The Mobile Device Innovation Platform Trend Discussion Forum invited a number of IT industry heavyweights and executives from major enterprises to discuss the innovation trends of mobile devices as well as the dynamics of Taiwan's IT industry. The forum sought to provide a direction for the development of Taiwan's IT industry.Affordable quality products from Taiwan's IT supply chainThe moderator for this forum was Colley Huang, president of Digitimes. In his introductory remarks, Huang noted that Taiwan has 800 listed IT companies with a total market value of US$510 billion. These companies procure US$300 billion worth of electronic components annually, forming a huge supply chain. Taiwan's manufacturers operate 12 hours a day in order to reduce costs and produce inexpensive and quality computers. Were it not or Taiwan, consumers might have to pay US$2,000 to US$3,000 for a computer.PC sales have been gradually declining due to the rise of smartphones and tablet devices. Digitimes Research estimates that PC sales will fall by 5-10% in 2013. The PC era has ended; the mobile era has dawned.Taiwan boasts a complete supply chain, which includes world-class manufacturers, such as Hon Hai (Foxconn), and brand vendors, such as Acer and Asus. Its tax rate is low (12.8% in Taiwan, 30% in the US, and 25% in China). Enhanced by such factors, Taiwan offers an excellent business environment, said Huang, who extended an invitation to manufacturers worldwide to work with Taiwan's supply chain to produce affordable mobile devices.Qualcomm's mobile computing innovationsThe first talk of the forum was delivered by Luis Pineda, senior vice president of Product Management for Qualcomm Technology. In his talk, "Technological Innovations from the Lab to Commercialization," Pineda noted that he has been to Taiwan over 50 times since 1993 and has a very good understanding of Taiwan's supply chain. He hopes Qualcomm's leadership in mobile technology can help Taiwan's manufacturers migrate from the CPU race of the old PC era towards the new mobile era where emphasis is on innovative consumer experience.Pineda indicated that it is a mobile world now, and mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks can be found everywhere. Even computers are becoming "tabletized." In line with the trend of mobile devices going thinner and lighter, offering longer battery life and staying connected anytime, anywhere, Qualcomm provides total mobile solutions and is a key partner for Taiwan. Qualcomm has been working with Taiwan's manufacturers (such as TSMC), and has also been providing its clients with complete development kits, software, operating system support, and educational support.From R&D to commercialized servicesYan-Song Li, chairman of Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), indicated in his talk, "Chunghwa Telecom's R&D, Business, and Service Innovations," that the Taiwan-based telecom carrier established the Telecommunications Research Institute in 1969 to help promote services through innovations in technology and applications.Li highlighted some of the successful cases where CHT's technological innovations have created new services. For example, CHT's image recognition technology can enhance crime-fighting efforts: the company has launched a "police in the cloud" system, which integrates public surveillance camera networks with digital maps and police dispatch systems to track stolen vehicles. So far, this system has been adopted in Taiwan's New Taipei City, Yilan County, and Taoyuan County. This system can also work at ports to simplify and speed up the process of container customs clearance.CHT's "Visually-Impaired Support System" provides text messaging services to the visually impaired, allowing cell phones to "speak" out the messages when users touch a specific icon. Tamkang University has also adopted this technology to set up a call center that provides job opportunities for the visually impaired. The CHT system has also been incorporated into Taipei's citizen service hotline.CHT's "Business Maintenance and Operation" system is a new cloud OS platform, with which Taiwan-based manufacturers can turn their server products into mainframes or storage systems.These are some of the innovative services the CHT has launched to improve its business portfolio.X-on-siliconKenneth Tai, chairman of Jasper Display Corp (JDC), introduced his winning strategy for silicon technology. Taiwan's position in the IT industry is extremely important, and JDC is the global leader in X-on-silicon imager technology. JDC hopes manufacturers and experts worldwide can join Taiwan's silicon-based platform to pave the way for next-generation display technology.Innovations in optoelectronics technology have been driving the display industry under a "3S" framework: Size (smaller components footprint), Speed (higher frame rates), and reSolution (higher resolution). Displays have evolved from the early CRT to the currently popular FPD, such as TFT- LCD and PDP. By 2015, silicon-based microdisplay technology, such as LCoS and OLEDoS, will have become a major contender in the market.Since silicon-based microdisplay technology can be applied to both display and non-display fields – such as near-to-eye displays, computer-generated holograms, digital optics, medical applications, telecommunications and holographic storage – the database of programmable applications will be its "core technology." Coupled with value-added software, it can be applied to various optical applications.JDC is cooperating with the International Alliance of X on Silicon Application (IAoSA) to promote the technology among educational and industrial sectors.IAoSAProf Ching Piao Hu, president IAoSA, noted that Taiwan's economy had been strong for three decades until four to five years ago when it started to see stagnant growth. He pointed out a number of reasons behind Taiwan's economic woes. First, since China opened its doors 30 years ago, many Taiwanese companies have moved to China. Second, Taiwan has been well-known for its contract manufacturers. There is a Chinese saying: "Failure is the mother of success." But Hu noted that "success is often the mother of failure," because Taiwan's contract manufacturing may no longer be a great asset of its competitiveness.Hu said that for big, successful companies, innovations mainly mean ways to improve their operations, such as production processes and cost reductions, unlike those smaller firms who are more apt to explore the full possibilities of innovations. The big companies' complacency is the source of failure.In the present era of knowledge economy, "informationization of knowledge" facilitates the efficiency of businesses, and creates innovations and value. An example is Apple creating value for customers out of product functions. In addition, cloud computing has ushered in a post-PC era where Taiwan's manufacturing sector has little under its belt to boost its competitiveness. It is now difficult for Taiwan's industries to see a revival.Therefore, the greatest value of promoting an industry-academia alliance in Taiwan is to allow industry players to take full advantage of the academia's R&D resources to create a new industrial environment. Recruiting government resources is also one of the objectives for the industry-academia alliance.ConclusionThe Digitimes president, Huang, concluded the forum by remarking that "technological innovations can never transcend social innovations." Technological innovations must be in line with social changes in order to create new value. Therefore, the industry, the government, and the academia should join forces to work towards achieving the goal of creating innovations and value.The Mobile Device Innovation Platform Trend Discussion Forum is chaired by Digitimes president Colley Huang. Guest speakers are (from left to right): Qualcomm's Luis Pineda; CHT's Yan-Song Li; JDC's Kenneth Tai; and IAoSA's Ching Piao Hu.Luis Pineda, Qualcomm's senior vice president of Product ManagementYan-Song Li, chairman of Chunghwa TelecomKenneth Tai, chairman of Jasper Display CorpChing Piao Hu, president of the International Alliance of X on Silicon Application

