Philips Semiconductors Announces H.324 Video Telephony Software for TriMedia Processor; Enhanced Software Enables Highest Quality Video Calls on Standard Phone Lines.LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 1998--Philips Semiconductors TriMedia(TM) Product Group today announced an ITU (International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland, www.itu.ch) A telecommunications standards body that is under the auspices of the United Nations. Comprising more than 185 member countries, the ITU sets standards for global telecom networks. H.324 compliant software library for its award-winning TriMedia processor. The software, combined with the TriMedia processor, provides the industry's most comprehensive H.324 video telephony See videophone. solution for consumer videophones. The TriMedia processor and H.324 software library allow manufacturers to produce a new generation of video communications devices that achieve a higher level of picture and audio quality and reduce the latency associated with existing consumer products. In addition, by implementing all audio, video and communication processing on a single TriMedia processor, Philips enables OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and manufacturers to offer videophone (1) (VideoPhone) A line of videophones (definition #1 below) from AT&T that were introduced in the early 1990s and later pulled off the market due to poor sales. The first models came with a price tag above $1,000, and a pair were needed. See Picturephone. solutions aggressively priced for the nascent consumer market. "Philips is the only manufacturer capable of offering this high-level of performance and consumer-friendly price point to the videophone market," said Fuad Abu Nofal, general manager, Video Communications Sector for Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia Product Group. "We believe the video and audio quality that the TriMedia processor and H.324 software library provide will stimulate rapid growth of the consumer videophone market." Features The TriMedia H.324 software library provides the basic software building blocks for compliance with the ITU H.324 videoconferencing standard, and further enhances the library with optional modules that dramatically improve both picture and audio quality. These enhancement modules include video pre- and post-filtering audio echo cancellation The elimination of an echo in a two-way voice transmission. Echo is created in the telephone company's central office switch when two-wire lines from the customer are converted to four-wire lines for backbone trunks. and Natural Motion(TM), a proprietary Philips motion estimation algorithm. The modular architecture of the H.324 software library, coupled with the easy-to-program TriMedia processor, enables manufacturers to customize their videophone offerings with additional modules that add unique features as well as proprietary video and audio improvements. The combination of the basic TriMedia H.324 software library, the video and audio enhancement modules, as well as the TriMedia processor result in a new standard of video and audio quality for consumer videophones. These enhancement modules include video noise reduction pre-filtering that processes outbound signals for higher-quality compression and faster transmission and a deblocking post-filter that smooths the picture at block boundaries. Another module implements the Natural Motion algorithms that improve perceived image quality by interpolating between frames to smooth jerky jerky see biltong. motion. The full-duplex, acoustic echo cancellation software enhancement module enables TriMedia-based videophones to deliver the same echo-free, hands-free performance previously found only in high-end conference room speakerphones. Additional enhancement modules that implement further video and audio quality improvements as well as support for forthcoming ITU videoconferencing standards Following are the primary standards used with videoconferencing. See videoconferencing. Videophone Directory H.350 is the ITU standard for a videophone directory. See H.350. Session Initiation for Dial-Up Networks and T1 H. are planned for future release. Additionally, all videophone processing is handled by a single TriMedia processor, which eliminates the need to coordinate several different video, audio and communication processors. As a result, developers can achieve extremely low latencies (less than 200 ms) that alleviate the audio delay and synchronization (1) See synchronous and synchronous transmission. (2) Ensuring that two sets of data are always the same. See data synchronization. (3) Keeping time-of-day clocks in two devices set to the same time. See NTP. problems associated with earlier videophone offerings. The TriMedia Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) A CPU architecture that reads a group of instructions and executes them at the same time. For example, the group (word) might contain four instructions, and the compiler ensures that those four instructions are not dependent on each ) core can power multimedia applications at up to 4 billion operations per second (4 BOPS). This allows the TriMedia processor to simultaneously handle real-time encoding and decoding of both the audio and video streams in addition to the bi-directional communications processing. Furthermore, a TriMedia-based videophone could easily support other application modules, such as an Internet browser See Web browser. . The TriMedia Software Development Environment makes it easy for developers to port existing software, develop new applications or add new features using C/C C/C Center to Center C/C Combustion Chamber C/C Command/Control C/C Crew Chief C/C cabin cruiser (US DoD) C/C chief complaint (medical) C/C Channel-to-Channel C/C Communication and Collaboration ++ programming languages. The TriMedia H.324 software library will be available in early February. For further information visit the TriMedia Product Group's website at http://www.trimedia.philips.com . Philips Semiconductors Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia Product Group was established in 1994 and is based in Sunnyvale, Calif. The mission of the product group is to bring to market high-performance, programmable multimedia processor technology that will power the next generation of multimedia products at an affordable price. Philips Semiconductors Inc., a subsidiary of Philips Electronics North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. and an affiliate of Philips Electronics NV Philips Electronics NV in full Royal Philips Electronics NV Dutch Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV Major Dutch manufacturer of consumer electronics, household appliances, lightbulbs, and imaging equipment. , headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the ninth largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by regional customer applications labs. Additional information on Philips Semiconductors can be found on the home page at http://www.semiconductors.philips.com or by calling 1-800/914-9239 ext. 1467. CONTACT: Philips Semiconductors Jodi Guilbault, 408/991-2332 jodi.guilbault@sv.sc.philips.com or Miller/Shandwick Technologies Carey Anderson, 650/962-9550 canderson@miller.shandwick.com |
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