Fujitsu Coral PA Graphics Display Controller Leads Geometry-Processing Performance for In-Vehicle Displays

Latest GDC Version Supports 70Mbps PCI Bandwidth, Dual Display Output

DETROIT, Oct. 18 -- Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc (FMA), the industry leader in graphics display controller ICs for vehicle systems, today introduced its latest product, the MB86296 Coral PA, designed to provide automotive-industry OEMs with state-of-the-art capabilities for advanced navigational and video display applications.

The new 32-bit MB86296 graphics display controller is built with a powerful geometry engine that performs precise numerical operations for graphics processing using floating-point operations. The device includes a 32- bit, 33MHz PCI interface that enables data transfer at 70MB/sec, more than any other GDCs. The Fujitsu MB86296 incorporates external memory interfaces to enable off-chip connections to SDRAM or Fast Cycle RAM (FCRAM(TM)). The MB86296 Coral PA also has been designed to be fully compatible with all of the company's display controllers, including the MB86292 Orchid and the MB86290A Cremson controllers, which were introduced in 2002.

The MB86296 also has a video-capture function that stores digital video data from DVDs and other sources in graphics memory. The new graphics display controller is capable of displaying both video and rendered images on the same screen, delivering a highly detailed map or image to drivers or passengers. Video input is programmable for brightness, saturation and contrast.

The MB86296 provides support for six layers, and incorporates a multiple geometry engine and enhanced video input capabilities. The new product supports conventional XGA (1024 x 768 pixels) display, a 4-layer overlay, left/right picture display, wraparound scrolling, double buffers and translucent display. The 6-display layer supports four different color palettes, each with 256 colors. All layers offer 24- or 16-bit resolution with direct color or 8-bit resolution with indirect color.

The MB86296 Coral PA operates similarly to the Windows(TM) operating system. Graphic inputs can be doubled in size, and the windows display-layer management functions can deliver several images simultaneously. This video- input upscaling capability makes it possible to display high-resolution, full- screen-mode multimedia pictures. Both upscaling and downscaling can be set independently in horizontal and vertical directions in pixel or line resolutions.

"The leading automotive manufacturers have adopted our graphics display controllers, and we are continuing to improve the technology to provide industry-leading features and capabilities," said Dan Landeck, senior marketing manager at Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. "This new version delivers increased PCI bandwidth, dual display output, and video upscaling and downscaling. Automotive OEMs now have the ability to display a wide range of very high-quality images and video by taking advantage of Coral's flexible PC- like windowing system."

The chip's 200MHz internal frequency reaches 400MHz for display dot clocks, enabling its rendering engine to achieve an order- of-magnitude improvement in texture mapping and drawing image quality over previous graphic display controller products.

As with all Fujitsu GDC products, the MB86296 Coral PA incorporates the following capabilities:

   - A comprehensive set of special functions supports three-dimensional
    rendering, such as texture mapping with perspective collection and
    Gouraud shading.

   - Alpha blending combines two colors to create a transparent effect.
     Coral PA supports blending of two colors at the drawing stage, and also
     can blend overlay planes at display.

   - Anti-aliasing manipulates polygon borders and blends pixel colors to
     replace jagged edges with smooth lines.

The MB86296 Coral PA runs on 1.8V at 500 mA, and 3.3V at 100 mA. It is compatible with all the Fujitsu graphic display controller ICs, and can be used with different host CPU buses including the FR series from Fujitsu, SH3 and SH4 from Hitachi, and V83 NEC Electronics. Coral PA requires no external glue logic.

Pricing and Availability

The new MB86296 is manufactured using Fujitsu's 0.18-micron process technology and is housed in 256-pin BGA packages. Samples are available now, and production pricing begins at $22.85 each in 100,000-piece units.

About Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc.

Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) leads the industry in innovation. FMA provides high-quality, reliable semiconductor products and services for the networking, communications, automotive, security and other markets throughout North and South America. For product information, visit http://us.fujitsu.com/micro/graphicdisplay.

A medium-resolution picture relevant to this press release can be found by following the link: http://www.fma.fujitsu.com/imagearchive/lowres/coral_pa_lowres.jpg

For a high-resolution download option please follow the link: http://www.fma.fujitsu.com/imagearchive/lowres/coral_pa_hires.zip

FCRAM is a trademark of Fujitsu Limited.