Personal Media Player / Navigation Device Solutions

Success Story: SD- or MMC-based Managed NAND PMP/PND

Overview

The two figures above outline both the original and modified architecture for a PND using a generic Application Processor, and with the need to boot from Managed NAND.

Challenge

The Managed NAND device connects to the application processor through the SD/MMC interface. Since most application processors in the market today do not support booting from SD- and/or MMC-based Managed NAND devices, designers are forced to use an additional flash memory device to initialize, or boot up, the system. The most common choice today for this memory is NOR flash. However, requiring the use of two flash memory devices for this design consumes valuable board space and adds to the BOM cost – non-trivial issues in a market where price pressure and product miniaturization are key.

Most application processors have only 1 or 2 SD ports. Most new PND devices need both a Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) memory card slot for user data (e.g. MP3 files) and a Managed NAND device for maps and point-of-interest. In order to use both ports at the same time, designers need to use a multiplexor to connect both the SDHC Memory and the Managed NAND device on the same board. Due to sourcing issues, designers also desire to have the ability to connect to both SD and MMC-based Managed NAND devices.

QuickLogic Solution

QuickLogic’s CSSP approach enabled this PND manufacturer to directly address the three design challenges: BOM cost, required PCB space and having the flexibility to support booting from any SD or MMC-based Managed NAND device. QuickLogic’s CSSP removed the NOR flash and the multiplexor and replaced them with one device. Furthermore, QuickLogic provided a full-featured high speed SD 2.0 compliant SD/MMC host controller port to enable the application processors SD controller to connect to only one device – the SD memory card expansion slot. This reduces the complexity of the software and hardware architecture significantly.

Results

As a result of using the QuickLogic CSSP, this PND manufacturer was able to provide a better user experience and increase the performance by removing the need for the multiplexer between Managed NAND and SD memory card, save board space through integration and solve sourcing issues by having the ability to connect to any Managed NAND device.