TI OMAP2 announced with MBX inside

[rake]

http://focus.ti.com/docs/general/splashdsp.jhtml?&path=templatedata/cm/splashdsp/data/omap2

Entertainment Extends from Living Room to Mobile Phone with New OMAPâ„¢ 2 Processors



By coupling Texas Instrument’s (TI) 15 years of success in the wireless market with TI’s expertise in consumer electronics, The OMAP 2 architecture builds upon the benefits and features of the market leading first generation OMAP platform. The OMAP 2 architecture provides a foundation for mobile device manufacturers to merge today’s most compelling high-end consumer electronics in an “All-in-Oneâ€￾ smartphone or converged portable multimedia device.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OMAPâ„¢ 2 Architecture Features

All-in-One Portable Entertainment
TI's new OMAP 2 "All-in-One" architecture provides the foundation for mobile device manufacturers to merge today's most compelling high-end consumer electronics in smartphones and other converged portable multimedia devices.

State-of-the-Art Mobile Experience
OMAP 2 processors will re-define mobile entertainment and communications as the first solutions to deliver consumer electronics-quality user experience to the wireless industry.

Digital TV
Hi-fi music with 3D effects
Up to DVD-quality video
High-end gaming console functionality
Best-in-Class Color Display
Up to 6M digital camera
Parallel Processing Engines
With OMAP 2 processors in their mobile devices, mobile users can enjoy their exciting multimedia software applications without compromising quality of service while other features are running in parallel.

Optimal Battery Life
OMAP 2 processors and new TI companion power management chips ensure that power is consumed most efficiently so precious battery life is preserved.

Roadmap for Stand Alone Applications Processors, Integrated Applications and Digital Baseband Processors
OMAP 2 Architecture will continue the OMAP track record of highly integrated application processor and digital baseband processor solutions for sleek, power-efficient wireless multimedia.

Robust Software Infrastructure
TI's OMAP 2 architecture extends the software infrastructure of OMAP processors, allowing new capabilities to be added, while enabling reuse of existing software.

And having a look at the spec sheet at http://dspvillage.ti.com/pdfs/omap2architecture.pdf, page 4 shows the graphics solution as :

2D/3D hardware MBX/VGP accelerators, up to 2 Million polygons/sec

It seems hardware 3D on handhelds has finally arrived (well it will in the next six months ;-))

Rake

 

[Ailuros]

http://www.renesas.com/eng/news/2004/0223/index.html

 

[mboeller]

http://www.renesas.com/eng/news/2004/0223/index.html

WOW;

all at once. Intel, Ti, Renesas...who's next?

 

[Ailuros]

IMG forecasted in their past AGM results that had been published that we'll see first products appearing in Q1 2004. AFAIK Intel, TI, Renesas were amongst the early licensees, I wouldn't expect to see anything as soon from let's say Samsung (which by the way also licensed DAB from Focus).

I think we'll have to wait and see now for adoptions of those 3 large pool of customers. Texas Instruments' largest customer is according to that link NOKIA:

http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2004/02/22/rtr1271044.html

On a less relevant note I can see the stock value suddenly at 97.50p again

 

[davefb]

Innnnteresting,

TI omap is whats in a series 60 phone . Hence is whats in an n-gage......


-dave-

 

[mboeller]

Innnnteresting,

TI omap is whats in a series 60 phone . Hence is whats in an n-gage......


-dave-

Not only in Nokia handys, but also in Palm - Handhelds as far as I know. So an Palm with OS6 and OMAP2420 would be an really nice gaming solution.

 

[davefb]

quick search, palm use xscale at the moment... makes more sense , omap dsp is there to handle the phone functions , be wasted on a pda without phone functionality . .

-dave-

 

[mboeller]

quick search, palm use xscale at the moment... makes more sense , omap dsp is there to handle the phone functions , be wasted on a pda without phone functionality . .

-dave-

Did a quick search too, it seems they use both CPU's. XScale and OMAP :

http://www.ciao.co.uk/PDAs_5220892_2-palm

seems a bit strange to use different CPU's for different products, but who knows?

Yep, links : http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/33377.html
and http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/68/33352.html

They are really using both CPU's for different products.

 

[davefb]

i stand corrected

some of those are dragonball i guess as well.. the mc68vz328's . . .

still , all arm though ............of whichever flavour

-dave-

 

[darkblu]

i stand corrected

some of those are dragonball i guess as well.. the mc68vz328's . . .

still, all arm though ............of whichever flavour

-dave-

dragonball is not arm, it's mobile m68k, and is depreciated now together with os4 (devices are still being produced but don't expect new designs*). anyhow, about os5 and up you're right - it's all arm.

* last time i heard motorola was cutting on the dragonball production lines too.

