About MultiMedia Cards

The MultiMedia card standard grew out of a joint development between SanDisk Corporation and Siemens AG/Infineon Technologies AG, and was introduced in November 1997. MultiMedia cards weigh less than two grams and, about the size of a postage stamp, are the world’s smallest (24mm x 32mm x 1.4 mm) removable solid-state memory solutions for mobile applications, such as MP-3 music players, portable video games, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile telephones and digital cameras. These convenient, reliable, rugged and lightweight standardized data carriers store up to 128 Mbytes, sufficient for 128 minutes of MP-3 digital music, or approximately 80,000 book pages.

MultiMedia cards use ROM technology for read-only applications and Flash technology for read/write applications. The cards are fast for excellent system performance; energy efficient for prolonged battery life in portable products; and cost-efficient for use in systems sold at consumer price points. The simple moulded package has a seven pad (pin) serial interface. This easy-to-install simple serial interface offers easy integration into various devices regardless of the microprocessor used. The MultiMedia card has a wide variety of uses in some of the most exciting products on the market today.

Digital Communications Devices

Mobile phones in use today typically are little more than a device to make and receive calls. Most pagers simply alert their owners to call a certain phone number. These limitations are due largely to small storage capability in mobile phones and pagers. The vast majority of mobile communication devices have less than one megabyte (MB) of storage.

MultiMedia cards bring true mass storage capability to mobile phones and pagers. With this new Flash card technology, faxes, voice and e-mail messages, Internet files and software applications all can be downloaded to the new memory card and accessed on mobile phones and pagers.

MultiMedia cards permit the transmission of the entire text of news stories and financial reports to mobile phones or pagers. Financial information on virtually every publicly traded company can be stored in a single, high-density card, and updated quickly. Other applications include the use of “virtual mail boxes” whereby messages are downloaded and stored in compressed format, saving transmission time. To indicate the memory capability, the Official Airline Guide (OAG) can now be stored on a cell phone.

Internet Music Players

The MultiMedia card offers the ability to design very small, consumer-friendly devices, requiring only AA batteries. Battery consumption is reduced because the MultiMedia cards require minimal power to operate, and offer such high capacity that a collection of near-CD quality songs are mobile at all times. Several forms of music compression such as MP-3 have gained fame across the Internet. According to research firm Forward Concepts Inc. (Tempe AZ), about 1 million music players were shipped in 1999 and that is expected to climb to 3 million in 2000 and to 15 million by 2003. Furthermore, it is widely believed the MP-3 player will become a major market. Semico, another leading market research firm, has projected 7.8 million units in 2001 and 13 million units in 2002.

Many consumers also want to purchase songs a la carte. With Internet music compression and removable storage such as the MultiMedia card, consumers can purchase and download several songs from various albums and pay for each song online separately. Because the MultiMedia card uses solid-state (no moving parts) Flash memory, these music players never skip like a Compact Disc player, and the sound quality never suffers due to deterioration of the storage medium as happens with traditional audio tapes when over-played or re-recorded.

Many new MP-3 players are entering the market and the MultiMedia card is an ideal solution because of its ruggedness, low-power, size, capacity and price.

Digital Video Cameras

Most recently, Digital Video Cameras (DVCs) have emerged incorporating MultiMedia cards. DVCs record video on digital videotape and allow consumers to transfer still images from digital videotape to Flash memory. The MultiMedia card is a perfect fit for this new way to store still images from video. The DVC also offers still image capture with the press of a button. Because the MultiMedia card is so small, a 4MB MultiMedia card allows DVCs to capture up to 50 images in standard resolution mode.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

Dedicated GPS products offer positioning information today at prices affordable by the average consumer. As positioning capability migrates toward convergence products, the need for map storage increases the need for Flash memory. Positioning information will be very useful to a cellular user. For example, consider the case of a businessperson in an unfamiliar city. Someone with a GPS-enabled phone could simply reference the real-time map coordinates displayed on the phone to find their exact location or directions to where they want to go. They could also call a business associate and provide the person with detailed instruction of their specific location and where to meet for a business appointment. At just 4MB per detail overlay map, a user with a MultiMedia card-enabled GPS phone can carry enough detailed maps to cover an entire metropolitan area. It could also list the nearest ATMs or restaurants with the correct business directory. The incorporation of incremental MultiMedia card storage capability allows simple and updateable detailed maps, further enhancing the product capability and desirability.

The Future of the MultiMedia card

PC connectivity will soon expand for the MultiMedia card. Via the parallel port, Universal Serial Bus (USB) port and PC card adapters, the ability to transfer data, images and audio files will be greatly simplified for desktop and notebook computers. Even a CompactFlash adapter will provide MultiMedia card connectivity for CompactFlash-supported products such as digital cameras, handheld PCs and digital audio recorders. One of the major benefits of the MultiMedia card is having a DOS/Windows® file structure which makes it compatible with the desktop.

Security Issues

The MMCA’s goal is to implement a "generic" set of security commands that will accommodate the numerous requirements of future consumer, business and industrial applications (such as mobile e-commerce, banking and copyright protection), particularly in combination with portable devices.

The proposed Secure MultiMedia cards are intended to be fully upward compatible with the standard MultiMedia cards. To meet the requirements for security, the new proposed Secure cards will contain special tamper-resistant modules and incorporate the same kind of security technology used in SmartCard bank and credit cards.

The first applied version of the Secure MultiMedia card is targeted to meet the requirements of the secure copyright protection markets (e.g. SDMI, Version-2), offering unique copyright protection and content protection for all kinds of digital data. Owners of copyrighted digital recordings can define the maximum number of copies that can be made of the protected content. They can also block illegal downloads to other memory cards of lower security level.

Moreover, by using Secure MultiMedia cards, content providers can adjust the payment schedules for their services according to the changing needs of diverse markets. Content providers are expected to find the enhanced features of the Secure MultiMedia cards valuable for managing intellectual property rights. Additionally, the cards' security provisions are intended to be sufficient for even mobile e-commerce use.

The MMCA expects many new security technologies to emerge as owners of all types of intellectual property decide to better protect their assets.