1997-03-13 , E/IC-800/650

Philips' TwoChipHCG* powers latest intelligent handheld products

Philips Semiconductors' TwoChipHCG*™, a complete high-performance hardware/software solution for handheld devices, has been selected by Philips Mobile Computing Group to power the new Velo^® Handheld PC (HPC). Comprising PR31500 and UCB1100 ICs, and a unique software data/fax modem, this system solution allows the Velo to be one of the first HPCs to incorporate Microsoft's dedicated operating system for handheld devices, Windows CE™, and the only device with integrated communications capabilities.

The TwoChipHCG* offers a complete feature set for OEM handheld personal intelligent devices, directly addressing the size, cost and power-consumption barriers that have traditionally kept these products from becoming popular consumer items. With it, designers can now dramatically decrease development times for creating a variety of types of wired and wireless HPCs, PDAs, smart mobile phones and other intelligent mobile devices, with reduced market risk.

Philips Semiconductors' 'systems on silicon' approach provides the abstraction layer, device drivers and a complete reference design for the implementation of Windows CE. This allows designers to focus on high-level issues such as product size, shape, features and application software. The TwoChipHCG* is also supported within the Microsoft Visual C⁺⁺ toolchain, allowing independent software and hardware vendors (ISVs and IHVs) to develop applications for OEM devices. Philips Semiconductors' licensing of Windows CE gives it access to the source code, facilitating the design of customer-specific applications.

The PR31500 is an embedded RISC processor based on a MIPS R3000 core, with system support logic to interface with a variety of devices, including high-speed serial buses to support connections to ISDN and cellular/radio phone networks. The UCB1100's audio circuitry can be connected directly to a microphone and speakers with no additional components and its D/A and A/D converters provide high-quality voice/sound reproduction and sampling. The chipset's complete video controller supports both colour and monochrome LCDs, and the touchscreen module provides for efficient navigation through Windows CE, as well as commercial and user applications. The V.32bis software fax/data modem uses the PR31500's single-cycle multiply/accumulate (MAC) unit to eliminate the need for a dedicated modem chipset.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eleventh largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video and mobile technology position the company as leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by systems labs.