NEC Electronics Announces New 16-bit Microcontrollers

There are four new products: two models with 80 pins (78K0R/KF3-C) and two models with 100 pins (78K0R/KG3-C). These products will enable users to easily develop control software, as well as facilitate the realisation of CEC features compliant with the high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) for device connection. The new products also include such benefits as massive reduction of current consumption by 1/1,000th (From 0.5 milliamps (mA) to about 0.5 microamperes (uA)) when the system as a whole is at its lowest current consumption, embedded CEC and remote-control receiver circuits, enabling the simultaneous reception of signals from both CEC and remote controllers and greatly improving system operability.



In recent years, the popularisation of digital audio-visual devices has led to the standardization of the HDMI as a communication interface for audio, visual, and control signals connecting devices via a single cable. Functions to interdependently control devices connected via HDMI are now starting to gain popularity. A feature called consumer electronics control (CEC) can be used to interdependently control devices connected via HDMI, for example turning on the power of the DVD recorder and starting recording while watching a television program simply by pressing the record button on the remote control, or automatically turning on the television and switching the input channel to video when a DVD is inserted in the DVD recorder.



Conventional manufacturers of consumer electronic equipment have controlled their products by embedding independently developed software in general-purpose microcontrollers. This method requires the central processing unit (CPU) of the microcontroller to operate constantly when monitoring the system status via CEC. This is a problem for the manufacturers as the power consumption remains high even when the device was powered down.



The new products were developed in order to resolve these issues. Implementing the CEC function in the hardware makes it unnecessary to run the CPU when performing monitoring, and as a result it is possible to greatly reduce the power consumption of the device.