Abstracts of Magazine FUJITSU 2001-7 (VOL.52, NO.4)

Special Issue : Research and Development

• New Mobile Service Based on Instant Message Technology

Recently a mobile phone has not just become popular as a telephony device but also as a personal communication & information device that could be used anytime, anywhere.
In this paper, we introduce some new mobile services and its architecture based on the Instant Message (IM) technology. This will eventually be a new Internet infrastructure, because it provides dynamic user profile and realtime information exchange. First, we will explain the current situation of the IM standardization. Then, we will describe a mobile communication service based on the IM technology, which we launched as a trial on Dec. 2000. This trial also helped us in evaluating the mobile service based on IM technology. Finally, we will launch a new mobile service on IM technology as the next generation service.

• Mobile Appliances

Mobile devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated and changing people's lifestyles. Our newly developed "Rapidscan" mobile scanner series is the smallest, lightest device of its type. The latest model, the RS-C40U, has 600 dpi resolution and features new technologies that improve operability. For example, large paper documents can be input by using the automatic combination function for scanning images. The USB interface, compliance with the TWAIN standard, and INTACTA.CODE handling make the RS-C40U convenient to use with a wide range of applications. Based on Rapidscan, the successor "DigitalMEMO" is a portable, easy-to-use device that scans newspapers, magazines, or other printed materials with a high-resolution image scanner. Scanned document images can then be viewed on the built-in LCD display. DigitalMEMO is ideal as an Internet scanner, integrated information viewer, and other new applications. This paper describes the development of mobile appliances, for example, image scanners and the key technologies.

• Digital Electric Appliances

The introduction of BS digital broadcasting at the end of 2000 marked a turning point in the digitalization of Japanese broadcast media, which have long been based on analog systems even after the digitalization of printed media, packaged media, and communication media. This digital convergence will continue to accelerate. This paper describes how Fujitsu should address such changes in relation to home network systems. Conventionally, multimedia home network systems have been based on the IEEE1394 serial interface which is suitable for audiovisual devices. However, broadband IP networks are spreading rapidly, and so the backbone of home networks will likely be wired IP-based high-speed LANs. Therefore, home gateways that terminate multiple network protocols inside or outside the user's house will play a central role. The development and improvement of such key technologies as human interfaces, intellectual property right protection, and remote maintenance are also crucially important for promoting digitalization of electric appliances.

• Advanced Technologies for Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

This paper looks at Fujitsu Laboratories' research into technological solutions for customer relationship management (CRM). To make the operations of the Internet call center much more efficient, Fujitsu Laboratories has developed technologies for automatically responding to E-mail received from customers and for the effective transmission of campaign e-mail to customers. These technologies have already been commercialized in Fujitsu products such as BroadChannel/InternetContact and BroadChannel/PotentialSales. Fujitsu Laboratories is also investigating configuration technology for "EC&CRM" to present customers with optimum combinations of products and options and the technology to support the rapidly growing number of mobile terminals that incorporate Web browsers. These technologies are expected to be put to practical use and commercialized in one or two years. Lastly, this paper describes Fujitsu Laboratories' mid-term and long-term research into voice recognition and synthesis and gives a future view of these technologies.

• New Services in the Age of Broadband
  -Interactive Commercial/Multimedia Information Retrieval-

This paper explains the new interactive commercial and multimedia information retrieval services that will become available in the coming age of broadband multimedia communications. A trial interactive commercial system uses an animated three-dimensional "autonomous character" who communicates with customers to acquire customer profiles. Then, based on these profiles, the system displays advertisements that fit each customer's interests. To attract customers, the character simulates autonomous behavior in response to customers' interactions and conducts "autonomous communications" with them by asking questions pertinent to their situation. The multimedia information retrieval service, which is already in practical use, displays pictures of products that meet a customer's search conditions so that the customer can choose the most suitable one. The displayed products are sorted according to price and color, and the customer can make a selection without needing to check all the products in the list.

• Next-Generation Network Architecture
  -Traffic Engineering in Virtual Router Network-

We propose a next-generation virtual router network architecture, in which the carrier IP network operates and looks like a single virtual router. This paper outlines the features of the virtual router network, which are derived from the combination of photonic large-capacity transmission characteristics and flexibly controllable electronic switching nodes. Also, this paper introduces the key control technologies of the virtual router network architecture, such as TE (Traffic Engineering) and focuses on its element technologies developed by Fujitsu. The TE also offers high reliability and network optimization by controlling traffic flows in a network. The technologies of the virtual router network and TE enable large-capacity transmission and high-availability operation for next-generation networks.