In the evolution of computer input devices, the keyboard and mouse have been considered our good friend almost since the beginning, while the rise of portable devices such as PDAs, Pocket PCs, and Microsoft's Tablet PCs also brought about attempts to introduce a "stylus" as the basic input device. But after Apple's Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, the "touch" method has shined as the primary input method for today's mobile devices. However, using fingers to input data, write, take notes, and draw have always lacked a certain accuracy and realism. Therefore, stylus manufacturers still have something to say.Touch is not bad, but a stylus is more intuitiveBen Lee, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for WALTOP International, indicated that input devices that come with general consumer computers are mostly based on keyboard and mouse. Only professionals or artists use a drawing board plus stylus for creative production purposes. The prevalence of portable devices and mobile networks have led to the popularity of the PDAs, Pocket PCs, and Microsoft's Tablet PCs that tried to bring the "stylus" back to the application scene.However, when Steve Jobs from Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 and brought "touch" input method into our lives, followed by subsequent products such as the iPad, all mobile handsets and tablets from the Android camp, and even Windows 8; the "touch" input method has become the mainstream input/computer interaction method, overthrowing early pen input devices.However, using a finger to input data, write, take notes, and draw has always lacked a certain accuracy and realism. Therefore, the stylus has specific application value and market opportunities remain.With an extra 'pen,' sales for Samsung's mobile phones become unparalleled?During his speech, Lee paid tribute to Steve Jobs and thanked him for bringing the "touch" input method into all of today's mobile devices so we can use our hands for sliding control. However, Ben Lee feels that Steve Jobs may have spoken too soon when he said, "If you see a stylus, they blew it."Lee believes that maybe in the spelling cultures of Western languages, a keyboard has been historically sufficient for precision data entry for computers, while using hands and mouse for pointing and interactive controls. However, the facts prove that finger control for writing cannot completely replace writing with a pen because using fingers for writing, taking notes, drawing, and providing signatures is always not as natural and accurate as using a pen.Lee raised an example that Apple's main competitor today is Samsung. The Galaxy Note and its S2/S3/S4 series all include a stylus to bring the writing experiences to the consumers and use the stylus to stimulate the users' creative inspirations. This has allowed Samsung's mobile phones/tablets to become productivity tools. Statistics show that the Samsung mobile phones have the best sales performance worldwide. In addition, the Fonepad Note recently launched by Asus also included a stylus. This shows the importance and love of the Eastern writing culture from Asian IT manufacturers.Best handwriting input device is a pen and cannot be replaced by finger writingWhen the various input devices and methods are compared, the results show that the keyboard and mouse are not suitable for mobile use and virtual keyboards lack a realistic touch sensation. Although the touch method is suitable for inputting, it is not suitable for long-term writing. While the voice input is easy to use, its error rate is high. Therefore, the "pen writing" method is the most natural input method and can be used at fixed points (such as offices, conference rooms, or classrooms) or when traveling (in a car).In addition, pens have a difference in thickness and depth, and are divided into pencil, pen, brush, and other types. Pens can write (draw) relatively smaller words (pictures), the effort required would not be as arduous as that of using a finger, and will not leave fingerprints on the screen. Therefore, pens are more suitable for long-term memo, note taking, calligraphy, painting, and signature applications.Types of stylus and the advantages of electromagnetic pensToday's stylus technologies are primarily divided into the Passive EM Digitizer or the Passive Capacitive Stylus types. The advantages of the Passive EM Digitizer are that it has the hovering height of 10mm, can have buttons added to the pens, has an Z-axis sensing pressure level of up to 1,024 or 2,048 bands, has the pen tip width of 1mm, has a 4,000 LPI resolution, allow for a palm resting on the screen, has strong anti-noise interference capabilities, can be designed with exclusive applications (such as Samsung's AirView suspension preview function), and the pen tilt angle can also be detected (up to 50 degrees).WALTOP is the leader in the electromagnetic pen (EM Pen) technology. Its technology patents cover sensor layout, pen movement, IC chips, etc. Lee introduced the EM pen's product composition and operation principles. The battery-free EM Module covers the sensor board, the controller or control board, and the pen itself. Among these components, the sensor board (less than 0.25 mm in thickness) is placed between the cell phone backlight panel and the back cover, the controller can be integrated onto the PCB of the mobile phone, and the pen's movements or gestures are detected through the electromagnetic wave emission method.The battery-free EM Pen is used with the 5-inch or larger mobile phone/tablet/ touch notebook markets. Besides 9mm, 7.2mm, and 5.5mm, WALTOP has also launched a 4.5mm diameter EM Pen, the thinnest EM Pen in the world. This can help to reduce the size of the mobile units by 1mm to 2mm, allowing the thicknesses of cell phones and tablets to be less than 9.0mm and 7.8mm, respectively; as well as allow mobile devices with pens to become thinner and lighter, and is bound to drive the rise of the stylus market.Ben Lee, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for WALTOP

