Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) today announced the industry's first 64- and 32-Mbyte Secure
MultiMediaCard(TM)*1 products as flash cards for storing digital content that requires
content protection, for music distribution and similar applications. Sample shipment
of the 64-Mbyte HB288064SM1 will start from January 2001 in Japan, and sample shipment
of the 32-Mbyte HB288032SM1 will start from November 2000 in Japan.
These products were adopted as a "Keitaide-Music MultiMediaCard" by "Keitaide-Music"*2
music distribution system, which is based on the UDAC-MB*3 general-purpose content
protection technology jointly developed by SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., Fujitsu Limited,
and Hitachi, Ltd., and are compatible with stringent security and user-friendly legal
copying and legal playback.
Since the 64-Mbyte card can store one hour of music data and the 32-Mbyte card can
store 30 minutes of music data when popular compression technology such as MP3
(MPEG-1/Audio Layer3) is used, in conjunction with Hitachi's current 16-Mbyte product,
these products support a wide range of recording times.
< Background >
The "Keitaide-Music" mobile phone and PHS music distribution system is based on UDAC-MB,
which prevents illegal copying. In addition to responding to the needs for large-capacity
Secure MultiMediaCards that can support longer recording times in preparation for
full-scale operation of this music distribution service, such services are expected to
expand to include services other than music services that require content protection,
such as image data, electronic documents, and educational material distribution services.
Hitachi is now releasing 64- and 32-Mbyte Secure MultiMediaCards as flash cards that
can safely record large amounts of these types of digital data.
These products contain flash memory and a controller in a single chip and realize
content protection function in hardware. The flash memory uses a 0.25 µm 256-Mbit
(32-Mbyte) AND-type flash memory that adopts Multi-Level Cell technology*4 for
miniaturization. The controller employs a Hitachi SuperH(TM*5 RISC microcontroller
as the CPU core and implements high-level encoding and decoding operations.
The 64-Mbyte product takes advantage of Hitachi's advanced mounting technology to
combine the above single chip with a 256-Mbit AND flash memory. Thus this product
achieves its large memory capacity by combining two chips in the same package.
These products provide the following main features.
(1) Built-in high degree of security functions
A high degree of security is achieved, based on the UDAC-MB system. The card itself
has encryption/decryption functions, and is also provided with a TRM area*6 that
allows license keys*7, etc., used in encryption/decryption to be stored in a secure
area within the card.
The security level required by music distribution systems is achieved by porting
a content protection related command set*8 software.
(2) Compatibility with standard MultiMediaCards(TM)
These new cards are not only functionally compatible with the earlier MultiMediaCard
, they also adopt exactly the same external dimensions, including the thickness, as
the earlier cards, and thus maintain upwards compatibility with those cards.
This means that these Secure MultiMediaCards can be used not only with new equipment
that requires content protection, but also with existing MultiMediaCard equipment.
As with the earlier MultiMediaCard , these new cards feature a data readout rate of
14 Mbits/sec, and a write speed of 3 Mbits/sec, which are the highest in the industry.
Furthermore, they achieve low-voltage operation at 2.7 to 3.6 V. They have 7 pins,
and the pin arrangement is identical to that of the earlier MultiMediaCard
The specifications of these Hitachi Secure MultiMediaCards have been adopted as
an application note by the MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA) *9, and the application
note can be downloaded from the MMCA home page.
Both of these new cards, the 64-and 32-Mbyte cards are available in the same seven
colors as the 16-Mbyte card: silver, beige, orange, pink, blue, white, and purple.
Future developments in this area will include cards with even larger capacities
such as 128-Mbyte.
Notes: 1.Seure MultiMediaCard)(TM) is a generic name for MultiMediaCard featured
security function such as content protection.
MultiMediaCard(TM) is a trademark of Infineon Technologies AG of Germany.
2.Keitaide-Music: A technical specification for a system that distributes music
to mobile and PHS phones, developed jointly by SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.,
Hitachi, Ltd., and Fujitsu Limited. The "Keitaide-Music" standard is based
on the UDAC-MB general-purpose content protection technology developed by
the three companies, and comprises security guidelines, a protocol
specification, a Secure MultiMediaCard specification, and a download and
playback system specification.
3.UDAC-MB (Universal Distribution with Access Control - Media Base):
A content protection technology that implements user-friendly legal copying
and legal playback when contents are distributed to secure MultiMediaCards,
etc., and exchanged between users.
4.Multi-Level Cell technology: A technology that is effective in reducing chip
size, and is suitable for future large-capacity flash memories. In contrast
to the two threshold levels (0 and 1) of normal memory, four threshold levels
(00, 01, 10, and 11) are used, enabling one cell to do the work of two cells.
5.SuperH(TM) is a trademark of Hitachi, Ltd.
6.TRM (Tamper Resistant Module)area: Tamper resistant technology physically and
logically prevents internal analysis of, or tampering with, a semiconductor
chip. A tough and highly viscous coating may be applied to the inside of the
chip, so that if the surface is peeled off, the internal circuitry will be
totally destroyed, for example, or dummy wiring may be used. A TRM is a silicon
area, or card area, formed or configured using this technology.
7.License key: Information whereby a key for unlocking encrypted contents is
encrypted with a public key, etc., unique to the medium to which distribution
is performed. The license key is purchased via a network, etc., or recorded
in a Secure MultiMediaCard by legal transfer. In playback, encrypted contents
can only be decrypted after secure transfer to a legal decode chip.
8.Content protection related command set: An encryption related command set
provided exclusively for Secure MultiMediaCards for content protection.
Instructions such as ENCRYPT and DECRYPT are included.
9.MultiMediaCard Association: A standardization group for MultiMediaCards and
proposed Secure MultiMediaCards, the world's smallest class of currently
available flash cards. The MultiMediaCard Association currently has
approximately 80 member companies.
< Typical Applications >
- All kinds of personal devices that handle digital information requiring content
protection Mobile phones with music download/playback functions, portable music
players, toys, game machines, and similar portable entertainment products
- Digital video cameras, digital still cameras, and similar portable imaging systems
- Portable information devices such as palm-size PCs, electronic organizers, and so on.
- Portable communication products such as smart phones and pagers
< Prices in Japan > (For Reference)
Part Number | Capacity | Price |
HB288064SM1 | 64-Mbytes | Open price |
HB288032SM1 | 32-Mbytes | Open price |
< Specifications >
Item | Specifications |
Memory capacity | 64-Mbytes/ 32-Mbytes |
Interface | MultiMediaCard SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) |
System performance | Reading: 14 Mbits/sec typ. (multi-block read) Writing: 3 Mbits/sec typ. (multi-block write) |
Power supply specifications | Operating voltage: 2.7 V to 3.6 V Read current: 40 mA, Write current: 40 mA |
Read/write specifications | 512-byte block reads/writes Multi-block reads/writes also possible |
Operating temperature range | -25°c to +85°c |
Package dimensions | 32 mm x 24 mm x 1.4 mm, 7 pins * Same pin arrangement as MultiMediaCard |
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