Mitsubishi and IGS Offer Arsenal of Applications Via New Flexible Set-Top-Box Platform; Reference Design Offers OEMs the First Set-Top-Box Solution with Embedded DRAM and Direct TV Output.CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 1998--Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. and IGS IGS - Internet Go Server. Technologies Inc. today announced the first truly flexible set-top-box platform, providing OEMs with a grab bag of solutions. Unlike other set-top boxes which come with a standard group of functions, the Mitsubishi/IGS product provides two core applications -- e-mail and Web browsing -- plus the capability of evaluating and adding others. Additional features include DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. , video phone, audio/video controller, Web casting (streaming television channels through the browser), and picture in picture. "This product offers OEMs the ability to test various application options and design a unique set-top-box product," said Eric Nguyen, advanced technology marketing manager at Mitsubishi Electronics America. "OEMs who want the most customizable offering on the market will be pleased with the flexibility of the Mitsubishi/IGS solution." The set-top-box platform combines Mitsubishi's M32R/D R/D Rate of Descent R/D Radius/Diameter R/D Resolver to Digital R/D Rig Down processor -- the first 32-bit RISC processor with 2-Mbytes embedded DRAM and a 128-bit internal bus -- and IGS Technologies' CyberPro2010 single chip encoder-accelerator creating a low-cost, high-quality design. The integrated memory features of the M32R/D processor and the direct interface to the CyberPro2010 result in minimal components which keep the cost low and the size compact. With a footprint of 5" X 7", the Mitsubishi/IGS solution is an extremely small, space saving design. In addition, the reference design provides better text, video, graphics and picture quality than other set-top boxes because of its on-chip television encoder and proprietary flicker-free technology found in the TVDirect(TM) interface of the CyberPro2010. "The embedded DRAM component of Mitsubishi's M32R/D allows us to provide OEMs with today's most integrated and compact set-top-box reference design," said Mike Raghavan, senior director of marketing at IGS Technologies. "Integration and application flexibility are the key to future success in this low-cost market, and by using the Mitsubishi/IGS solution, customers will have a technology and pricing advantage." Custom Reference Design Kit The set-top-box reference design connects the M32R/D-based MSA (Metropolitan Service Area) An urban area with at least 50,000 people plus surrounding counties. There are 306 MSAs and 428 RSAs (rural service areas) in the U.S. MSAs and RSAs are used to allocate cellular licenses. 2000 CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. board to the CyberPro2010-based multimedia card via IGS' FlexiBus(TM) interface using very limited glue logic. Allowing for ease of design, the kit provides customers with all the needed peripherals including: M65439 Super I/O, remote keyboard, 2-Mbytes flash ROM for RTOS (1) (RealTime Operating System) An operating system designed for use in a real time computer system. See real time system, embedded system, process control and OS-9. and Web browser, two PCMCIA card slots for LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. (Ethernet) and modem, and video port connector for MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). and TV/Camera inputs. NTSC/PAL S-Video and composite TV outputs are provided on board. Currently Mitsubishi's real-time operating systems, as well as a Web browser, are provided as part of the design kit. M32R/D Key features of the M32R/D include: - On-chip DRAM 128-bit internal bus at 66 MHz for fast CPU-memory data transfer; 16-bit external bus at 16 MHz for low power consumption; 100-pin TQFP See QFP. package; integrated DRAM for main memory, page frame, and data buffer. - Small RISC RISC in full Reduced Instruction Set Computing Computer architecture that uses a limited number of instructions. RISC became popular in microprocessors in the 1980s. CPU Core MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) The execution speed of a computer. For example, .5 MIPS is 500,000 instructions per second; 100 MIPS is a hundred million instructions per second. at 66 MHz (DRAM version.); 80 MIPS at 100 MHz (Logic version.); CPU core size: smaller than existing RISC MPUs; code size: smaller than existing RISCs, nearly traditional CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) Pronounced "sisk." The traditional architecture of a computer which uses microcode to execute very comprehensive instructions. level; full synthesizable HDL (Hardware Description Language) A language used to describe the functions of an electronic circuit for documentation, simulation or logic synthesis (or all three). Although many proprietary HDLs have been developed, Verilog and VHDL are the major standards. description is available. - DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive Function All 32 x 16 bit and 16 x 16 bit DSP instructions in one cycle; 16-bit and 32-bit fixed-point arithmetic supported (rounding and saturation); for FIR and IIR filters in MODEM, data compression/decompression, etc. - On-chip Memory Support Two caching modes: on-chip DRAM caching and off-chip ROM caching; wait-cycle control for the on-chip DRAM; refresh control of the on-chip DRAM both for normal operation and sleep mode. CyberPro2010 Features of the CyberPro2010 are: - TVDirect Encoder with Flicker-Free Technology On-chip enhanced NTSC/PAL TV encoder with proprietary flicker-free technology; single oscillator oscillator Mechanical or electronic device that produces a back-and-forth periodic motion. A pendulum is a simple mechanical oscillator that swings with a constant amplitude, requiring the addition of energy at each swing only to compensate for the energy lost because of air for worldwide TV outputs including NTSC (National TV Standards Committee) The committee that developed the television standards for the U.S, which are also used in Canada, Japan, South Korea and several Central and South American countries. Both the committee