Supported by a number of different interfaces and standards, flash memory can be custom-designed for a variety of applications. Earlier designs mostly adopted the parallel bus architecture. However, demand for lighter and thinner mobile devices has been prompting the industry to simplify flash interfaces. Serial designs have enabled smaller-size flash memory with lower pin counts, and there are even mixed NOR-NAND designs. These have helped simplify the PCB layout, reducing costs for applications targeting the embedded market. The NAND flash manufacturing process may be approaching its limits, but Macronix has demonstrated its R&D strengths with new-generation memory technologies, such as PCM and ReRAM.Macronix and the evolution of flash memory technologyMemory for today's mobile devices and embedded systems are primarily flash-based, and there are two major types: NOR and NAND. NOR is primarily used to store firmware codes that are changed less often, and NAND is primarily used to store large volumes of data frequently accessed by users. Flash memory makers have been taking part in the making of new transmission standards that can be incorporated into next-generation SoC designs. This will accelerate the development of embedded products.Gabriel Chou, Project Manager at Macronix International, was invited to this forum to introduce his company's products. Chou indicated that Macronix is a leader in ROM and flash memory: It is number one in worldwide ROM shipments, number two in worldwide serial flash shipments, and number three in worldwide NOR flash shipments.The popularity of mobile devices, with many users owning more than one, is driving flash memory growth to over 17% annually, and storage capacities have been growing exponentially, Chou noted. He illustrated the trend with the development of non-volatile memory (NVM), a sector where Macronix is an expert. From the early EEPROM with capacities measured in KB to the later NOR with capacities measured in MB, these devices were primarily meant for storing codes. But SLC/MLC/TLC NAND/ROM (and the new-generation PCM and RRAM) devices are primarily meant for data storage and their capacities have expanded to the GB level. Future 3D NAND will have capacities approaching the TB level.Flash memory interfaces: Simplicity, high efficiency, and low power consumptionChou went on to explain the evolution of the flash interfaces. Parallel NOR and NAND used to be primary type. But as the parallel design required high pin counts, the serial (or SPI bus) type later became the more favored design in order to achieve lower pin counts. However, the industry has now adopted the designs of dual and four I/O buses, and it is also looking at eight I/O buses for future applications. For storage interfaces, there are SATA and eMMC, plus the future UFS specification.Chou indicated that Macronix has seen diminishing shipments for parallel (AD-MUX or page mode) NOR and parallel NAND, and gradually rising shipments for SPI-NOR and SPI-NAND. This clearly shows that the industry is shifting to simplified designs with reduced pin counts, as well as more I/O buses and higher efficiency. The standard eMMC/UFS is expected to be the mainstream soon for 3C products with large memory capacities. As for LPDDR, Chou stated that it remains to be seen whether this interface will become popular in the future.What is worth noting is that the evolution of eMMC is actually very similar to that of SPI. That is, after the number of I/O buses has increased to eight, SPIx8 can reach a transmission speed of 1.6Gbps; and after the DDR mechanism has been added to the eMMC v5.0, it can reach HS400x8 (3.2Gbps).The mixed-type flash memory interface designEach type of memory technology (EEPROM, PCM, ROM, NOR, and NAND) has its dedicated transmission interface and controller. Manufacturers have standardized them to simplify designs and accelerate product development.However, as the NAND flash production process moves towards 2Xnm or even 1Xnm nodes, it must be supported by better controllers to provide greater stability and higher-bit error checking and correction (ECC). This enables reliable data storage.Because there are different types of memory, the trend is to provide modules with interfaces standardized through the controller.HybridFlash launched by Macronix in 2012 is based on such a concept. It integrates XtraRom, serial flash, and the controller into a single multi-chip package (MCP), and uses the eMMC or SPI interface for transmission. MCP supports embedded systems' OS, various codes and transmission interfaces. It offers flexibility and reliability, as well as competitive pricing. Currently, it is available in capacities ranging from 2Gb to 8Gb.The direction of future memory developmentMacronix has spared no effort in R&D and innovation. In 2012, 19% of its investments went to R&D. Macronix has obtained more than 5,000 patents, making it the world's number 18 IT firm in terms of patent portfolios. In various memory-related technology forums, Macronix has also outnumbered its peers in terms of papers published on floating gate, charge trapping, and NVM technologies, as well as new-generation memories such as phase change memory (PCM, co-developed with IBM) and resistive random-access memory (ReRAM). This demonstrates Macronix' expertise in the NVM field.Macronix has also developed the world's smallest vertical gate (VG) 3D NAND memory. The present 37.5nm process can stack up to eight layers of memory chips. Within the next three years, Macronix will move towards 36nm and 2Xnm in order to meet the demand for smaller mobile devices with larger capacities.Gabriel Chou, Project Manager at Macronix International

Apple chose Corning's cover glass when looking for a scratch-resistant material for the screen of its first-generation iPhone. The success of iPhone prompted other manufacturers to adopt the same glass material, allowing Corning's cover glass to become a mainstay for touch-enabled electronic products. Corning has since developed even better scratch- and damage-resistant glass products.Scratch-resistant glass for mobile devicesIf the Apples iPhone is the pioneer of the smartphone market, then Corning, the creator of Gorilla Glass, is the leading manufacturer that opened up the scratch-resistant glass market. Steve Jobs' memoir revealed that six months prior to the launch of iPhone, he had asked Corning's CEO to mass produce Gorilla Glass for the iPhone.Gorilla Glass is made using Corning's proprietary furnace process that delivers unparalleled surface quality comparable to that of the company's LCD glass substrates. No heavy metals are used processing Gorilla Glass, which is environmentally friendly. Gorilla Glass is RF compatible, and has outstanding optical clarity. It can be applied to high-definition and 3D displays.Gorilla Glass has been adopted by many other devices, such as the iPad, Android smartphones and tablets. According to statistics, Gorilla Glass was used in 200 million cell phones in 2010, with a 20% market share. In 2012, Corning launched Gorilla Glass 2, which is 20% thinner than the first generation, with the same strength and increased sensitivity. Gorilla Glass 2 enables thinner devices and by the fourth quarter in 2012, it had been adopted by more than one billion mobile devices. So far, more than 1.5 billion devices have adopted Gorilla Glass 2.Gorilla Glass 3Corning is the leading manufacturer in specialty glass and ceramic materials. From manufacturing glass