• Photonic Systems

The information society of the 21st century requires powerful communication networks that allow information to be freely exchanged irrespective of time or location. Photonic technology is suitable for such networks due to its large capacity, flexibility, expandability, and low cost, as represented by wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems.
This paper introduces terabit WDM systems and the optical amplifying technology used in them. It describes recent research on technologies for 40 Gbps WDM systems for the next-generation ultra-large-capacity high-speed systems, terabit submarine WDM systems, and ultra-long-reach terrestrial WDM systems. It also outlines optical signal processing technology that will allow optical signals to be used without conversion in future all optical networks.

• IMT-2000 Infrastructure for Mobile Communications and its Future Evolution

Mobile access to the Internet via i-mode and other services is growing rapidly. Also, the number of IP connection services continues to increase and data transmission services have been enhanced and put to a wide range of uses. Because of these developments, the infrastructure for mobile communications has become very important and there is an increasing demand for high-speed mobile data transmission. To meet this demand, a new high-speed data/packet transmission service has been started in Japan. The new service, IMT-2000, is the first of its kind in the world and is expected to form a dependable infrastructure for mobile communications. This paper first reviews the past growth of the mobile-communication infrastructure, focusing on the technology and standardization of IMT-2000. This paper then describes the advanced technologies Fujitsu has developed for IMT-2000. Lastly, this paper outlines the 4th-generation mobile communication systems that will come after IMT-2000 and the problems that must be solved for their realization.

• Next-Generation Node System

Internet traffic is continuing to grow at a very rapid pace due to the increase in broadband access. In addition, more and more services such as e-commerce are using the IP protocol, which means that next-generation IP backbone networks must have not only a high performance, but also a high reliability and intelligence. Fujitsu Laboratories has proposed virtual router and virtual server concepts in which core nodes have simple IP packet transfer technologies such as a layer 2 label switch or λ switch to realize a high-performance IP network and the edge nodes have an intelligent switch such as layer a 4 or 7 switch to realize a high-performance, high-reliability intelligent network. This paper outlines next-generation edge node and core node architectures for realizing virtual router and virtual server concepts. The routing engine architecture that is the key technology of these nodes is also described.

• Internet Middleware Technology

Internet use has increased rapidly and is now an important part of the social infrastructure. This can be seen, for example, in daily economic activities and in the use of mail and WWW services from cellular telephones. As a result, features such as ease of use, stability, security, and the basic features of data transfer have become more important than ever. Internet middleware is a generic name for technologies that process network loads efficiently and link multiple service elements to provide comfortable easy-to-use environments as a higher-level feature of a communication service. This paper describes the development of technologies that implement service interworking middleware and networking middleware, which are the main Internet middleware technologies. This paper also describes the positioning and role of Internet middleware.

• Internet Security

Information systems that use the Internet are now essential to many social and corporate activities, and it is becoming increasingly important to correctly identify communication partners and maintain the secrecy of information transmitted on the Internet. This paper reviews the worldwide trends in security technologies, describes various research on security systems being conducted by Fujitsu Laboratories, and describes the status of some services already in use. Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a new encryption algorithm which is five times faster than the conventional standard and an element authentication system that can support the electronic government to be organized in the near future. To prevent intrusive accesses to information systems, we have developed a security management framework and a realtime filtering system for web servers. A service using these technologies has recently been started. We have also developed a new content protection system based on the concept of "superdistribution," which is currently being used in various digital content delivery services.

• New Technologies for Supporting Large Scale e-Business Sites

Recent large-scale e-business sites that provide services on the Internet are adopting the three-tier model. The three tiers in this model are the Web, applications, and database servers. Since a LAN is used for communication between servers, the cost of TCP/IP processing becomes a serious problem for these systems. Also, newly emerging high-speed I/O technologies such as 10-Gbit Ethernet make extensive use of the PCI bus, thus worsening the performance bottlenecks. InfiniBand is a channel-based I/O architecture that has a high scalability and performance with faster data transmission speed (up to 6 Gbytes/s) than conventional PCIs and with multiple devices connected using switches. This paper outlines the new InfiniBand-based technologies and how they can support a large-scale e-business site.

• Optical Devices for Photonic Networks

This paper describes optical devices required for rapidly evolving large-capacity photonic networks and introduces some optical devices that Fujitsu has developed so far. As the degree of multiplexing in a wavelength division-multiplexing (WDM) system increases, optional add/drop multiplexers (OADMs) and optical cross-connects (OXCs), which can process light as is, become indispensable for maintaining the economic efficiency, flexibility, and rapidity of network construction. To realize these functions, new devices such as WDM filters and large-scale optical switches are needed. Moreover, in order to create a system which has a bit rate of 40 Gbps or more per wave, devices such as new high-speed transceivers and dispersion compensators are required. This paper classifies these devices by their functions and methods, and summarizes the latest trends. An external modulator, acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF), semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), and tunable laser developed by Fujitsu are also described.

