The manufacture of electronic consumer devices is generally a very cost sensitive endeavor. Even a small reduction in manufacturing cost can result in a large savings when millions of units are manufactured. Where consumers have the option of purchasing competing electronic consumer devices with similar functionalities, price competition can be extreme. In such situations, having an ability to reduce manufacturing cost in relation to the manufacturing cost of the competition is especially desirable. Most of the reduced manufacturing cost can be passed on to the consumer, thereby resulting in increased sales and therefore also profits for the manufacturer. Alternatively, the bulk of the savings in manufacturing cost can be retained as increased profits for the manufacturer.
Consider one specific example in which the type of electronic consumer device is a television. Even though there are many different styles and models of televisions, many televisions have very similar electronic components within them. Each individual television manufacturer generally wants to incorporate his own special enhancement features into his televisions to differentiate his televisions from the televisions of the competition, but most of the functionality of the different televisions on the market is often identical. Due to economies of scale, the integrated circuits that make up the electronics of the televisions can generally be manufactured for a smaller unit cost when they are manufactured in larger volumes. It is therefore sometimes desirable for the televisions of different manufacturers to be made from a common set of electronics parts such that the electronics parts can be made in higher volumes and so that the per unit cost of the electronics parts can be reduced.
If televisions are to be made from common electronic parts, then a problem remains of how to provide each manufacturer the ability to provide his own special enhancement features. One manufacturer may want to provide one special enhancement feature, whereas another manufacturer may want to provide a different special enhancement feature. Television manufacturers generally consider the enhancement features proprietary because the inclusion of these enhancement features may in the eyes of consumers help differentiate the electronic consumer device of one manufacturer from all other electronic consumer devices on the market.
One potential solution might be to provide the common functionality in the form of a common integrated circuit. Due to the use of the common integrated circuit across multiple different makes and models of the electronic consumer device, the per unit cost of providing the common functionality might be reduced. The custom functionality would, on the other hand, be provided by including a field programmable gate array (FPGA) into each electronic consumer device that is to have a special enhancement feature. The FPGA would be relatively expensive, but it would be programmable in accordance with the particular needs of each individual manufacturer. Not only would including the separate FPGA integrated circuit in each electronic consumer device be expensive, but the intercommunication between the FPGA and the common integrated circuit might require a large number of input/output terminals (I/O terminals), thereby further increasing system cost. A better solution is desired.
Another potential solution might be to integrate the circuitry that performs the common functionality along with an amount of programmable logic. The programmable logic would be usable by each individual manufacturer to realize that manufacturer's special enhancement feature. This integration would reduce the cost associated with providing intercommunication between the common functionality part and the programmable logic part, but the amount of integrated circuit area used to realize the programmable logic part would be relatively large. If, for example, the programmable logic part would be realized as an antifuse-based FPGA technology, then the circuitry would be undesirably large due to the need to have large programming transistors. Large programming transistors are generally needed to supply programming currents needed to program antifuses in antifuse-based FPGAs. Not only would the programmable logic be undesirably large due to the presence of large programming transistors, but the antifuse-based FPGA solution would be undesirable because manufacturing antifuse-based FPGAs often requires special fabrication processes. The need to have special fabrication processes performed by a semiconductor fabrication facility often results in the semiconductor fabrication facility charging more to fabricate the integrated circuit.
If, on the other hand, the programmable logic portion would be realized in an SRAM-based FPGA technology, then the circuitry would be undesirably large due to the need to provide a large number of memory structures. A large number of memory structures is needed in an SRAM-based FPGA technology to store configuration data. Laser programmable gate array technologies are known, but devices made using these technologies are expensive and slow to produce and may have yield and other problems. Laser programming is really more suited prototyping purposes than it is for high production purposes. Accordingly, a field programmable gate array technology would allow an individual manufacturer to customize a programmable portion of his own integrated circuits to realize his own special enhancement feature, but the resulting integrated circuits would likely be larger, and therefore more expensive, than would be economically feasible in a high volume electronic consumer device situation.