for incandescent light bulbs in the early days to producing LCD glass for the present FPDs, Corning has been eager to innovate and create value for customers. The popular Gorilla Glass has been adopted by numerous cell phone and tablet PC manufacturers. Now Corning has launched Gorilla Glass 3. Dr David Chen, director of the Asia Commercial Technology-Specialty Materials Department for Corning, introduced the new glass during the forum, and talked about the prospect of touch-enabled notebooks.Launched at CES 2013 and exhibited at Computex 2013, Gorilla Glass 3 is made using Corning's exclusive Native Damage Resistance (NDR) technology that allows the glass to absorb more force to prevent breaking. Compared to the second generation product, Gorilla Glass 3 is three times more scratch-resistant, and has a higher post-scratch strength. A video clip of testing on Corning's glass products was shown at the forum. Test results show that scratches will occur on Gorilla Glass 2 under 0.5kg of external force, but Gorilla Glass 3 will not produce visible defects even under the same force.Concore Glass for OGS touchFor touch panel solutions, there are currently double glass (G/G), glass/film (G/F), one glass solution (OGS), as well as on-cell and in-cell processing technologies. Because costs for G/G and G/F are higher and the market tends to prefer slimmer, lighter, and lower-cost devices, OGS and in-cell/on-cell solutions have become popular.OGS is suitable for larger screens. The technology is mature, and costs less than on-cell or in-cell solutions. It is suitable for touch-enabled notebooks. However, touch-enabled notebooks have relatively larger displays that are more prone to wear and damage than those of cell phones and tablets. Chen noted that a 2012 market survey found that touch-enabled notebook users often complained about scratches on the screens, which is twice more likely to occur compared to cell phones and tablets. Therefore, the market needs a more durable and scratch-resistant OGS touch panel solution.Corning has introduced Concore Glass. It is a full sheet ion-exchanged glass that enables integrated touch or one glass solution through ITO deposition on large-sized glass. Concore Glass enables smooth and seamless design, and its high touch sensitivity supports the most sophisticated electronic devices.Concore Glass supports full-screen lamination technology for OGS, which effectively reduces the display thickness. Compared to soda lime glass (SLG), Concore is eight to 10 times more scratch-resistant and five times higher in compressive strength. When a piece of CT30 Concore Glass (0.55 mm in thickness) is compared to a SLG glass of the same thickness, a force of 2N will shatter the latter while the former will remain unscathed.Chen also gave an on-site demonstration of the strength of Concore Glass. SLG will often crack if you accidentally poke the side of the display with a pen, or lift a notebook by the edge of the screen. However, these will not happen if the screen adopts Concore Glass. Chen even stamped on a piece of Concore Glass heavily, but it did not even show any scratches.Accordingly, G/G and G/F touch panels can adopt Corning's Gorilla Glass, and OGS panels can adopt Concore Glass.David Chen, director of Asia Commercial Technology-Specialty Materials Department for Corning

The performance of notebooks relies on major components such as the CPU, memory, and the hard drive (HDD). Thanks to the advance in semiconductor processes, the first two components mentioned have become increasingly faster. That leaves only the last component, or the HDD, that cannot break through its speed bottleneck due to being based on mechanical parts. This forces the system to have to wait for hard drive access during the operating system boot-up or accessing a large volume of data, which reduces efficiency. Although HDDs can be replaced by pricier SSDs, manufacturers nonetheless have offered several solutions that not only reduce costs while providing large-capacity and high-performance; it can also make the price of notebooks more competitive as well.HDD is unbeatable and give data a safe homeThe HDD has always played a critical role of system storage in the history of computer development. The HDD stores the operating system, applications, and user data so that the computer can function normally. In response to different market needs, HDD manufacturers have developed a variety of products in response to different situations for consumers to choose from.The popularity of the mobile network has enabled notebooks to flourish, and various manufacturers have strived to introduce various notebook products to attract consumers. In recent years, under the influence of tablets, a lightweight and transformable trend for notebooks has been developing. The solid state drive (SSD) appears to be a good choice considering notebooks' emphasis on lightness, long battery life, and high performance. However, its capacity to price ratio ($/GB) is not cost-effective. Does the HDD industry have a better storage solution for the notebook industry? Lenny Sharp, Mobile Product Marketing & Planning, global director of HGST, introduced the latest solutions to participants of the event.Smart mobile devices stimulate demand for external hard drivesFormally known as "Hitachi Global Storage Technologies," it is now a fully owned subsidiary of Western Digital (WDC) under the name HGST. To follow the anti-trust regulations, HGST and WD operate as two separate companies under WDC with separate distinct brands and product lines. HGST is committed to developing high-capacity HDD products and has recently launched the 2.5-inch Travelstar 5K1500 in single-platter 7mm 500GB , two-platter 9.5mm 1TB, and the industry's highest capacity three-platter 9.5 mm 1.5TB HDDs.Sharp indicated that due to the popularity of mobile and cloud storage and under the influence of various smart mobile devices, notebook sales are flat. In contrast, the more smart mobile devices that people have, the better it is for the hard drive industry. Sales of the internal 2.5-inch HDDs is on the rise and IDC's research also found that this market will have an annual growth rate of 23.8% from 2012 to 2016.Thinner and lighter high performance notebooks have driven the trend of hybrid HDDsLightweight, thin, and transformable notebooks are the current trend for the industry. The latest Intel ultrabook specification requires HDDs slimmer than 7mm. Therefore, manufacturers will gradually abandon the 9.5mm HDD and adopt 7mm or even 5mm HDD instead. According to IDC market research and a HGST internal analysis report, less than 10% of notebooks use 7mm HDDs currently, and by the end of 2013, 20% of ultrabooks will adopt 7mm HDDs and 7mm HDDs will be the mainstream in the future.In terms of disk configuration, notebooks can use the total SDD solution, but small capacity and high cost can target the premium notebook segment only. Due to the considerations of cost reduction in the mainstream market, a lot of OEMs like the idea of dual drive (HDD and SSD) or hybrid drive (HDD with flash memory embedded, which is also known as the solid state hybrid drive (SSHD).Dual drive has more advantages over hybrid driveThe "dual