• Next-Generation Data Storage Technology

The application of information technology to business activities and the explosive popularity of the Internet for personal use have increased the importance of the technologies and devices for digital data storage. Recently, the magnetic disk drive (HDD) and magneto-optical disk drive (MO) have become essential data storage devices, and there are strong demands for high-performance, low-cost models of these devices. Much research has been done in high-density recording so that much more data can be stored in even smaller devices. This paper describes some of Fujitsu's current research in high-density recording. It describes a high-density recording head and disk for magnetic disk drives and a high-precision positioning control technology for magneto-optic disk drives.

• Flat Panel Displays

When broadband Internet becomes widespread, there will be increased demand for high-definition, high-quality devices to clearly display not only still images but also moving video. Instead of cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, which have been the most widely used displays in the 20th century, flat-panel displays such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and plasma display panels (PDPs) are expected to emerge as key devices in the 21st century. The LCD has been used mostly for small-size displays on notebook PCs and mobile devices and has now partly replaced the CRT of desktop PCs, while PDPs are becoming increasingly popular for large-screen displays. This paper reports on advanced PDP and LCD technologies.

• VLIW Processor Core for System on a Chip (SOC)

The System on a Chip (SOC) for future digital consumer products will change from the Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) system (in which processing is mainly performed by hardware) to the programmable platform system (in which application programs are executed on a processor core). The processor core for programmable platforms must satisfy various requirements, for example, a high processing performance, small core size, and low power consumption. The FR-V architecture was developed to satisfy all of these requirements at the same time. The FR-V uses the Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architecture to efficiently execute media processing (e.g., image processing and audio processing) in addition to general-purpose data processing and to achieve a low power consumption and small core size. We developed the FR500 as the first implementation of the FR-V architecture and achieved the expected performance. This paper describes the FR-V architecture.

• Transistor and Interconnect Issues for Sub-100 nm Generations

This paper describes transistors with a sub-50 nm gate length and interconnects fabricated using a dual Damascene technology to realize high-performance, sub-100 nm LSI generations. To avoid degradation in carrier mobility and short-channel effects, a notched-gate structure and an indium pocket structure are used. The CV/I metric shows an ultra-fast performance of 1.2 ps and 2.5 ps for nMOSFETs and pMOSFETs, respectively. In addition to improving the transistor characteristics, the interconnects should also have a low resistance and capacitance. This paper also reviews a dual Damascene interconnect technology for realizing the required characteristics. To realize high-performance in sub-100 nm generations of system on a chips (SOCs), transistors and interconnects should both be improved.

• Advanced Analytical and Evaluation Techniques

The structure of devices such as next-generation LSIs and magnetic heads is becoming increasingly fine and complicated, making it necessary to control the thickness, composition, and fine structure of thin films for the devices at the nanometer level. Such control requires techniques for analyzing and evaluating thin films at the nanometer level. In this paper, we assess the present and future needs for analysis and evaluation techniques, suggest cutting-edge techniques that should be developed, and introduce the current status of our work on developing such techniques. First, we describe techniques for analyzing the structure and composition of fine structures at the nanometer level by using high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) STEM, which enables each element to be identified, as well as field-emission (FE) type TEM. Next, we present details of low voltage secondary ion mass spectrometry (LV-SIMS) for analyzing the depth profile of trace quantities of impurities with a depth resolution of less than 1 nm. Finally, we introduce the current status of our development of electron holography, which permits visualization of both the electrical and magnetic properties as well as fine structure of materials with nanometer-level spatial resolution.

• Nanotechnology

Since former President Clinton announced the "National Nanotechnology Initiative", nanotechnology has become a well-known field. It has attracted much attention because it will enable mankind to control things on a nanometer (1/1,000,000,000-meter) scale. The benefits it promises should find wide application, bringing technological innovations to many materials and many industrial fields.
Since inventing the high electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) 20 years ago, Fujitsu Laboratories has been a leader in researching and developing nanotechnologies for application to semiconductors. It is currently at the forefront of research into quantum dots. For instance, a quantum-dot memory based on controlling single electrons and a terabit optical memory based on a new principle of operation have been demonstrated. In this report, we describe our recent work on quantum-dot technologies and introduce the research plan of the Nanotechnology Research Center, established in December 2000 and designed to extend Fujitsu's nanotechnologies from semiconductors into other fields.