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News Release

March 16, 1998

Hitachi Releases the Industry's First Graphics LCD Controller/driver with a Character Generator ROM for JIS Level 1 and 2 Kanji Characters

- Microprocessor font processing time reduced to 1/60 that of previous Hitachi products, and High-performance, compact systems made possible -

Hitachi, Ltd.(NYSE:HIT) today announced the release of HD 66732, the graphics LCD controller/driver that incorporates a character generator ROM for the JIS (Japan Industrial Standards) level 1 and level 2 kanji characters, for cellular phones and pagers and portable terminals. Sample shipment will begin in April 1998 in Japan. The controller/driver is capable of displaying 10 kanji characters by 4 lines. Hangul font and Chinese font versions are currently under development, and sample shipment is scheduled to begin in July 1998 in Japan.

The controller/driver has a large capacity built-in font ROM which eliminates the necessity of conventional external kanji character generator ROM and drastically reduces kanji font software processing time of the microprocessor to about 1/60 that of previous Hitachi products. The display ROM also boasts full-graphics display functionality that can be used for games and other purposes.

Small LCD panels are used widely in communication equipment such as cellular telephones, Personal Handyphone System (PHS) telephones, pagers, cordless phones, and business telephones. To make the most of ever-progressing cellular and PHS phones, recently there is strong demand for the ability to display kanji characters, as well as Japanese phonetics, the English alphabet, and numerals as in current systems. Digital cellular systems have also been launched and are expanding in other Asian countries, such as the CDMA*1 and PCS*2 in Korea, and GSM*3 in Chinese-speaking countries. As the number of users increases, demand is rising for a switch to products that can display hangul and Chinese characters. In the future, for more diversified communication services and higher added value, graphic display function for games and maps is desired, as well as text-oriented function for a kanji- written address book and so on.

Previously, displaying kanji, hangul, or Chinese characters required an LCD driver chip with bit map RAM in combination with a character generator ROM chip. Every time the font pattern was loaded from the ROM to the RAM-incorporated LCD driver, extra processing loads were added as an overhead to the CPU, whose main task is digital communication processing. This posed a real problem in regarding design of the next generation of digital cellular phones with high functionality, high performance, and low power consumption.

Hitachi's new product satisfies these market demands and the meets for greater display data capacity, by its high capacity ROM, high functionality, and low power consumption based on the concept of HD 66730 and HD66731, the LCD controller-drivers with the JIS level 1 kanji character generator ROM that are already in volume production.

This product integrates the character generator ROM that stores the complex dot patterns of kanji, hangul, or Chinese characters, and the bit map RAM required for full- graphic display, into a single chip. Compared with a Hitachi's previous LCD driver that uses built-in RAM and external kanji/hangul/Chinese font ROM, the new product takes up only a half installation space, making a compact LCD system. The system displays kanji, hangul, or Chinese characters according to simple 2-byte standard JIS character codes sent from the CPU, thereby dramatically reducing the CPU's software processing burden during front loading to about 1/60 of that in previous Hitachi products.

The additional incorporation of a power op-amp for low- power consumption LCD drive reduced the current consumed for driving the LCD to about 1/3 that of previous Hitachi products.

Up to 40 full-width characters can be displayed in the 10 characters x 4 lines display area. By use of the half-width font for alphanumeric characters for phone numbers, etc., more than 40 characters can be displayed on a screen of limited area. The character generator contains JIS level 1 and level 2 kanji characters and about 8,000 non-kanji characters in the 11x12-dot full- width font, plus 256 characters in the 6-12-dot font. Up to 40 full- width user-defined characters can also be used. Full-graphics display at 120x52 dots is available. In addition to the kanji and graphics display, up to 200 marks can be displayed by the segment display function. Various types of display are possible, in combination with the blink function if preferred, for battery alarm, etc.

The superimpose display function that displays kanji text and bitmap full graphics images at the same time adds to display versatility. The vertical smooth scroll function that moves the screen image up and down in one-dot increments enables massive information display on a tiny LCD panel. Smooth scrolling was previously available only by the bit map display system which controlled the on-off state of individual dots separately. The new product scrolls easily and smoothly, with minimal burden the CPU.