drive" combines the advantages of a HDD's high-capacity and the SSD's rapid access. It allows the computer system to determine where to store the data. The "hybrid drive" provides built-in SSD cache directly on the HDD and uses the HDD itself to manage data storage. The two solutions are all faster than the pure HDD model.Sharp indicated that there are three considerations for the HDD combination design: "integration", "cost," and "performance." Dual drives and hybrid drives work quite similar on "integration" and "cost." As for "performance," the dual drives come with computer system chipset. Together with the driver and accelerator, it is able to deliver performance similar to SSDs. On the other hand, to the computer, the hybrid drive is like a disk drive, so its effectiveness depends on the speed of the processor inside the hybrid dive. That's why the performance level of a hybrid drive is not as good as a dual drive.HGST's test shows the comparisons for the two solutions and found that the 7,200RPM dual drive system can perform almost the same as the benchmark score to mainstream SSD, and performs 70% faster than the latest and fastest hybrid drives in the market.With the same degree of integration and cost, a dual drive is much faster than a hybrid drive. Furthermore, dual drive is more flexible than hybrid drive. Sharp also revealed that Asus will choose HGST Travelstar 7200RPM HDDs in all dual drive ultrabooks by the end of 2013. This configuration delivers the right balance among performance, cost and endurance.Lenny Sharp, Mobile Product Marketing & Planning, global director of HGST

Microsoft's Windows 8 platform has launched a new computer era of touch screen control. However, the cost of touch-control notebooks remains high and can only provide a 2D control experience - equivalent to that of a tablet - and cannot provide more intuitive somatosensory control. Microchip Technology, a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions launched its newly patented GestIC technology in November of 2012, which provides a wide range of new motion control technologies for an assortment of current computer terminal applications. Using the non-contact gesture control user interface, the 3D computer control experience is realized. More intuitive and touch-free gesture control technology The Apple iOS and Google Android platforms have introduced touch screen control technology in handsets, tablets, and other consumer products to successfully replace push-button designs. The Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Kinect technology, and Sony PS3 Move have also introduced somatosensory control into gaming consoles to create new video gaming methods where the human body becomes the controller. As for the computer market that primarily uses the keyboard and mouse (or trackpad), the introduction of Microsoft's Windows 8 has enabled a new touch screen control interface that accelerated the computer "tabletization" era. However, Windows 8 touch screen notebooks are expensive and only provide 2D control. It is tiring to use long-term and users end up with a screen full of fingerprints, while the practicality of the whole process is still under review. These conditions have prompted other control-technology vendors to target the computer market to provide new somatosensory control technologies. Andreas Guete, marketing manager of the Asia-Pacific Human Interface Division (HMID) and Advanced Input Devices of Microchip Technology, provided a further explanation and demonstration for next-generation 3D gesture computer control technology. GestIC adopts new electric near field sensing technology Guete introduced Microchip's GestIC 3D gesture control technology to transcend the limits described above. The single-chip MGC3130 based on GestIC technology is the world's first electric near-field (E-field) technology 3D gesture control microprocessor that provides free-space position tracking, 3D gesture recognition, proximity detection, and control functions. The technical principle of GestIC is to generate an electric near-field wave approximately 15cm that surrounds the IC and transmits a 100kHz carrier frequency at a corresponding wavelength of 3km. Because it is a radio wave, distances between electrodes are extremely small, and the magnetic field, as well as the amount of radiation, are actually zero. A quasi-static electric field – unaffected by mobile radio inferences such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and CDMA – can be created, and is also unaffected by surrounding environmental factors such as light, sound, skin tone, temperature, or humidity. The wave can accurately and rapidly detect and track hand positions to provide non-contact 3D gesture recognition. GestIC uses printed circuit board (PCB) traces or various conductive materials on the indium tin oxide (ITO) coating of the touch sensors to produce up to five electric near-field sensing electrodes. The technology can directly and subtly be integrated within the housing of products such as traditional notebooks, tablets, keyboards, electric drawing boards, handsets, or various remote control devices, which would not affect the aesthetics of industrial design. MGC3130 gesture control single-chip solution The GestIC technology MGC3130 single-chip solution can create a 150 DPI mouse resolution equivalent with a 200Hz sampling rate that can accurately detect rapid hand gestures and finger movements. It also has an ultra-low noise simulation front-end. The device has an ultra-low current consumption of between 150 microwatts and a maximum of 70mW when in the sensing state, which is 90% more power efficient compared with the somatosensory recognition system of a general photographic lenses (of approximately 1200mW), and has an automatic wake-up capability that ensures the gesture sensing function of mobile devices is permanently activated. It can automatically self-calibrate to maintain high-precision detection capabilities, can instantly process hand gestures and x/y/z position data and comes with a built-in Colibri Suite gesture database, as well as a 32-bit digital signal processor and integrated flash memory and an upgradeable gesture database. The chip adopts a 70-130kHz frequency-hopping electric field and can eliminate radio-frequency, ambient light, and sound interferences. The MGC 3130 Colibri Suite has numerous built-in hand gesture databases, including wake-up methods, location tracking, fingertip gestures, hand rotation gestures, as well as symbolic gestures and can turn the machine on/off as well as execute applications, point, click, zoom, scroll, free-space mouse hover, and many other features. In addition, Microchip provides the GestIC API and the OverkeyUX (Windows 8 appearance) user interface (UI), complete deployment kits to allow manufacturers to develop a variety of 3D gesture applications. Extending touch experience of Windows 8 with 3D hand gesture control Guete indicated that for a Windows 8 notebook, desktop, and AIO PC systems, the only thing that hardware vendors have to do is to add GestIC technology into the keyboard (PCB electrode coating) in combination with the MGC3130 to enable hand gesture to control the new Windows 8 interface. For example, wave left to activate Charm Bar, wave down to close Apps and to easily control the system without touching the screen. Mass production of the MGC3130 chip began in April 2013 and comes with a single-zone evaluation kit to allow designers to easily use the MGC3130 to develop various 3D hand gesture control for IT products. Andreas Guete, marketing manager of Asia-Pacific HMID and Advanced Input Devices of Microchip Technology

