AAC

AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding, which is the high-quality digital audio compression technology used in SD-Audio and satellite-based digital broadcasting in Japan. It compresses data to about one-tenth of its original size while maintaining CD-like sound quality when recording in the highest-quality mode (128kbps). The sound quality is better than an MP3 player.

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CD Ripping

This refers to the copying of audio data from a music CD to a PC or a memory card.

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Check-in, Check-out

These are the terms used in SDMI copyright protection system.Checking-out means writing data from the PC to an SD memory card with a “key”. Checking-in means returning the music data and the “key” from the SD memory card to the PC. This system prevents data from being duplicated on a different PC other than the one from which it was checked out.

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CPRM

Content Protection for Recordable Media. This is a technology that supports the security system of the SD memory card. This is a content protection and certification/authentication standard jointly developed by 4C Entity LLC.

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De facto Standard

A de facto standard is a general standard resulting from mass market adoption. A good example of a de facto standard is DVD for home video. The SD memory card is the de facto standard among flash memory cards.

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EMD

EMD stands for Electronic Media Distribution, and it refers to the service of distributing digital contents through a communication network such as Internet or a mobile phone system.

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Encoder

An encoder is a device, circuit or software routine that compresses digital audio, video or other data to reduce volume, and sometimes encodes that data to prevent illegal duplication and use. Basically, an encoder only compresses and encodes data. A decoder is a device that decodes encoded data.

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Flash Memory

A memory technology that allows data to be written and rewritten and is not erased when the power is shut off. Since flash memory does not need battery backup, it is used in a wide variety of consumer electronics.

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GPS

GPS, which stands for Global Positioning System, is a whole-earth navigation system consisting of 24 GPS satellites that are in orbit 11,000 nautical miles around the earth. The satellites transmit signals that can be detected with a GPS receiver, and then uses the signals to determine your exact location on earth with great accuracy.

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HALA

HALA, which stands for Host/Ancillary License Agreement, is required by companies planning to have made, design, use, offer for sale, import or export SD host products or SD ancillary products. 

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ISO 9293

This is a logical format standardized by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The SD memory card complies IS0 9293 in its file system for storing data. By using an IS0 format, compatibility between different kinds of devices and operating systems is realized.

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JPEG

JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. This is a format standardized by ISO and ITU-TS (a branch of ITU), which is used in compressing still image data. JPEG, with its 16.7 million colors, is well suited to compressing photographic images and widely used in Web documents.

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LAMS

LAMS stands for License Agreement for SD Association Memory Card Specification. This is required by companies for the manufacture of SD memory cards and flash SDIO cards.

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MIDI

MIDI is an acronym that stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.MIDI files are music files that contain no audio information. Rather, they contain only the artist’s musical keyboard keystroke information (note,velocity. duration, etc.) captured at the time the music was composed. A device that supports MIDI playback, such as PC with a MIDI capable sound card, can then be used to synthesize (recreate) that same music.

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MPEG

MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group and is the name of family of standards used for coding audio-visual information (e.g.. movies, video,music) in a digital compressed format. MPEG-1 is applied to Video CDs.MPEG-2 to DVD and MPEG 4 targets telecommunications, such as mobile phones and the Internet. MPEG is capable of transferring video images at high speed and with a lower volume of data.

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MP3

MP3 stands for MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, the international standard for compression of audio data established for the MPEG-1 motion picture compression standard. Compression rates of 1/10 to 1/12 can be obtained with without significantly degrading the original sound quality. MP3 is a widely used compression technology for distributing music over the Internet.

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RIAA

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) conducts activities related to the music industry, such as discussion on copyright protection.The RIAA played a central role in establishing SDMI.

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SD Association

The SD Association is a global ecosystem of technology companies setting industry-leading memory card storage standards that simplify the use of consumer electronics and wireless communication products for millions of people everyday. SD Association was formed in January 2000 by Panasonic Corporation, SanDisk Corporation and Toshiba Corporation. Today, the Association is made up of more than 1,100 member companies involved in the design, development, manufacture or sale of products or services using SD technology. The small, postage stamp-sized removable memory cards are used by some 400 global brands across dozens of product categories and found in more than 7,000 models.

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SDIO card

SDIO is an SD-size card with extended input/output functions. IO stands for input and output. SDIO allows manufacturers to create hardware extension devices which can be added to products via the SDIO compatible slot. Many SDIO based add-on products include wireless LAN and communications adapters,digital TV Tuners, and GPS attachments among others. SDIO compatible slots are available on many PDAs, mobile phones and numerous other products.

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SDMI

SDMI stands for Secure Digital Music Initiative. The SDMI conference was established by music device manufacturers, five major music companies (UMG,BMG, EMI, WMG, SME) and the RIAA for protecting music copyrights. SDMI creates a framework for preventing the illegal use of music data and promotes services that provide online music legally.

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USB

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a standard for low to middle speed serial interfaces and supports a wide variety of products such as printers, modems,digital cameras and MP3 music players. Unlike previous serial connections,USB uses a convenient “hot-swapping” system that allows you disconnect and connect the cable while the unit’s power is on.

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USB Reader/Writer

This is a device that reads, writes and changes data on a memory card.For example, it is used to save digital data, such as music, onto a memory card from a PC.

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WMA

Microsoft introduced its Windows Media Audio (WMA) file format in the summer of 1999. WMA offers improved sound quality over MP3 files encoded at the same bit rate. In addition to superior compression, WMA includes the ability for copyright protection in the WMA codec through the use of digital certificates.

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3C (SD-3C, LLC)

3C stands for the three companies – Panasonic Corporation, Sandisk, and Toshiba – which formed a strategic alliance on August 25, 1999 to develop next generation semiconductor memory cards. The companies developed the SD memory card and introduced it onto the marketing in June 2000.

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4C Entity, LLC

The 4C Entity, LLC is organized for the purpose of licensing the copy protection technologies such as Content Protection for Recordable Media and Pre-Recorded Media (CPRM/CPPM) specifications. These technologies are jointly developed by IBM, Intel, Panasonic Corporation and Toshiba.

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