and the standard are called "NTSC. , PAL, SCART/RGB, S-Video and Composite; High-quality video and text output on TV. - DuoVision(TM) Support Simultaneous display of graphics on CRT (1) (C RunTime) See runtime library. (2) (Cathode Ray Tube) A vacuum tube used as a display screen in a computer monitor or TV. The viewing end of the tube is coated with phosphors, which emit light when struck by electrons. and video on TV; Also, simultaneous display of video and graphics on both CRT and TV. - High-Performance 64-bit Graphics Accelerator 64-bit GUI Accelerator, 200-MHz RAMDAC (Random Access Memory Digital to Analog Converter) The VGA controller chip that maintains the color palette and converts data from memory into analog signals for the monitor. RAMDAC - Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter , clock; EDO support for 30-60ns EDO DRAMs from 1-MB to 4-MB memory. - Play back MPEG movies on TV The CyberPro2010 can play back MPEG movies from any MPEG decoder directly on TV as a video window or full screen without any degradation of video quality. CyberPro2010 provides horizontal and vertical interpolation interpolation In mathematics, estimation of a value between two known data points. A simple example is calculating the mean (see mean, median, and mode) of two population counts made 10 years apart to estimate the population in the fifth year. with edge smoothing, which reduces motion artifacts and blocking -- so that MPEG movies can be scaled up or down, to NTSC or PAL TV output size. - Video phone on TV The CyberPro2010 provides multiple video windows support for video phone applications. Video camera and TV tuner inputs are supported directly via dedicated video port. The video capture and playback hardware uses a very high-quality filter for scaling down live video and provides good quality video on TV for videophone applications. "Mitsubishi selected IGS because of its experience with enhanced video and TV output," continued Nguyen. "IGS is focused on the emerging arenas where TV is the primary or the secondary display. Because of the company's diligent commitment to this market, they have one of today's strongest technologies." "The Mitsubishi/IGS solution offers a solid reference platform for the global set top box market," said James Tao, senior director of strategic business development at IGS Technologies. "Working with Mitsubishi, we will provide customers with dedicated support so that they can bring quality products to market quickly." Packaging, availability and pricing The Mitsubishi/IGS solution is available today as a complete reference design which includes Mitsubishi's M32R/D-based MSA2000 board, IGS' CyberPro2010 multimedia daughtercard See daughterboard. daughtercard - daughterdboard , and an optional wireless keyboard. Total reference design price is $1000. OEM product customization will be supported by both companies. The M32R/D processor and CyberPro2010 accelerator are also available separately in production quantities from Mitsubishi and IGS Technologies respectively. The M32R/D is priced at $20 in high volume, and the CyberPro2010 is priced at $15. -0- About IGS Technologies IGS Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1993 to develop leading edge multimedia component solutions for emerging markets including Set Top, Information Appliances, Thin Clients and PC TV. IGS Technologies' mission is to become the leading supplier of multimedia products for commercial and consumer NCs, set top boxes, Web Browsers, WebDVD, WebPhone, Internet and Interactive TV applications. The company has been funded by venture capitalists and major corporations. IGS has the industry's leading companies as alliance partners and OEM customers in these emerging markets. IGS Technologies, Inc., 4001 Burton Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA. Tel: 408-982-8588 Fax: 408-982-8591. WWW WWW or W3: see World Wide Web. (World Wide Web) The common host name for a Web server. The "www-dot" prefix on Web addresses is widely used to provide a recognizable way of identifying a Web site. : igst.com About Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Electronics America Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has shipped more than 2 billion microcontrollers, and in 1997 ranked number two and number one in worldwide 8-bit and 16-bit microcontroller shipments, respectively. Mitsubishi is\the only company to successfully integrate the process technologies of DRAM and processor logic with its highly acclaimed eRAM(TM) technology, and has shipped more embedded DRAM products than all other suppliers combined. Mitsubishi markets its microcontroller products in North America through the Electronic Device Group, a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and its North American affiliate, Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc., are world-class suppliers of semiconductors and electronic products for visual computing. Mitsubishi combines its systems-level expertise and high-level silicon process technology to provide chip, chipset, and system-on-a-chip solutions. The company is ranked among the top-10 worldwide semiconductor suppliers and offers an extensive range of semiconductor-based products in the North American marketplace including ASICs, memory ICs, optoelectronic products, microwave GaAs FETs, MPEG codecs and flat-panel displays. The company is also a renowned global manufacturer of consumer electronics and a recognized innovator in big screen technology. Mitsubishi semiconductor and related electronic products are marketed in North America through the Electronic Device Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. Trademark Information eRAM is a trademark of Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. CyberPro, TVDirect, FlexiBus and DuoVision are trademarks of IGS Technologies. CONTACT: KVO Public Relations Julianne Whitelaw (650) 919-2048 julianne_whitelaw@kvo.com or Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc. John Garner (408) 774-3191 garner_john@edg.mea.com or IGS Technologies, USA Mike Raghavan (408) 982-8588, Ext. 130 miker@igst.com or IGS Technologies, Japan James Tao (408) 982-8588, Ext. 127 jtao@igst.com |
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