Teridian Semiconductor Corporation's 73S8024R low-cost smart card interface IC is now approved in accordance with NDS requirements assuring operability of the device within set-top boxes, digital TVs and Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) that use NDS VideoGuardR -- the world's leading conditional access software solution for pay-TV content delivery security. With this approval, more than 35 set-top box manufacturers can now use the Teridian 73S8024R in their products.
"NDS approval represents
a major milestone for Teridian Semiconductor's efforts in the smart card industry,"said
Jean-Christophe Doucet, product manager at Teridian Semiconductor. "
With its superior noise and current performance and low cost, we expect the
Teridian 73S8024R smart card interface IC to achieve a leadership position
in the set-top box marketplace over the next several months."
According to Peter Yaxley, manager of consumer devices for NDS, "The approval of the Teridian 73S8024R smart card interface IC confirms that the device is suitable for all set-top boxes that employ NDS VideoGuardR conditional access software operating with smart cards operating at up to 13.5MHz. As part of the approval process, NDS was involved with Teridian Semiconductor in all aspects of the device development. Teridian Semiconductor has worked hard through the entire process, and our set-top box customers can now be confident the Teridian 73S8024R smart card interface IC will meet their performance expectations."
In operation, the Teridian
73S8024R smart card interface IC translates the digital signals from the host
to analog signals recognized by the smart card, and vice versa. Doucet explained
that this device provides a stable 3V or 5V VCC power source to the smart
card from an on-chip low drop-out voltage regulator, yielding a 10x improvement
in noise performance over other solutions in the marketplace that employ step-up
DC-DC converters, while boosting current draw to as much as 90 mA. By retaining
pin-for-pin compatibility with existing components, using the Teridian 73S8024R
in a set-top box smart card reader requires changing the value of a single
capacitor only.
Smart Card Interfaces
In addition to NDS approval, the Teridian Semiconductor 73S8024R smart card
interface IC supports ISO-7816-3 and EMV-2000 (EMV4.0) electrical requirements
and is the most protected device of its class in the market. Additional card
protection features are provided to guard against hardware faults and guarantee
emergency card deactivation in the event of card extraction, card over-current,
supply voltage failure, LDO regulator failure and device overheating. Supply
voltage fault can optionally be adjusted to match same operating voltage range
as the host microcontroller. Other on-chip resources include a crystal oscillator
and circuitry for card clock generation; an LDO voltage regulator capable
of supplying a high current of up to 90mA; and a complete set of buffers for
data I/O. Only a single external capacitor is required for operation.
Availability
The Teridian 73S8024R smart card interface IC is available off-the-shelf in
SO28 and QFN32 packages, the former for use as a pin-for-pin replacement in
current designs employing the TDA8004, and the latter -- the smallest footprint
for this type of device on the market -- for new designs that can take advantage
of a significant savings in board space.
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