MHL at CES 2013
January, 2013, CES, Las Vegas—We talked with Judy Chen, president of MHL about the Mobile High-Definition Link Consortium about their efforts to expand their footprint. The organization is working to establish technology standards for audio-video connectivity for mobile devices.
The phone is the first device to include this interface as a integral part of the product. The original members of the consortium include Nokia, Samsung, Silicon Image, Sony, and Toshiba. Products are first available in May 2011 and now, more than 220 million MHL enables products have been shipped. Products include phones, tablets, TVs, and now are starting to move into automotive. New categories for NHL include Blu-Ray disc players laptop docks and many others, and hundred and 180 licensees support the standard and technologies.
The automotive products are being developed with features that will improve driver safety. For example, many will disable functions when the car is moving, and Ford has developed a safety SDK. Automotive adopters include major aftermarket suppliers and a number of car manufacturers. Key automotive uses include playing videos and music from your phone in the rear seat entertainment system, 7.1 digital sound, and display and control phone applications from the car head unit or wheel control buttons. At the CES event, Hyundai was showing an MHL enabled infotainment system in their on floor vehicles as the primary mode for mobile to auto connectivity which includes mobile device charging.
All of the devices and systems are working to take advantage of the increased mobility and intelligence in mobile devices, while offering alternatives to the small screens. The wired interface between devices allows greater interactivity at the cost of restricted mobility. One feature built into the interface is the ability to supply power to the mobile device, so the external AV content does not discharge the phone. The interface uses a standard micro HDMI connector and can deliver up to 1080 P. video and eight channels of audio.
MHL, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Silicon Image. For more information about the organization and licensing structures, visit www.MHLtech.org.
