Fujitsu's Latest GDC, MB87P2020 'Jasmine', Is Enhanced for Automotive Dashboard Applications

    LONDON, Feb. 14 Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe has
announced its new "Jasmine" Graphic Display Controller. This GDC is a
successor to the MB87J2120 Lavender, which was announced at Electronica.
MB87P2020 "Jasmine" has 1MB embedded SDRAM on-board in addition to other
enhanced features, and allows even greater flexibility in automotive dashboard
and navigation applications.
    The MB87P2020 "Jasmine" device is based on the same concept as the
Lavender GDC, with a host interface and slightly improved pixel processor, but
additional enhancements have also been made to provide greater flexibility.
These include the integration of the previously external memory into an
embedded SDRAM, enabling a smaller QFP208 package size.
    The design of the Video Interface Controller has been modified to allow
compatibility with a much wider range of video decoder chips. It now accepts
more formats including YUV, and a programmable converter matrix allows YUV
format to be written in layers and converted back to RGB for scanning.
    A further new feature now on offer with the MB87P2020 is the Gamma
correction table. This facility allows picture characteristics to be adjusted
according to the requirements of the display to which it is connected and the
colour lock-up table, which is able to hold up to 512 entries. This extra
facility is of extreme importance in automotive applications where colours on
screen need to be recognised instantly and a large number of external
variables can affect their appearance.
    The device is ideal for compact level applications, such as dashboard,
information terminals and automotive applications as no external memory is
required, and Jasmine is also optimised to work alongside the MB91360 32-bit
RISC devices offered by Fujitsu. It is fully software compatible with
MB87J2120 'Lavender'.
    As with the previous devices, Jasmine has been designed in 0.25 micron
CMOS technology. Four layers of overlay display (out of 16 logical layers) can
be viewed simultaneously, with a 2D graphic function. It operates from a
supply voltage of 3.3V (I/O) with 2.5V (internal).
    Fujitsu offers end users a complete solution, with an evaluation board for
the device based on the starter kit for the Cremson GDC. The starter kit CPU
board is provided with an additional subboard for connection to the CPU. This
allows users to commence work in hardware immediately, a big advantage when
looking for a software solution. The starter kit will be available in Q3
'2001.

    This product information is also available on the WWW at:
http://www.fujitsu-fme.com/news/press/start.php3

    A low resolution picture relevant to this press release can be found by
following the link: ftp://ftp.jdk.co.uk/Fujitsu/Press/LRPR709.jpg
ftp://ftp.jdk.co.uk/Fujitsu/Press/LRPR670.jpg
    For a high resolution download option please follow the link:
ftp://ftp.jdk.co.uk/Fujitsu/Press/HRPR709.zip

    Further information on Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe's products is
available on the Company's new WWW address at: http://www.fujitsu-fme.com