Microcontroller Promises Secure Media Distribution

Said to be the first programmable universal controller on the market to address the latest security requirements for electronic music distribution, the Zenon microcontroller (MCU) is built around an ARM7TDMI 16/32-bit microprocessor core. The device incorporates 256 KB of on-chip flash memory, large enough to handle multiple digital rights management. It also includes the Thumb 16-bit instruction set to enable 32-bit performance at 8/16-bit system cost. A programmable USB interface is included for security concerns on the device side and allows the IC to work together with proprietary protocols such as Liquid audio and Intertrust. Manufactured in a 0.25µm embedded-flash CMOS process, the chip operates over a temperature range of -40ûC to 85ûC and comes in 81-pin BGA packages and 100-pin LQFPs. Samples are available now with production quantities scheduled for August 2001. Depending on the package and volume, price is about $10 each.