Toshiba Drives Power-Efficient Appliance Design With New Dual-Motor, ARM Technology-Based Microcontroller

Toshiba Drives Power-Efficient Appliance Design With New Dual-Motor, ARM
Technology-Based Microcontroller
First High-Performance Cortex M3 Processor with Hardware Vector Engine Gives
the TMPM370 Microcontroller Precise and Efficient Motor Control

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba America Electronic
Components, Inc. (TAEC)*, a committed leader that collaborates with technology
companies to create breakthrough designs, today announced availability of the
company's newest microcontroller (MCU), the TMPM370. Toshiba's TMPM370 32-bit
MCU is designed for use in high-efficiency AC motor applications such as
washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners. The device combines an
80MHz ARM® Cortex(TM)-M3 processing core with a hardware vector engine,
providing enough computation capability to drive two independent motors. The
TMPM370 is the first ARM Cortex-M3 processor-based MCU to include a hardware
vector engine. The TMPM370 MCU is also the first of Toshiba's 5V family of
ARM Cortex-M3 processor-based MCUs for industrial and home appliance control,
offering good noise immunity and simple interfacing to 5V logic. For more
first-hand information about Toshiba's new TMPM370 MCU, visit Toshiba's booth
#310 at the ARM techcon3 at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Motor control is a demanding real-time application. The algorithms that
determine motor movements are computationally intensive, and a motor's
real-time control and computation requirements can conflict with each other.
The TMPM370 MCU cuts the CPU load in half by offloading most of the heavy
calculation to the vector engine, which also handles many of the timing tasks,
such as collecting samples from ADCs and directing inputs to the PWM circuits.
The end result is that TMPM370 has enough compute power and real-time control
capacity to handle two motors simultaneously.

TMPM370 also includes on-chip 256Kbyte FLASH, 10Kbyte SRAM, dual 12-bit
analog-to-digital converters, 4 serial interface controllers, eight 16-bit
timers, 76GPIOs, voltage regulator, power-on reset, low voltage detection and
oscillator frequency detection, making it a complete one-chip solution for
motor control.

TMPM370 complies with IEC60730 Class B requirements for appliance safety.
Power-on tests and continuously-operating fault condition checks are handled
by a combination of on-chip hardware blocks and a software library.

"The reduction of power consumption in appliances is a key concern for design
engineers as many utility companies are incentivizing consumers to purchase
more power efficient appliances," said Andrew Burt, vice president of the
Imaging and Communications Marketing Group in the ASSP Business Unit at TAEC.
"Toshiba's new TMPM370 MCU provides the right combination of processing power
and hardware peripherals to help our customers design the low-power appliances
that are in demand among today's green-minded consumers."

"Toshiba's innovative implementation of vector space math acceleration in a 5V
Cortex-M3 processor-based MCU will help motion control engineers achieve the
higher levels of efficiency and functionality required in the next generation
of appliances and HVAC systems," said Eric Schorn, VP marketing, Processor
Division, ARM. "Toshiba's adoption of the ARM Cortex architecture is a clear
demonstration of the growing support for the ARM Cortex-M3 processor's low
power, high computation abilities."

For more information about Toshiba's TMPM370 MCU, please visit
http://www.toshiba.com/taec/components/docs/ProdBrief/09J02_TMPM370_ProdBrief.pdf.

Pricing and Availability
Engineering samples of the TMPM370 MCU are available now. Mass production of
the device is currently scheduled for Q2 2010. The TMPM370 MCU is priced at
$4.50 per unit in 10,000 unit quantities.

*About TAEC
Through proven commitment, lasting relationships and advanced, reliable
electronic components, Toshiba enables its customers to create market-leading
designs. Toshiba is the heartbeat within product breakthroughs from OEMs,
ODMs, CMs, distributions and fabless chip companies worldwide. A committed
electronic components leader, Toshiba designs and manufactures high-quality
flash memory-based storage solutions, discrete devices, displays, advanced
materials, medical tubes, custom SoCs/ASICs, digital multimedia and imaging
products, microcontrollers and wireless components that make possible today's
leading cell phones, MP3 players, cameras, medical devices, automotive
electronics and more.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. is an independent operating
company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation,
Japan's largest semiconductor manufacturer and the world's third largest
semiconductor manufacturer (Gartner, 2008 WW Semiconductor Revenue Estimate,
Dec. 2008). For additional company and product information, please visit
http://www.toshiba.com/taec/.

Trademarks and trade names appearing herein are the property of their
respective owners and may be registered in the United States and other
jurisdictions.

ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. Cortex is a trademark of ARM
Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their
respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its
operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM Inc.; ARM KK;
ARM Korea Limited.; ARM Taiwan Limited; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting
(Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Belgium N.V.; ARM Germany GmbH; ARM Embedded
Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; ARM Norway, AS and ARM Sweden AB.

Information in this press release, including product pricing and
specifications, content of services and contact information, is current and
believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to
change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained
here is subject to the most recent applicable Toshiba product specifications.
In developing designs, please ensure that Toshiba products are used within
specified operating ranges as set forth in the most recent Toshiba product
specifications and the information set forth in Toshiba's "Handling Guide for
Semiconductor Devices," or "Toshiba Semiconductor Reliability Handbook." This
information is available at www.chips.toshiba.com, or from your TAEC
representative.

SOURCE Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc.

Deborah Chalmers of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc.,
+1-408-526-2454, deborah.chalmers@taec.toshiba.com; or Bob Nelson of Tsantes
Consulting Group, +1-408-201-2402, bnelson@tsantes.com, for Toshiba America
Electronic Components, Inc.