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May 13, 1999

Hitachi Releases Industry's First Graphics LCD Controller/Driver with On-Chip Music JIS Kanji ROM


Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) today announced the HD66735 single-chip graphics LCD 
controller/driver with 1-line/8-character display capability for MD and AV products, 
incorporating as an industry first a kanji ROM compliant with the Music JIS*1 standard and a dot-
by-dot horizontal smooth-scroll display function.  Sample shipments will begin on May 13, 1999 in 
Japan.
In addition, sample shipments of a hangul/chinese font version will begin in August, 1999 in Japan.

Kanji displays on small LCD panels are currently used in a wide variety of products, including 
cellular phones, pagers, digital cordless phones, and portable audio devices.

In addition, there has been a recent rapid increase in the popularity of MD and MP3*2 portable 
digital audio devices, and their use is diversifying from simple recording and playback to such 
applications as data links to personal computers and music information net distribution services.  
This has brought a demand for the display of kanji and special music symbols (such as a quarter 
note) in addition to the usual kana and alphanumeric fonts.

Portable audio devices generally use a small LCD panel capable of displaying a font of around 240 
kana, alphanumeric, and other characters in a single 5- to 9-character line.  Display of kanji 
hangul, chinese, and other special characters has previously required a chip-set comprising an 
LCD driver with built-in bit-mapped RAM and kanji/hangul/chinese-language character generator 
ROM.  However, a great amount of microcomputer software processing is required each time a 
font pattern for character display is expanded in the driver with built-in RAM, making it difficult 
to achieve high performance and functionality together with low power consumption.

Hitachi already offers the 4-line/10-character kanji display HD66731 and 4-line/8-character display 
HD66733, with on-chip JIS Level 1 kanji ROM, and the HD66732 incorporating kanji up to JIS 
Level 2, for use with small LCD panel displays.  Now, the new HD66735 provides, as an industry 
first, on-chip kanji ROM complying with the Music JIS standard to meet the needs of MD and 
similar portable audio devices.

The HD66735 incorporates a kanji font (approximately 8,000 characters) complying with the 
Music JIS standard, equivalent to JIS Levels 1 and 2.  It also includes a character generator ROM 
for complex kanji/hangul/chinese-language font patterns, and bit-mapped RAM necessary for full-
graphics display, on a single chip, eliminating the need for an external kanji character generator 
ROM, and reducing the required mounting space to approximately half that of a conventional 
chip-set configuration (Hitachi comparison).

Moreover, kanji display can be implemented simply by accepting two-byte Music JIS character 
codes from a microcomputer, allowing a drastic reduction in the microcomputer software 
processing load associated with kanji/hangul/chinese-language font expansion to approximately 
1/60 of the previous requirement (Hitachi comparison).

The HD66735 is also capable of  96 x 13-dot full-graphics display, kanji and graphics display, and 
segment display providing for the display of 160 marks, and can provide indications such as a low-
battery alarm in combination with the blink function.  A superimposed display function is also 
provided that overlaps kanji and bit-mapped full-graphics displays.

To enable a large amount of information to be displayed on a small LCD panel, the HD66735 
supports horizontal and vertical smooth-scroll functions that can be controlled on a dot-by-dot 
basis.  This simplifies smooth-scroll display processing-previously only possible with bit-mapped 
display systems performing dot-by-dot on/off control-while reducing the software processing 
load on the microcomputer.  A partial horizontal smooth-scroll display function is also supported, 
in which the first two characters are constantly displayed while the remaining six characters are 
selectively scrolled.  Combined use of these smooth-scroll functions enables a variety of displays 
to be achieved on a small LCD screen.

The HD66735 employs a low-power-consumption architecture.  An on-chip 3X step-up circuit 
generates a maximum 6 V LCD drive voltage when the HD66735 is running on a 2 V power 
supply voltage, enabling the chip to operate on a single 2 V power supply.  When no display is 
performed, overall system power consumption can be greatly reduced through the use of a standby 
mode and a step-up circuit halt function.  A built-in power supply op-amp for low-power-
consumption type LCD drive enables the current dissipation required for LCD drive to be cut by 
approximately 2/3 (Hitachi comparison), making the HD66735 ideal for use in portable audio 
devices and similar small, lightweight products that have to run on battery power for long periods.

The HD66735 is shipped as a bending TCP type that allows bent mounting between the chip and 
LCD glass on a TCP*3 tape, as a die with gold bump type for COG*4 mounting, or as die with 
aluminum type for COB*5 mounting.


Notes:	1. Music JIS: A kanji code standard for use in MD and similar audio applications.  
            A shift JIS kanji code system including kanji codes complying with record kanji 
            code RIS506-1996 established by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
	2. MP3 (MPEG1 Audio Layer 3): A compression standard relating to MPEG 
            (a moving picture compression standard) audio information.
	3. TCP (Tape Carrier Package): A package in which the chip is mounted on a film 
            tape.
	4. COG (Chip On Glass): A mounting method in which a die with a gold bump is 
            directly mounted face-down on the LCD glass.
	5. COB (Chip On Board): A mounting method in which a die with aluminum is 
            mounted by wire-bonding.

< Typical Applications >
MD, MP3, and similar portable audio devices
Car audio and ITS products with kanji display capability
Kanji-display remote controllers 

< Prices in Japan > (For Reference Only)
Product Code		Shipment Form		Sample Price (Yen)
HD66735A03TB0L		BendingTCP		840               
HCD66735A03BP		Die with gold bump	650               
HCD66735A03		Die with aluminum pad	560               


WRITTEN BY Secretary's Office
All Rights Reserved, Copyright (C) 1999, Hitachi, Ltd.