audio/videoZONE Products for the week of June 23, 2003
Winbond Electronics Says . . .
ISD5108: ChipCorder Voice Record and Playback IC
Winbond Electronics Corporation America, a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions to the consumer, computer, communications and electronics products markets, today introduced the ISD5108 ChipCorder. The chip represents the newest member of Winbond's ISD5100-family. It features 4-to-8 minute voice record and playback capability and digital data storage and is targeted at a broad spectrum of markets and applications including security, industrial and automotive
The ISD5108 allows the user select sampling rates between 8KHz and 4KHz - with commensurate recording durations - allowing customers to choose the desired tradeoff for sound quality/duration. Additionally, part of the memory array may be used to store digital data. This feature allows the IC to record not only the sound file, but also a related data file, thereby simplifying customer designs. For example, a voice prompt could be stored along with associated text that could be displayed on an LCD.
The ISD5108 the newest member of the ISD5100-series family that also includes the ISD5116 (8-16 minute duration). Other chips in this family are planned for introduction later this year. The ISD5100-series of ChipCorder ICs provide a family of full-featured voice record/playback ICs, allowing easy migration to longer- and shorter-duration devices. The chips are based on Winbond's proprietary ChipCorder technology known for its low power operation, non-volatile message storage and industry-leading quality.
"The ISD5108 is an ideal choice for embedded voice applications,"
said Peter Himes, vice president of marketing, Winbond America. "The
chips' additional functionality permits customized voice prompts and additional
digital data storage while retaining the ease of design and inherent flexibility
that has made the award-winning family of ChipCorder voice record and playback
ICs a market leader."
analogZONE Says...
The first press write-up of then ISD ChipCorder technology was a front cover story by my late colleague Frank Goodenough at Electronic Design; The company was so impressed that a group of us was treated for an extremely long lunch in the private dining room at Le Papillon in Saratoga, CA. I have been impressed by the technology ever since, but not because of the lunch.
Adding a data recording feature to the product is a really novel move allowing users to store things like telephone numbers or message address pointers. It will ensure that even more ChipCorders head for portable products, particularly cell phones which are becoming more and more the home of multiple device systems.
There are three products in the family to date with the ISD5116 providing 8 to 16 minutes of record time, the ISD5108 with 4 to 8 minutes, and the ISD5104 with 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the clock chosen and the quality wanted. They also offer up to 4 Mbit, 2 Mbit and 1 Mbit digital memory, respectively. They require a 2.7 V to 3.3 V supply voltage and draw a typical 15 mA in playback and 30 mA in record, with a standby current of 1 µA. Logic interface levels of 2.0 V and 3.0 V are supported.
There are numerous voice features in the devices including one- or two-way conversation record and message playback, private call screening, answering machine with personalized outgoing message, and private call announce while on another call. The audio interfaces include on-chip amplifiers for speaker, car kit assistance, aux. in and out, microphone inputs (with AGC), and a microphone feedthrough system with 6 dB of gain. Input and output muxes are on-chip, as is the volume control. The digital interface is for both standard and fast mode I2C (using only two lines.)
This family will be rapidly picked up by the portable OEM industry to add features to the next generation of products, although Winbond's data sheets continue to drive me to distraction both in their format and their length.
The ISD5108 is sampling in SOIC-28 and TSOP-28 and is priced at $6.00 in 1000-piece lots.