Samsung develops fused phone memory solution

Samsung is attempting to bridge the memory divide in mobile phones, announcing this week that it has developed a single memory chip that shares its resources between the communications and multimedia applications of the phone.

Because of the increasing demand for enhanced features and applications on phones, the typical phone architecture has evolved into a dual processor design. A communications chip handles the basic call and data communications functions of the phone and a multimedia processor to handle applications on the phone, the rendering of graphics and multimedia and other higher-order functions. Typically a separate memory chip is attached to each of those processors, and any multimedia application such as video clip would not only pass through both of those processors but both of those memory chips.

Samsung’s new prototype, called OneDRAM, combines both memories into a single chip with two ports through which all data is channeled between the two processors. According to Samsung, this silicon tweak will increase the speed of data flow between the two processors, resulting in a five-fold increase in the processing speed of cellphones and even game consoles. The memory is shared between the two processors dynamically with more resources allocated to either the communications or media processor depending on whether user is making a call or watching a video. Since one less chip means fewer circuits, Samsung said OneDRAM can minimize the space needed for memory in the guts of the phone as well as reduce power consumption by 30%.

Though still in its prototype phase, Samsung said it hopes to release a commercial version of OneDRAM in its phones by 2007. Initially it will target higher-end devices: smartphones and gaming consoles.