbook 

Smartbook 

Smartphone 

eReader 

PMP 

Powers most eReaders 

on the market today 

Right Edge = Consumer Qualification 

Left Edge has no meaning 

i.MX51e with soft EINK 

display controller: 

Avoids the need of 

an external E Paper 

Display (EPD) controller 

and related memories 


• ARM1136, 532MHz 

• Graphics 

• mDDR 

i.MX27 family 


• ARM926, 400MHz 

• Video 

STMP37xx Next Gen 

• ARM926, 266-400MHz 

• Integrated PMIC 

Why is high performance needed for eReaders? 

PDF file benchmark on ARM cores (time to open a pdf file): 

Cortex A8 

i.MX51 800MHz 

DDR2 200MHz 

Cortex A8 

i.MX51 532MHz 

DDR2 133MHz 

ARM11 

i.MX35 532MHz 

DDR2 133MHz 

ARM9 

i.MX25 400MHz 

DDR2 133MHz 

pdf file 1 

65 pages of text 

243KB 

pdf file 2 

4 color pages (ads) 

731KB 

< 1 sec ~2 sec ~6 sec 

~1 sec ~4 sec ~8 sec 

~1.5 sec ~6 sec ~15 sec 




pdf file 3 

EDN magazine 

66 pages (ads, text) 

16500KB 

~2 sec ~10 sec ~25 sec 

TM

V2IP 

i.MX27 

Smartbook 

gen 1 

i.MX515 




Consumer Reference Designs Roadmap 

*: Part of Freescale’s Smart Application Blueprint for Rapid Engineering (SABRE) 

series 

2008 

Nettop 

i.MX515 

PND 

i.MX357 

2009 

Smartbook 

gen 2* 

i.MX515 

eReader* 

i.MX51e 

Remote Control* 

RF4CE 

2010 

Smartbook 

gen 3* 

eReader* 

i.MX508 

TM

Freescale SABRE Platform for eReaders with i.MX51e 

Freescale standard EVK + E Ink EPD extension card 




• Introducing the SABRE platform 

for Readers based on i.MX51 

• Uses an i.MX51 applications 

processor running a software 

version of the EPD controller for 

the i.MX508 

• Customers can start designing 

and easily move software to the 

i.MX508 to reduce cost and 

increase performance 

i.MX51e is a new part within the i.MX51 family. It has a fuse tied to the E INK soft EPD IP. Part number SCIMX51EJM8C. 

TM

Reference Design demoed at MWC, Barcelona 




Also demoed with 

Sensitive Object’s 

acoustic touch 

TM

Introducing the i.MX508 SOC for eReaders 

The i.MX508 is the first system-on-a-chip (SOC) to combine the latest ARM Cortex A8 processing 

core with the latest, integrated E Ink electronic paper display (EPD) controller. 

Sampling July 2010, qualified early Q4. 

Lower Cost Extended Battery Life Get Faster Page Flips 

• 50% less than a similar 

processor with a 

standalone EPD controller, 

the i.MX508 facilitates new 

price points 

• Other system level cost 

savings from use of RAW 

NAND, Dual USB PHY, 

DDR2 memory, etc. 

• Special power-saving 

modes designed for 

eReaders 

• Low power features 

include the use of the new 

LP-DDR2 memory 

• High performance CPU 

combined with large L2 

cache memory reduces the 

amount of time processor is 

on, providing more power 

efficiency 




• Increased performance to 

flip pages faster 

• Capability to drive next 

generation panels for 

improved reading 

experience 

• Headroom to add new 

applications and capabilities 

TM

Traditional 

architecture 

i.MX508 architecture 

Integrating the EPD controller in HW means: 

- higher performance & power consumption 

- saves external EPD ctrl 

- no additional RAM & Flash needed 

- no glue logic (CPLD) between processor and display 

And 

- ability to use RAW NAND flash 

- low cost DDR2 memory 

- dual USB with physical layers 

i.MX508 integrates an EINK EPD controller 

RAM Flash 

i.MX31L 

processor 

PMIC 

RAM Flash 

i.MX508 

processor 

PMIC 

RAM Flash 

EPD 

controller 

Assuming 30% margins for brand and channel, a $15 BOM savings could save $30 at retail 

From $199 to $169. 

PMIC 




PMIC 

TM

► Specifications: 

• CPU: ARM Cortex A8 800 MHz 

• Process: 65nm, LP/GP 

• Core Voltage: 0.7-1.1V 

• Temp Range: -10 to 70C 

• Package: 12x12 0.5mm 

• 

► Features and Advantages 

• High Performance CPU : Cortex A8 

• Advanced power management features 

• Integrated E-INK EPD Controller 

• LP-DDR2 support for low-power applications 

• Managed NAND Flash Support with eMMC 

4.4/SDIO 

• Raw NAND with up to 32-bit ECC and 

ONFI2.1/Toggle 

• Dual USB PHY support (HS OTG, HS Host) 

• Flexible LCD display support up to 1400x1050 

@ 60Hz 

System/DMA 

Secure JTAG 

Power Mgmt 

PLL x 3 

CCM/Reset 

Timers x 2 

WDOG 

SDMA 

APBH DMA 

PERFMON 

Bus QoSC 

On-Chip Memories 

128KB OCRAM 

96KB OCROM 

Security 

RNG 

AES/SHA-1/SHA-2 

SRTC 

E-Fuse 

Change from i.MX51x 




i.MX508 Block Diagram 

CPU Core Complex 

ARM Cortex A8 (800MHz) 

32KB 

I$ 

ETM 

i.MX554 

i.MX508 

32KB 

D$ 

256KB 

L2-Cache 

NEON 

Display System 

ePXP 

CSC, Combine, Rotate, 

Gamma Mapping 

eLCDIF (1400x1050) 

8-,16-,24-,32-bit I/F 

6800/8080, VSYNC, HSYNC 

DOTCK, RGB @ 60Hz 

EPDC 

E•INK TM Panels with 

Source/Gate Driver I/F 

Graphics 

GPU2D 

OpenVG1.1 (1pix/clk) 

Connectivity 

UART x 5 

eSDHC x 4 

I 2 C x 3 

SSI x 2 

eCPSI x 2 

CPSI 

Raw NAND 

BCH32 ECC 

GPMI ONFI2.1 

USB 2.0 OTG PHY 

USB 2.0 Host PHY 

MSHC 

FEC 10/100 

KPP (8x8) 

Ext Memory (32-bit) 

EMI 

LP-DDR2-533 1.2V 

DDR2-533 1.8V 

LP-DDR1-400 1.8V 

WEIM 

SRAM, PSRAM, 

Parallel NOR 

Unmodified from i.MX51x 

TM




Learn more on… 

http://www.freescale.com/smartbook 

http://www.freescale.com/eReader 

TM

EUF-CON-T0865 Tablets and eReaders with i - Freescale

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