The key scan function controls 4x8 (32) key matrices. This makes it possible to control the LCD panel and the keyboard by a single chip, contributing to system miniaturization and cost saving. The fourfold booster circuit generates a maximum of 12 volts of LCD drive voltage at a power voltage of 3 volts, realizing 3-V single power operation. The LCD drive duty, LCD drive bias, and the output ratio from the booster circuit are all controllable by software. By this, power consumption can be suppressed by reducing the LCD drive bias and the LCD drive voltage when only a part of the LCD screen needs to be driven in system standby state. When nothing needs to be displayed at all, the standby mode function and the booster circuit stop function significantly save the total power consumption of the set.

This HD66732 is available both in a bend tape carrier package (TCP) that can be mounted by bending the border between the chip and the LCD glass on TCP tape and as a gold bump chip product that allows chip on glass (COG) mounting*5 and chip on film (COF) mounting*6. The bend TCP product has the advantage that it can be placed on the LCD glass directly without using the heat seal.

Note:
1. CDMA:Code Division Multiple Access. Next generation digital cellular phone
2.PCS:Personal Communication System. Next generation PHS
3. GSM:Global System for Mobile communications.

Digital cellular system widely accepted in Europe and Asia except for Japan and Korea
4. TCP:Tape Carrier Package. Chip package mounted on film tape
5. COG:Chip On Glass. Method of mounting a chip that has gold bump electrodes with its face down directly on the LCD glass
6. COF:Chip On Film. Method of mounting a chip that has gold bump lectrodes with its face down directly on a film substrate. External components such as capacitors and resistors can also be mounted altogether.

Application Products

- Digital cellular phones such as PDC, GSM, CDMA, and PCS
- Digital cordless phones
- Pagers and portable terminals
- Office equipment such as multifunctional business phones, PBX terminals, and business fax machines

Prices in Japan *For Reference

Product namePackageSample Price in 10,000 unit lots (Yen/unit)
HD66732A 00TB0LBend TCP800
HD66732A 00BPGold bump chip600

[Supplementary]
Specifications

ItemSpecifications
Product type name : HD66732A00TB0/HCD66732A00BP
Number of kanji characters displayed at one timeCharacters : 10 full- width characters x 4 lines or 20 half-width characters x 4 lines
Graphics display area120 x 52 dots (bitmap full-graphic display available)
Mark display200 marks (segments)
Key scan controlKey scan function with up to 4x8 (32) key matrices
Full-width character
generator ROM
Kanji versions (code A00)
JIS level 1 (11x12 dots)
kanji characters : 2,965 characters
JIS level 2 (11x12 dots)
kanji characters : 3,388 characters
JIS non-kanji characters : 524 characters
Half-width character generator ROMHalf-width alphanumeric characters (6x12 dots) : 128 characters x 2 fonts (256 characters in total)
Full-width character generator RAMUser-defined characters (12x13 dots): 40 characters
Display data RAM80 bytes (equivalent to 40 full-width characters)
Modes of displayCharacter mode : Kanji display, 10 characters by 4 lines
Graphic mode : Full graphics display, 120 x 52 dots
Superimpose mode: Kanji text and graphic images superimposed
Scroll display function Vertical smooth scrolling
Blink displayBlinking display in units of a character or a mark
System interfaceHigh speed clock synchronization, serial interface 68 series or 80 series 4/8 bit bus interface
LCD drive booster circuitBuilt-in booster circuit of 100%, 200%, 300%, and 400% (Boosting ratio switched by software)
LCD drive op-ampBuilt-in power op-amp for power saving LCD drive
LCD drive bleeder resistanceBuilt-in bleeder resistor for 1/2- to 1/8-biased LCD drive (LCD drive bias switched by software)
Electronic volume circuitBuilt-in contrast controller electronic potentiometer (32 steps)
LCD drive dutySwitchable duty factors: 1/15, 1/28, 1/41, or 1/54 (switchable)
LCD drive AC waveformConversion to AC in units of a frame (pattern B waveform) Conversion to AC in units of two or more frames (pattern C waveform)
Oscillator circuitBuilt-in CR oscillator circuit
Operating power voltage2.2 to 5.5 V
LCD drive voltage3.0 to 13.0 V
DimensionsBend TCP / gold bump chip


WRITTEN BY Secretary's Office
All Rights Reserved, Copyright (C) 1998, Hitachi, Ltd.