Advantech, the embedded platform and integration services provider, announces the introduction of a new industrial-grade, Mini-ITX motherboard supporting the latest AMD R-Series processors. AMD R-Series feature intelligent performance, power efficiency, and integrated AMD Radeon HD 7000 graphics with DX11 and dual HD decoding 1080i+1080p support.AIMB-224 is capable of SATA RAID 0, 1, 5 & 10 to ensure reliable storage and system protection for gaming-intensive applications, retail, medical, digital signage and many more.Delivering Exceptional Performance in a Power Efficient PlatformAIMB-224 is designed with the AMD Embedded R-Series platform which delivers high-performance processing for a premium high definition visual experience (AMD eyefinity technology supports multiple independent display outputs simultaneously). With average power below 35 Watts and AMD Radeon graphics performance integrated into the AMD R-Series APU, the AIMB-224 allows full multimedia capabilities at resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 and 2048 x 1536 via DisplayPort. AIMB-224 Mini-ITX motherboard offers advanced 3D graphics and supports a total of three independent displays via dual DisplayPorts 1.2, VGA on the rear I/O, as well as onboard 24-bit dual channel LVDS interface supporting a 3.3V, 5V or 12V large sized panel.Maximum Connectivity for Minimum ResourcesThe AIMB-224 board comes with high connectivity and a variety of expansion options including: a single PCIe x8 and two miniPCIe x1 expansion slots (one full size/one half size), six serial ports, three SATA III 600 MB/s connectors, two USB3.0 and eight USB 2.0 ports. AIMB-224 also comes with software RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 support, offering abundant data storage and reliable data protection, as well as dual PCI Express based Gigabit Ethernet ports delivering up to 1000 Mbps of bandwidth for network-intensive applications. The platform also has two DDR3/3L 1333/1600MHz SO-DIMM slots which can support up to 16 GB of system memory. AIMB-224 accomodates both ATX12V and DC-in power to provide a low total cost solution. All this connectivity is packed into a space-saving, power-efficient, and cost-effective Mini-ITX form factor. For applications looking for more security protection, TPM 1.2 is also integrated into this board.Built-in Remote Management Technologies Increase ReliabilityAIMB-224 has SUSIAccess remote device management software built in. It provides device monitoring, automatic alerts by email/SMS, system recovery and protection, and remote KVM features to help your application be more reliable and smart.Integrated Intelligent Software APIAdvantech provides drivers and APIs for different operating systems including GPIO, SMBus, watchdog timer, hardware monitor, panel backlight on/off, and brightness control. Supported operating systemsinclude Windows 7, Windows XP, XP Embedded, Windows CE, and Linux—hardware drivers for these OS are readily available. AIMB-224 is available now; please contact your local sales or visit the website for more information.Features- Supports AMD Mobile R-series Quald Core / Dual Core processor- Two 204-pin SODIMM up to 16GB DDR3/DDR3L 1333 MHz SDRAM- Supports VGA/LVDS/dual DisplayPorts- Dual LANs, 6COMs, 2 x Mini PCIe, and 10 x USB ports- Supports embedded software APIs and utilitiesAIMB-224Finding more case study articles

In the 21st century, the ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT) technology has already generated many new applications that improve human life, bringing us the comforts, convenience, and efficiencies of digital signage, bank queuing systems, bus arrival prediction systems, and automobile parking service systems, to name just a few. These applications are usually carried out by thin-client computers and devices hooked to a network with a centralized server. Many of the terminal-end computers are deployed in commercial, industrial, or transportation spaces, indoors or out, and they need to be rugged and durable; smaller form factors and less power consumption are desirable, with a view to saving space, cost, and energy.Advantech, a world-renowned industrial computer manufacturer, is rolling out its newest palm-size fanless intelligent system, ARK-1122, powered by Intel Atom dual core N2600/N2800 CPU. ARK-1122 reduces power consumption to 10W with higher performance and higher specifications in terms of CPU and memory, storage capacity and I/O support, delivering more powerful computing and graphic performance with additional display interfaces. ARK-1122 comes in three SKUs with varied I/O designs suited for different embedded application scenarios.ARK-1122H supports dual displays for bank queuing systemWith VGA and HDMI outputs, ARK-1122H supports independent dual displays, and provides rich I/O options (4 x USB + 1 x COM). So it's suited for commercial digital signage applications which require connection with electronics devices. A typical scenario is a bank queuing system, which often has two displays at the bank counter - one for showing queuing numbers and the other for broadcasting videos or other information. ARK-1122H also featured palm-sized design weighing less than one kilogram, can easily be installed behind a display with a VESA bracket or in a hidden corner with DIN rail or wall mount. It is extremely competitive on cost, and on space and power requirements.ARK-1122C provides rich peripheral connections for parking lot kioskFor applications that need to connect with more peripheral devices, many of which still use serial data transfer interfaces, ARK-1122C is a good option, as it provides rich I/O connections in both serial and USB ports (4 x COM + 4 x USB). A typical application scenario, for example, is that of a parking facility management system, where ARK-1122C can be installed in a kiosk to integrate automatic toll collection, receipt printing and cash machine. ARK-1122C, with a VGA output, can support a kiosk display that shows parking info and also provides rich peripheral connections. More to the point, Computers used in such outdoor applications need to be ultra-rugged and reliable. The ARK-1122C provides wide temperature support of -20 ~ 60o C, and featuring a metal chassis with special anti-corrosion treatment. Its clean, fanless design enhances system longevityARK-1122F delivers rich network support for bus arrival prediction systemMany traffic applications need to communicate with mobile vehicles, and wireless connection becomes an important requirement. ARK-1122F provides rich I/O including two GbE ports for cable connections well as mini-PCIe expansion for wireless 3G/Wi-Fi communications, and supports dual displays (VGA + HDMI), all of which make it well suited for deployment in outdoor information systems such as those for bus arrival