闪存行业也掀起版权保护风潮

近日，包括松下(Panasonic)、三星(Samsung)、 SanDisk 、 Sony 和东芝 (Toshiba)五家主要的内存厂商，宣布将针对 SD卡和‘嵌入式闪存’上的数字版权保护，共同催生下一代标准。这项工作目前暂命名为 ‘下一代安全内存倡议’。 在这五家内存厂商中，有四家也同时身为消费性电子领域的领导厂商，就这点而言，所谓的嵌入式，似乎意味着内建在这些电子设备如平板电脑中的闪存。 在 这份共同发表的声明中提到了标准所能带来的利益，强调修正标准的必要性，以便在使用者从闪存储存装置拷贝和播放高解析视讯串流和蓝光电影时，提供更 好的保护能力。该项声明并未披露更多技术细节，但表示他们合作的部份已经完成，而且也将牵涉到在闪存芯片中使用识别技术。 在这种情况下，就必须特别关注三星、东芝和SanDisk这三家领先的NAND闪存制造商了。据DRAMexchange 统计，2011年第三季，三星和东芝便囊括了70%的NAND闪存销售。 其它的供货商──海力士 (Hynix Semiconductor)、美光(Micron Technology)和英特尔(Intel)，则未列名于此项声明中。 然而，若一部平板电脑或智能手机能仰赖东芝和三星特殊设计的NAND闪存来播放高解析和蓝光视讯，那么，海力士和美光理应也做得到。 当 然，直到这些厂商揭露技术细节以前，新标准会带来多大影响仍不得而知。所谓的安全性，或许会掌握在闪存控制器手中，这颗IC可掌控来自闪存的 独特ID信息，而且不需要特殊的设计或功能。同时，一般而言，任何牵涉到市场标准的专利都必须遵守公平和非歧视原则。然而，一个快速激活的标准，也很可能 导致业界迅速出现竞争局面，在数个月甚至长达数年的时间内形成不利影响。 最后，也是极其重要的一点──NAND闪存的最大买家：苹果(Apple)──也没有列在这项声明中。苹果是无法决定谁能或不能提供闪存名单，以及长远来看何种视讯播放标准最为适用；但不要忘记，这家公司至今仍不支持Adobe flash的立场。 不过，在任何标准颁布的同时，总是会伴随着该标准是否会拉高或降低该市场中竞争门槛的问题。 编译： Joy Teng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：： Flash memory rights protection – or protectionist?，by Peter Clarke

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{pagination} Flash memory rights protection – or protectionist? Peter Clarke It was announced a few days ago that five major companies have got together to push a next-generation standard for digital rights protection on SD cards and "embedded flash" memory. The work takes place under the tentative title of "Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative" and involves Panasonic, Samsung, SanDisk, Sony and Toshiba. Given that four of the five companies have significant interests in consumer equipment it would seem that embedded in this context means stand-alone flash memories inside electronic equipment such as tablet computers. The joint press statement was short on the benefits of the standard except to say that a revamped standard is necessary to protect high definition video streams and Blu-ray movies when copied to and playing from flash memory. It was even shorter on technical detail but gave the impression that much of the collaborative work has been done and will involve the use of identification technology applied to flash memory die. In this case it is notable that Samsung, Toshiba and SanDisk are three of the leading NAND flash memory producers. Samsung and Toshiba were responsible for 70 percent of branded NAND flash memory chip sales in the third quarter of 2011, according to DRAMexchange. The other significant vendors – Hynix Semiconductor, Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp. – were not part of the announcement. But suppose an ability to play HD and Blu-ray streams in tablet computers and smartphones was totally dependent on a special design of NAND flash memory chip made by Toshiba and Samsung – but not by Hynix or Micron? Of course the true impact of this standard will not be known until more detail is revealed. The security may be handled in a flash memory controller IC that can pick up unique ID data from the flash memory ICs without requiring specialized design features. And usually any patents involved in market-setting standards are made available to all on reasonable and non-disriminatory terms. Nonetheless a jump-start on a standard can leave the competition scrambling and at a disadvantage for months or even years. Finally the elephant not in the in the room is Apple, the biggest buyer of NAND flash memory. Apple is not the sort of company to be dictated to in terms of who can or cannot supply flash memory and in term of what standards will or will not apply when it comes to playing video; note its stand out position against Adobe flash. Nonetheless the promulgation of any standard always prompts the question as to whether the standard also serves to raise, or lower, the barriers to competition from other players.