近日，包括松下(Panasonic)、三星(Samsung)、 SanDisk 、 Sony 和東芝 (Toshiba)五家主要的內(nèi)存廠商，宣布將針對(duì) SD卡和‘嵌入式閃存’上的數(shù)字版權(quán)保護(hù)，共同催生下一代標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。這項(xiàng)工作目前暫命名為 ‘下一代安全內(nèi)存倡議’。 在這五家內(nèi)存廠商中，有四家也同時(shí)身為消費(fèi)性電子領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)廠商，就這點(diǎn)而言，所謂的嵌入式，似乎意味著內(nèi)建在這些電子設(shè)備如平板電腦中的閃存。 在 這份共同發(fā)表的聲明中提到了標(biāo)準(zhǔn)所能帶來的利益，強(qiáng)調(diào)修正標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的必要性，以便在使用者從閃存儲(chǔ)存裝置拷貝和播放高解析視訊串流和藍(lán)光電影時(shí)，提供更 好的保護(hù)能力。該項(xiàng)聲明并未披露更多技術(shù)細(xì)節(jié)，但表示他們合作的部份已經(jīng)完成，而且也將牽涉到在閃存芯片中使用識(shí)別技術(shù)。 在這種情況下，就必須特別關(guān)注三星、東芝和SanDisk這三家領(lǐng)先的NAND閃存制造商了。據(jù)DRAMexchange 統(tǒng)計(jì)，2011年第三季，三星和東芝便囊括了70%的NAND閃存銷售。 其它的供貨商──海力士 (Hynix Semiconductor)、美光(Micron Technology)和英特爾(Intel)，則未列名于此項(xiàng)聲明中。 然而，若一部平板電腦或智能手機(jī)能仰賴東芝和三星特殊設(shè)計(jì)的NAND閃存來播放高解析和藍(lán)光視訊，那么，海力士和美光理應(yīng)也做得到。 當(dāng) 然，直到這些廠商揭露技術(shù)細(xì)節(jié)以前，新標(biāo)準(zhǔn)會(huì)帶來多大影響仍不得而知。所謂的安全性，或許會(huì)掌握在閃存控制器手中，這顆IC可掌控來自閃存的 獨(dú)特ID信息，而且不需要特殊的設(shè)計(jì)或功能。同時(shí)，一般而言，任何牽涉到市場(chǎng)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的專利都必須遵守公平和非歧視原則。然而，一個(gè)快速激活的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，也很可能 導(dǎo)致業(yè)界迅速出現(xiàn)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)局面，在數(shù)個(gè)月甚至長(zhǎng)達(dá)數(shù)年的時(shí)間內(nèi)形成不利影響。 最后，也是極其重要的一點(diǎn)──NAND閃存的最大買家：蘋果(Apple)──也沒有列在這項(xiàng)聲明中。蘋果是無法決定誰能或不能提供閃存名單，以及長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來看何種視訊播放標(biāo)準(zhǔn)最為適用；但不要忘記，這家公司至今仍不支持Adobe flash的立場(chǎng)。 不過，在任何標(biāo)準(zhǔn)頒布的同時(shí)，總是會(huì)伴隨著該標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是否會(huì)拉高或降低該市場(chǎng)中競(jìng)爭(zhēng)門檻的問題。 編譯： Joy Teng 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文：： 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.