prediction. Such a bus arrival prediction system can be enabled by a small ARK-1122F hidden in the equipment box at each bus stop. Each ARK-1122F can support a VGA display that shows bus arrival information and an HDMI display that displays advertisements or service information. A GPS system installed on each bus reports its position in real time to a central server, which in turn controls the content displayed at the individual bus stops. Such applications require rugged industrial computers with excellent data handling ability, networking connection capabilities and display support. With its small form factor and modest power requirements, the ARK-1122F is well positioned to enable these applications.Outstanding hardware plus intelligent managementIn addition to the benefits of superior hardware, Advantech also offers stronger firmware and software support. SUSIAccess, a package of embedded software API and utilities that enable remote management and maintenance, is preloaded free with ARK-1122 series. With SUSIAccess or similar firmware/software, the control center can access remote embedded systems via the Internet, monitor device status, and administer remote diagnosis and trouble shooting. With the intelligent management tools, application systems can be scheduled to shut off during office closed hours to eliminate unnecessary power use.Resource saving palm-sized fanless intelligent system

Cloud and mobilization trends in recent years have triggered the third industrial revolution. The hot selling tablets have also accelerated the computer industry's introduction to a wide variety of tablets or transformer (tablet + laptop) products. Functionality of tablets has also gradually evolved from mostly entertainment functions into commercial application productivity features. These features have prompted the industry to develop faster processor performances and larger storage capacities. The leaders in flash memory production have responded to the future development trend of the tablet industry by accurately grasping the speed acceleration demands of mobile terminal devices to provide a full range of flash memory solutions.PC "Tabletization" revolutionTarun Loomba, vice president of marketing and client storage solutions for SanDisk, made an opening remark on how to design the popular tablet PC products. He presented some market research reports indicating that on-demand content and social media sharing, coupled with the prevalence of the wireless network, has changed the consumer habits of using entertainment electronic products and gradually switched to tablets instead. At present, tablet users spent 86% of their tablet usage time playing video games, visiting social networking sites, and enjoying multimedia entertainment. Cross-room applications allowed tablets to gradually replace or affect other designated application products such as video game consoles, IP video devices, and the often used desktop PCs.The hot sales of tablets has affected the sale for other devices as well. An IDC report estimated that shipments for tablets would reach 190 million units in 2013, with an annual growth rate that reaches 48.7%. By 2017, sales of tablets will exceed those of desktops and various portable computer combinations. According to the tablet market sales breakdown, 49.8 million, 23 million, 35 million, and 25.6 million tablets were sold in the Americas, Western Europe, Asia, and other regions in 2012, respectively. Prices for tablets range from US$150 for 7-inch media tablets to US$800 for high-end 11-inch productivity tablets. Tablets also come in Android, Windows, and iOS operating systems.Design for today's tablets focus on either portability or comfort. In terms of performance, tablets are moving toward 4 or even 8 core processors to provide higher resolutions and larger storage capacities. Tablets have also been promoted for professionals and business users in terms of consumer groups. Looking back at 2010, design features for notebooks (13 to 17 inch) and tablets (under 10 inches) were sharply divided. However, after 2012/2013, tablets became more powerful and have influenced notebook designs to trend toward removable, transformable, ultra-thin, and multi-touch control capabilities in design.Tablets have evolved from entertainment to productivityTablets that emphasize low power consumption are popular in the consumer market; however, consumers are expecting to do more on tablets and enjoy the comforts of tablets while using productivity software. This was acknowledged by the industry by efficient "commercial tablets" being born. The Gartner report also estimates that 13 million commercial tablets were sold in 2012, and that number will reach 53 million in 2016 (300% growth). It is possible that up to half of enterprise employers will formulate the bringing of your own mobile device (BYOD) to work policy by 2017.If you want a tablet that acts like a PC and has multiple program, multitasking, as well as independent foreground and background running capabilities; then you should not buy an entertainment tablet and should purchase a good performance, lighter, less power-consuming, and reasonably priced commercial tablet.SATA µSSD – the highly efficient tablet storage device designTablets that are currently on the market are divided into two major categories: the entertainment tablet that focuses on low power consumption, uses the ARM processor architecture, and runs on the Android platform; and the high-performance commercial tablet/notebook that uses an x86 processor architecture and runs on the Windows platform. As for storage device choices, the former tends to use Flash memory, and the latter mostly used hard disk drives (HDDs) or hybrid HDDs due to cost considerations.He noted that most people know that compared to HDDs, flash is more efficient, consumes less power, and is more reliable. If tablet products are designed to use flash, not only would it consume 20% less energy compare to that of HDD, it can also increase battery life by 2-3 hours and strengthen product competitiveness.In terms of flash transmission interface options, laptops and desktops are presently SATA based and will advance toward PCle in the future. Regarding high-performance mobile devices (such as the commercial tablets), the current mainstream eMMC 4.51/5.0 can only reach up to 200 MB/s. The faster UFS or PCle interfaces have not yet matured, and the tablet transmission interface will face bottlenecks in the future as a result. Current SATA III can reach a high-performance of 600 MB/s. STAT III is mature, supports a variety of sizes, and has low power consumption, as well as advanced multitasking scheduling features. Using SATA for commercial tablet designs would be a good solution.Therefore, Loombe recommended the µSSD (microSSD) of SanDisk, which has the ultra-small size/low power consumption of eMMC and the high-performance of SATA and complies with JEDEC MO-276 mechanical design specifications. The µSSD standard specification was finalized in August 2012. It has 2-3 times higher performance compared to that of the eMMC and is sold at the similar price level as the eMMC.When the price of the µSSD and the traditional 500GB HDD are compared, a 32GB µSSD costs approximately 40% of the price of a 500GB HDD and a 64GB µSSD costs approximately 30% more than the price of a 500GB HDD. Therefore, based on the performance, size, and power consumption considerations, the µSSD would be a pretty good choice for commercial tablets.Tarun Loomba, VP of marketing and client storage solutions for SanDisk

