Sony Global - Press Release - Commercialization of ultra-small digital tuner module, capable of receiving 1-segment digital terrestrial broadcasting signal in mobile products

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September 24, 2003

Commercialization of ultra-small digital tuner module, capable of receiving 1-segment digital terrestrial broadcasting signal in mobile products

Sony Corporation introduces a small-size digital tuner module, <<BTD-ZJ611>>, capable of receiving 1-segment digital terrestrial TV broadcasting¹ signal and digital terrestrial radio broadcasting² signal, its sample shipment starting in the beginning of December this year. In order to achieve applications into various mobile products, the industry's smallest size of approx. 20mm x 16mm x 2mm in external dimension and the industry's lowest power consumption of less than 150mW have been achieved³.

Model Name	Sample shipment timing	Sample Price (w/o tax)
Digital Tuner module for receiving1-segment Digital Terrestrial broadcasting signal <<BTD-ZJ611>>	December/begin, 2003	¥50,000

As one of the characteristics of digital terrestrial broadcasting in Japan, using approx. 430kHz of the transmission band width (i.e. in case of Digital Terrestrial TV broadcasting, 1/13 of the transmission band range) attention is been paid in the so called 1 segment broadcasting (starting in 2005)suitable for receiving signal by mobile products in mobile-state. In <<BTD-ZJ611>> announced this time, advanced high-frequency·demodulation technology and unique high-density mounting technology has been compiled, and it is the industry's smallest, lowest power consuming digital tuner module, fit to receive signals from 1 segment broadcasting.

1:From December, 2003 onwards, it is scheduled to start in the 3 Major Regions, (Kanto, Chukyo, Kinki).
2:From October, 2003 onwards, it is scheduled to start in Kanto and Kinki area.
3:Based on Sony's research as of Sep. 24th, 2003

Main Characteristics of <<BTD-ZJ611>>
1. Industry's smallest size
In BTD-ZJ611, in addition to Sony's miniaturization technology cultivated in the analogue broadcasting tuner, by adopting Low-IF architecture⁴, the industry's smallest size of approx. 20mm x 16mm x 2mm in external dimension has been achieved. From this, it is now possible to implement it into various mobile products.

2. Industry's lowest power consumption
By adopting Low-IF architecture and others, dramatic reduction in the circuitry current in the RF (high-frequency) section has been achieved, also by newly developing the demodulation algorithm, focused on lowering the power consumption, the industry's lowest power consumption of less than 150mW has been achieved. As a result, the ease in introducing the module into mobile products, whose core is its driving by battery, has been achieved, enabling long-hours broadcast viewing/listening.

Main features of BTD-ZJ611

Features	Specifications
Corresponding Standard	1-segment Domestic Digital Terrestrial TV broadcasting and Domestic Digital Terrestrial Sound broadcasting
Input Channel	UHF:13-62ch,VHF:7ch
Demodulation output	MPEG2 Transport Stream
Power supply	1.5V/2.8V-3.3V
Power Consumption	Less than 150mW
External Dimensions	Approx. 20mm x 16mm x 2mm

4:Low-IF Architecture. It is a circuitry composition system to convert the RF signal, input from the antenna, to a frequency of a certain low level (= Low-IF). The result is that there is no more need of an external filter which occupies a relatively large volume and, it facilitates removal of image-disturbing signal as well as enabling ease of signal amplification, and also there are advantages that circuitries within the tuner can all be customized at all ranges of frequencies.