Renesas Technology Releases ''WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware'' SH-Mobile Software Supporting Windows Media Audio 10 Professional M0 Profile

An application development solution with support for the latest version of Windows Media^® Audio

Tokyo, June 19, 2007 −− Renesas Technology Corp. today announced WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware. Intended for use in the development of applications for mobile phone handsets employing the SH-Mobile^*1 application processor, the software supports the M0 profile^*2 of the Windows Media® Audio (WMA) 10 Professional^*3 audio compression technology developed by Microsoft Corporation. The new WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware will be available from August 2007 in Japan.

Product Background

In recent years mobile phones have come to be equipped with a wide variety of functions. Of these, one for which demand is high is audio playback. Users download music data via a personal computer or directly over a communication link, and enjoy listening to music on their mobile phone handset with this function.

WMA Standard, an audio compression format developed by Microsoft, is one of the most widely used audio formats on devices such as personal computers, mobile phones, portable audio players, car audio systems, and home audio systems. Support for a new and improved version, WMA 10 Professional, is now offered in the latest version 11 of Microsoft’s Windows Media® Player. WMA 10 Professional delivers better audio quality and supports lower bit rates than the earlier WMA Standard and WMA 9 Professional formats. Support for lower bit rates means that the same music data can be encoded as a smaller file that requires less time to download. In addition, it allows the same media capacity to be used to store more numbers of music data. Adoption of WMA 10 Professional in mobile phone handsets or car/home audio systems is expected to increase in future.

Alongside the above, Renesas Technology has commercialized SH-Mobile, a dedicated application processor for mobile phone handsets that has been widely adopted. Against this background, Renesas Technology has developed WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware as a solution for developers of mobile phone handsets incorporating SH-Mobile. This middleware product for SH-Mobile supports both WMA Standard and WMA Professional M0 profile. This middleware also works on SuperH processor for car/home audio system.

 Product Features

WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware offers the following features.

(1)	Support for WMA 10 Professional M0 profile
	WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware supports the WMA 10 Professional M0 profile with enhanced Low Bit Rate (LBR) specification. With this function, WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware enables to decode LBR streaming data that is smaller size at the same audio quality, or better audio quality at the same bit rate. In addition, WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware is certified of Microsoft’s Windows Media Technology, so developers can use it with confidence.
(2)	Easy program development in short period
	WMA format data is stored in an ASF (Advanced Systems Format) file format developed by Microsoft. It is necessary to extract the WMA format data from the ASF file in order to process it. WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware has an API (Application Programming Interface) that implements all necessary operations, including accepting ASF files as input, extracting WMA format data, and decoding it. The developer can realize WMA audio player functionality simply by inserting calls to this API in a program. This allows applications to be developed in short period. In addition, WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware includes an API that accepts WMA format data as input and decodes it. This makes it possible to develop applications that can process both audio and video data. An example would be a player application that decodes and plays WMA and Windows Media® Video data simultaneously.
(3)	Simplified support for copyright protected data in WMA format
	Using with WMA/DRM (Digital Rights Management) Decode Middleware from Renesas Technology, WMA Pro LBR Decode Middleware enables to support for functions of Windows Media® DRM 10*4. The processing necessary to play copyright protected WMA format audio data can be accomplished simply by inserting commands that call an API function for decryption.

Renesas Technology will continue to develop new middleware products that respond to market demand and contribute to more efficient development of all sorts of multimedia applications for digital devices.

Notes:	1.	SH-Mobile (SuperH™ Mobile application processor):  A dedicated processor for multimedia applications such as audio and video in mobile phone systems. Exclusive to Renesas Technology Corp., it connects to the handset’s baseband LSI.
	2.	M0 profile: A stereo profile of the WMA Professional technology targeted at portable devices.
	3.	Windows Media® Audio 10 Professional: An audio format developed by Microsoft Corporation that supports high–audio quality (24-bit PCM, high–sampling rate) multi-channel content.
	4.	Windows Media® DRM (Digital Rights Management) 10:  Digital copyright management technology developed by Microsoft Corporation, covering an entire copyright management system comprising variable devices including a content distribution server, license issuing server, PCs, portable devices, and network connection devices.

 
Product Supply Conditions

This product is protected under intellectual property rights belonging to Microsoft Corporation. Its use or distribution requires a license from Microsoft Corporation. Customers need a license agreement of a Windows Media Audio® with Microsoft Corporation.

Typical Applications

• Portable player applications supporting playback of Windows Media® Audio data on mobile phone systems employing SH-Mobile.

• Applications supporting playback of Windows Media® Audio data on systems employing SuperH processor.

Specifications

Item	Specification
Target CPU	SH4AL-DSP and SH-4A compatible SuperH
Target tool chain	SuperH RISC engine Standard Tool chain 9.0.3.0
Supported audio formats	WMA Standard and WMA 10 Professional M0 profile
Supported channels	1 (monaural) or 2 (stereo)
Supported sampling rates	8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 32, 44.1, 48 (KHz)
Supported bit rates	5 to 384 (Kbps) (WMA Standard) 8 to 192 (Kbps) (WMA Professional)