Da circa un anno la canadese ATi Technologies è impegnata anche nella produzione di chip grafici destinati ad un settore che negli ultimi tempi si è sviluppato molto, quello dei PDA. Oggi ATi ha infatti annunciato il nuovo chip Imageon 3200 destinato ai PDA di prossima generazione; tale chip rispetto ai modelli precedenti (annunciati proprio un anno fa) vanta un miglior motore 2D, oltre al supporto per la decompressione in hardware dei formati JPEG ed MPEG; integra anche una certa quantità di SRAM (Static RAM) che permette di gestire display con una risoluzione massima di 320x480 pixel. I primi campioni sono disponibili fin da ora, mentre la produzione in volumi inizierà per la fine di novembre; questo chip è compatibile con la maggior parte delle architetture sul mercato, tra cui la Intel XScale e la Motorola MX1. Ecco il comunicato stampa con tutti i dettagli:
ATI Introduces Next Generation IMAGEON(tm) 3200 A Highly Integrated Multimedia Co-processor
for Handheld Devices
High performance graphics acceleration with reduced system power dissipation
MARKHAM, Ontario/ Munich, Germany - November 14, 2002 - ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT) today introduced IMAGEON 3200, the most advanced multimedia co-processor for handheld electronic devices such as Personal Data Assistants (PDA) and the new generation of data-enabled Mobile Phones.
IMAGEON 3200 is a member of ATI`s second-generation family of media co-processors for handheld devices. It integrates an advanced 2D graphics engine and an MPEG/JPEG decoder alongside a powerful and versatile set of peripheral I/O functions. The IMAGEON 3200 highly optimized architecture and features offer the highest graphics performance and frame rates while lowering the overall system power dissipation. Handheld devices using the IMAGEON 3200 will benefit from a much longer battery life.
"ATI`s IMAGEON 3200 raises the bar once again by taking advantage of new technologies to deliver amazing graphics quality and battery life for all handheld devices including the frugal mobile phones," said Azzedine Boubguira, Director of Marketing, Handheld Products Group, ATI Technologies Inc. "In addition to completing the architecture of mobile devices and enhancing their performance, the new IMAGEON 3200 offers more value to OEMs for cost and power saving by integrating several necessary peripheral I/O functions."
IMAGEON 3200 continues to offer IMAGEON industry-leading functionality designed to enhance OEM (original equipment manufacturer) products. The following are just some of the outstanding IMAGEON 3200 features:
· Enhanced 2D Graphics Engine: All basic 2D acceleration functions are supported to enable fast animation and fast drawing to the screen. IMAGEON 3200 also includes advanced features such as alpha blending, object rotation, and Gouraud shading to enhance the visual quality and help the creativity of content developers for the handheld market.
· MPEG and JPEG decoding: The video hardware decode functions free up more than 50% of MIPS power from the main CPU, resulting in the support of higher resolutions at higher frame rates with no visual artifacts.
· Integrated Memory: IMAGEON 3200 includes enough embedded SRAM (static random access memory) to support double buffering of images for higher quality graphics and video on standard PDA display resolutions (up to 320 x 480 pixels).
· Host Interface: IMAGEON 3200 uses a high-bandwidth, high performance host- interface to connect seamlessly to all industry-leading embedded microprocessors such as Intel`s XScale, Motorola`s MX1, TI`s OMAP, and Samsung`s S3C2400.
· Display Engine: The main component of the display engine is a programmable LCD Timing Controller (or TCON). The programmability of this timing generator gives OEMs the flexibility to interface to a large number of LCD panels using different technologies from different manufacturers.
· USB On-The-Go (OTG): IMAGEON 3200 is the first integrated co-processor to offer USB OTG (On-The-Go) - a new standard that connects two USB devices directly. USB On-The-Go is designed for mobile interconnectivity by allowing a USB device to communicate with other USB peripherals (such as printers) without the need to go through a PC.
· Secure Digital (SD) card: Both SD memory cards and SDIO cards (with functions such as Bluetooth, digital cameras, etc...) are supported with the fully integrated and standard compliant controller. Multi-media Cards (MMC) are also supported
Video Capture Port: IMAGEON 3200 connects seamlessly to digital cameras and other video sources through its embedded capture port for images with resolutions up to VGA. Three input formats are accepted including the ITU-656 standard.
Availability
ATI`s IMAGEON 3200 media controller is currently sampling. Mass production shipments will start by the end of November.
Company Background
ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the design and manufacture of innovative 3D graphics and digital media silicon solutions. An industry pioneer since 1985, ATI is the world`s foremost visual processor unit (VPU) provider and is dedicated to deliver leading-edge performance solutions for the full range of PC and Mac desktop and notebook platforms, workstation, set-top and digital television, game console and handheld markets. With 2001 revenues in excess of US $1 billion, ATI has more than 1,900 employees in the Americas, Europe and Asia. ATI common shares trade on NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (ATY).