Founded in Fuzhou, Fujian, Rockchip Electronics has launched a full range of mobile application processor chips – from the single-core CPU/dual-core GPU, to the dual-core CPU/quad-core GPU, and to the quad-core CPU/quad-core GPU. Rockchip has provided overall solutions ranging from chips to SOC software and hardware to allow the industry to seize the market opportunities for tens of millions white box tablets.WINTEL duopoly gradually being brokenFeng Chen, CMO of Fuzhou Rockchip, compared the historic market caps of processor manufacturers Intel and ARM, and found that after the burst of the 2000 Internet bubble, Intel's total market cap jumped by 100-200x over its initial market cap. In contrast, after ARM was listed in 1998, it market cap has grown 800x. Looking at Microsoft, since becoming listed in 1985 and after reaching the highest point of 500x the initial market cap in 2000, Microsoft's growth has hovered between 400-450x in 2013. In contrast, after listing in 2004, Google had a 500x growth in market value by 2005 and its rate of growth has far exceeded that of Microsoft. By 2013, Google had a total market value growth of 2,500x, 5x higher than Microsoft's growth.Chen pointed out that the PC is no longer just a personal computer, it should be defined as personal computing – an application architecture based on networked devices such as notebooks, mobile phones, tablets, or smart TVs connected to the Cloud. In the 1960's, approximately one million large mainframes had been accumulated. In the 1970's, that number grew to 10 million. The rise of PCs started in the 1980's, and the number of PCs exceeded 100 million by the 1990's. By 2000, mobile phones, mobile Internet devices, and notebook computers flourished and the combined market size of these devices topped one billion. The mobile Internet era has flourished since 2010, and the number of networked devices such as e-Readers, tablets, home automation units, smartphones, and car electronics will exceed ten billion by 2020.Chen also listed the shipment volumes of the various digital devices five years after they became available in the market, as measured by various research firms. Notebook PCs had a growth rate of 61% per annum after they became available, but its shipment volume reached only 50 million units annually in the first five years. MP3 devices were the first to break the 100 million unit shipment mark during the first five years. Shipments for smartphones broke the 100 million unit mark after the fourth year, and exceeded 300 million by the fifth year. It was anticipated that annual shipments for tablets can reach an optimistic estimate of 441 million units, with the conservative estimate of 373 million units, or the worst estimate of 300 million units, within five years after they became available in the market.Post-PC era revolution WINTEL replaced by GooARMWhy has the shipment rate of PCs remained at 300 million units, Chen believes that in addition to economic factors, the open architecture of GooARM (Google + ARM) has released the 90% bundled costs/profits of the WINTEL (Microsoft + Intel) duopoly that had strictly controlled hardware capacity and licensing to maintain high profits. Concerning the status of tablets, Chen believes that Apple's iPad initially had oligopoly and domination, and it would be difficult for other brand manufacturers to shake Apple's position. He suggested that the white box tablet manufacturers should take the path of eight-three-two law; have 80% of Apple product performance, are sold at one-third of the price of Apple, and enjoy twice the white box market growth rate. Besides the Android tablets launched by brand manufacturers, there are also the low-priced US$149 Amazon Kind Fire tablets and US$199 7-inch Google Nexus7 tablets. Chen estimates that non-Apple Android tablets also have a scale of 80 million units in market share.Quite a large proportion of Google's revenue came from Internet advertisements. However, the ratio of an advertisement that has been clicked and read by mobile phones and tablets is only 10% of those clicked and read by users using notebooks or desktops. Therefore, Google and brand manufacturers have spared no effort to promote low-cost Wi-Fi Internet Chromebooks at a price range between US$299-399. In the future, there is much speculation in the market whether Android 5.0 will include Office, and whether Android 6.0 will use the multi-tasking Windows architecture.Focusing on tablets to release diversified AP processorsChen indicated that the competitive advantages of Rockchip are innovation, focus, and speed. Rockchip launched the high-speed language learning/language repeater chip in 2002, the MP4 video playback chip in 2005, and tablets and related application processors at the same time as Apple's iPad in 2010. In 2012, it was the first to adopt Globalfoundries' advanced 28nm HKMG process to manufacture high-end AP processors. Its company goal is also clear cut – focus on tablets. In terms of R&D speed, Rockchip has manufactured countless multi-project wafers (MPW) for design applications for use by up to 30 customers and provided turnkey solutions for OEMs to shorten development time. Rockchip only requires one month from the first mass production wafer to the launch of the end-product.Finally, Chen also introduced Rockchip's processor family. The RK292x adopts the 1GHz single-core ARM Cortex A9 architecture with a 400MHz quad-core Mali-400 GPU design. It supports multiple 1080p video decoding formats but only 1080p H.264 encoding. Most of the white box tablets in China use this chip.The RK3066 chip adopts a 40nm process and a 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 architecture with a built-in 400MHz quad-core Mali-400 GPU. It supports multiple 1080p video decoding and 1080p H.264/VP8/MVC encoding. The RK3168 adopts a 28nm process and the dual-core ARM Cortex A9 architecture. It has a working clock frequency of 1.2GHz, and its 600 MHz quad-core PowerVR SGX540 GPU supports 1080p multiple format decoding and playback, as well as the 1080p H.264/VP8/MVC video encoding.The newest RK3188 chip adopts a 28nm High K Metal Gate (HKMG) process technology and the quad-core ARM Cortex A9 architecture. It has a working clock frequency of 1.6GHz, as well as built-in 600MHz quad-core Mali-400 GPU, DDR3 and LP DDR3 memory controllers, and embedded GPS baseband. The chip supports dual LCD screen outputs with the maximum resolution of 2048 x 1536, the OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 and Open VL 1.1 graphics standard, and the multiple format decoding and playing as well as the 1080p H.264/VP8/MVC video encoding.Rockchip has declared that its entire line of chip processors has been upgraded to support H.265/VP9 and HDPC2.0. Its 4G tablet PCs and digital TV tablet products with ISDB-T/DVB-T will be mass produced and shipped starting next month.Feng Chen, CMO of Fuzhou Rockchip