 

[Kristof]

Our own PR :

http://www.imgtec.com/News/Release/index.asp?ID=190

Texas Instruments Announces OMAPâ„¢ 2 Devices Utilising PowerVR MBX Graphics Core

------------------------------------------

24 February 2004

Imagination Technologies Group plc ("Imagination Technologies"), the leading provider of multimedia and communication intellectual property ("IP"), reports that Texas Instruments Incorporated (“TIâ€) has announced its new OMAPâ„¢ 2 architecture for 2.5 and 3G mobile phones at 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France. The first two devices based on the OMAP 2 architecture – the OMAP2410 and OMAP2420 stand-alone application processors – incorporate the PowerVR MBX core licensed from Imagination Technologies. TI has announced these processors will be available this year.

Under the terms of its licensing arrangements Imagination Technologies receives royalty revenues on devices incorporating Imagination Technologies’ IP shipped by partners, in addition to license fees.

For more information about the OMAPâ„¢ 2 architecture and processors featuring PowerVR MBX technology see the TI OMAP 2 datasheet.

K-

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Just wanted to say "Congratulations" to all you ImgTech guys!

 

[Xigen]

i stand corrected

some of those are dragonball i guess as well.. the mc68vz328's . . .

still, all arm though ............of whichever flavour

-dave-

dragonball is not arm, it's mobile m68k, and is depreciated now together with os4 (devices are still being produced but don't expect new designs*). anyhow, about os5 and up you're right - it's all arm.

* last time i heard motorola was cutting on the dragonball production lines too.

No, the dragonball has been arm based since 2001

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2022

 

[Ailuros]

Just wanted to say "Congratulations" to all you ImgTech guys!

*faints*

I'm obviously just kidding...

 

[Kristof]

Just wanted to say "Congratulations" to all you ImgTech guys!

*faints*

8)

 

[Entropy]

Just wanted to say "Congratulations" to all you ImgTech guys!

Well this is an area where their licensing model can actually be regarded as a feature.

Anyways, it's most gratifying that the MBX has made it into actual processors. I'm optimistic, because the ready availability of the technology practically ensures that a plethora of products will eventually be produced, as manufacturers strive to deliver something unique and to be early with features that might enable them to sell their devices at higher mark-up.

It will be very interesting to see how this technology will be used in its new context! Some uses will make more sense, and others less so. It's something of a new frontier, much more uncertain than the desktop platform.

I've often felt that the ImgTec position of having to forecast future and emerging application areas, and to target these with solutions sufficiently tasty that licensees will buy them, sounds very interesting if you're an engineer at a rather small company. Requires a wider perspective than developing the next generation of desktop consumer graphics chips, as well as contacts with people from all those potential business areas.
In short - Geek fun.
So maybe its not only the Belgian chocolates that keep them going.

Congrats guys to getting to see the MBX in the flesh, and getting to see your work play a part in the shaping of an emerging market!

 

[darkblu]

i stand corrected

some of those are dragonball i guess as well.. the mc68vz328's . . .

still, all arm though ............of whichever flavour

-dave-

dragonball is not arm, it's mobile m68k, and is depreciated now together with os4 (devices are still being produced but don't expect new designs*). anyhow, about os5 and up you're right - it's all arm.

* last time i heard motorola was cutting on the dragonball production lines too.

No, the dragonball has been arm based since 2001

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2022

ah, yeah, had forgotten the MX1 was actually named a 'dragonball' (and i wasn't aware of the superVZ at all). but the vanilla VZ (mc68vz328, as found in Clies) is definitely 68k. and there have been piles of os4 devices produced past 2001.

 

[Dave Baumann]

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10449

As MBX gets into hardware, NVIDIA announced the first "programmable mobile chips with native geometry accerleration" - I guess they didn't know MBX's VGP is programmable.

They are following IMG here and going IP licensing. I wonder how long it will be before we see this in hardware.

 

[darkblu]

As MBX gets into hardware, NVIDIA announced the first "programmable mobile chips with native geometry acceleration" - I guess they didn't know MBX's VGP is programmable.

maybe they're implying that MBX has its TL imported from abroad? : )
which, btw, could be a great marketing plus, just imagine:

'MBX - with T&L freshly imported from Ceylon, you can still smell the exotic fragrance of the Sri-Lanka sea!' ; )

 

[Ailuros]

Not really telling much:

As a test case for the project, Ideaworks3D ported a well-known 3D console game to the platform in just two weeks using Segundo3D 3.0 and immediately achieved a 130% increase in frame rate when utilizing the ARM MBX technology. The finally optimized game demonstration features a scene polygon count increase of around 60% without incurring any significant drop in the initially improved rendering speed. With the ARM MBX technology, advanced 3D graphics features, previously only seen on PC and game console systems, such as perspective correct texturing, alpha blending, full scene anti-aliasing, vertex fogging and tri-linear filtering, were quickly incorporated with minimal effort.

http://www.pvrgenerations.co.uk/index.shtml

(can't link directly to the original press release).

They are following IMG here and going IP licensing. I wonder how long it will be before we see this in hardware.

Nothing against competition at all. But that press release title is just so typical NVIDIA PR.