Freescale

Freescale is a semiconductor design and manufacturing company specializing in processors, microcontrollers, and custom IC's in embedded systems and portable applications. They are now owned by NXP but the same line i.MX is still available. NXP is located in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Overview

The Freescale CPU's are ARM based. They are located in Austin, Texas, USA but have a worldwide presence. They are used in a wide variety of eBook Devices and lower end portable computers.

Freescale i.MX applications processors based on the ARM architecture deliver an optimal balance of performance and long battery life for rich multimedia experiences on the go. The i.MX applications processor family includes processors based on ARM9, ARM11 and ARM Cortex A8 core technologies, which are powering new applications in consumer, automotive and industrial markets that demand exceptional performance and efficiency.

eBook Processors

• i.MX31L (ARM1136JF-S core, 532MHz)
• i.MXL MC9328MXLVP20 (ARM920T core, 200MHz)
• i.MX507 - 800 MHz ARM7 core.
• i.MX508 applications processor, the first system-on-chip (SoC) to integrate advanced ARM Cortex™-A8 technology together with the newest hardware-based display controller from E Ink. The processor supports panel resolutions up to 2048 x 1536 pixels at 106 Hz. With the ARM core running at 800 MHz, the i.MX508 provides twice the rendering performance of Freescale’s previous eReader processors

• i.MX51e
• i.MX 6 series unleashes the industry’s first truly scalable multi-core platform that includes single-, dual- and quad-core families based on the ARM® Cortex™-A9 architecture.
• i.MX 7 series is a new generation of power efficient and full featured applications processors based on its successful and broadly deployed i.MX platform. The i.MX 7 series delivers world class core power efficiency of 15.7 DMIPS/mW, a new Low Power State Retention mode(LPSR) of 250 μW and the industry’s first general purpose microprocessor family to incorporate both the ARM Cortex-A7 and the ARM Cortex-M4 cores. The i.MX 7 Dual product families feature Cortex-A7 cores operating up to 1 GHz. To be delivered fall of 2015.
• i.MX 8 series has Cortex-A53, Cortex-A72, Cortex-A35 + Cortex-M4 processors. These are powerful solutions with advanced neural network processing, graphics, machine vision, video, audio, voice, and safety-critical applications.

EBook Reader reference design

Features

• i.MX51e ARM Cortex-A8 processor
  • 512 MB DDR2 memory
  • 6 inch E Ink display
  • 4 GB to 64 GB internal storage
  • Micro SD removable
• Optional Connectivity
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 2.1
  • GPS
  • 3G modem
• Ports
  • USB 2.0 and USB mini (also for charging and supports OTG)
  • Audio in/audio out
• Audio
  • Speaker, microphone
• Sensors
  • Accelerometer
• Operating system
  • Google Android
  • Linux®

Documentation

• i.MX507 Documentation - The i.MX507 disables the GPU.
• i.MX508 Documentation
  • Using Open Source Debugging Tools for Linux on i.MX Processors
  • i.MX50 System Development Guide

EPD Features

These are for the i.MX508 processor with internal EPD controller

• The EPDC is a feature-rich, low power, and high-performance direct-drive active matrix EPD controller. It is specifically designed to drive E Ink EPD panels, supporting a wide variety of TFT architectures.
• The goal of the EPDC is to provide an efficient SoC integration of this functionality for e-paper applications, allowing a significant bill of materials cost savings over an external solution while reaching much higher levels of performance and lower power.
• The EPDC module is defined in the context of an optimized hardware/software partitioning and works in conjunction with the ePXP (Pixel Processing Pipeline).
• The ePXP is a high-performance pixel processor capable of 1 pixel/clock performance for combined operations, such as color-space conversion, alpha blending, gamma mapping, and rotation. The ePXP is enhanced with features specifically for grayscale applications working in conjunction with the electrophoretic display controller to form a full grayscale display solution. In addition, the ePXP supports traditional pixel/frame processing paths for still-image and video processing applications, allowing it to interface with the integrated LCD controller (eLCDIF).
• Supporting direct-driver TFT backplanes beyond 2048 × 1536 at 106 Hz refresh (or 4096 × 4096 at 20 Hz)
• Simultaneous support for EPD and LCD screens.

i.MX 6DualLite

CPU used in Earl

• Dual ARM Cortex A9 at 1.0GHz
• 512KB L2 cache, Neon, VFPvd16, Trustzone
• 3D graphics with 1 shader
• External memory support up to 64-bit DDR3 and 2-channel 32-bit LPDDR2
• DDR3 and 2-channel 32-bit LPDDR2 at 400MHz
• Integrated EPD controller

i.MX 6SoloLite

CPU used in PocketBook Ultra

• Single ARM Cortex A9 at 1.0GHz
• 256KB L2 cache, Neon, VFPvd16, Trustzone
• 2D graphics
• 32 bit DDR3 and LPDDR2 at 400MHz
• Integrated EPD controller

i.MX 7Dual

click to enlarge

• Heterogeous Multicore Processing Architecture, up to Dual Cortex-A7 and Cortex-M4 configuration
  • i.MX 7Dual – 2x ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.0 GHz with 512KB L2 cache, 256KB SRAM, 96KB ROM
  • Secondary CPU – ARM Cortex M4 @ 266 MHz
• External Memory Support: DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR2/LPDDR3
• Flash Memory Support: NAND (60-bit ECC), Managed NAND (eMMC, eSD)
• Eletrophoretic Display (EPD) Controller (4th generation)
  • The processor integrates an EPD controller that supports E Ink color and monochrome panels with up to 2048 x 1536 resolution at 106 Hz refresh, 4096 x 4096 resolution at 20 Hz refresh and 5-bit grayscale (32-levels per color channel). It also supports the latest Regal technology.
• Dual Gigabit ETH controllers supporting AVB
• Parallel RGB and MIPI DSI Display Interfaces
• Parallel and MIPI CSI Camera Interfaces
• Only 1/3 the power usage of a i.MX 6Dual
• Quad SPI
• Communication Ports (I2C, SAI, UART, SPI, SDIO, USB, PCIe)