Mobile devices are increasingly compact but the quality of their audio output is therefore affected. DTS, which is renowned for HD multi-channel audio technologies, now offers complete surround sound and decoding solutions to smart phones, tablets, ultrabook, and other ultra mobile devices based on their costs and market positioning, enabling mobile devices to produce superb audio quality.Speaking at the recent DTF 2012 Ultra Mobile & Ecosystem Forum, Mary Crebassa, vice president, strategic partnerships, DTS, first played a film "Sound Changes The Way We See" to illustrate how important sound is in the overall entertainment experience while introducing DTS as an audio technology leader.DTS' reputation: Rich details of HD audioAccording to Crebassa, DTS was founded in 1993, when Steven Spielberg was directing his masterpiece Jurassic Park. Spielberg wanted to present the delicacy of rippling and resorted to DTS, which provided the rich details of sound to crystallize Spielberg's imagination.Headquartered in Calabasas, California, DTS listed on NASDAQ in 2003. DTS is an industry standard format for digitized audio effects of DVD, DVB, DLNA, IPF (IP TV Forum), etc. and is indispensable for Blu-ray discs.According to Nielsen's 2011 annual survey, the global market share of Hollywood films featuring DTS HD audio encoding technologies was as high as 86%.High quality sound effect and feeling provided by DTS to ultra mobile devicesGiven the convenience of the Internet and popularity of ultra mobile devices, Crebassa noted that increasingly compact mobile devices restrain the space for audio circuit and component design. In particular, because of cost considerations, audio quality of mobile devices can hardly satisfy consumers if such devices are not supported by high quality audio solutions.According to the findings from a mobile media and access platform survey conducted by Parks & Associates in the third quarter of 2010, as high as 59% of mobile devise users hoped to have surround sound, 22% considered stereo quality an essential requirement, and only 18% did not consider sound effects relevant. Therefore, DTS tailors solutions to help smart phones, tablets, ultrabook, and other ultra mobile devices maximize their hardware effectiveness and improve their sound performance.Crebassa further stressed that the value of DTS lies in the onset of development, i.e., a comprehensive service that includes not only design recommendations from the perspective of audio to provide implementation and fine-tuning but also marketing and sales support. The complete solutions provided by DTS not only resolve many complaints about the sound effect quality of mobile devices but also cope with the difficulties facing OEM partners in high quality digital audio circuit development. As a result, OEM partners can rapidly respond to various emerging digital video protocols and provide the best sound experience with Codec Decoder along with post processing technologies.Crebassa also analyzed the behavior pattern of mobile device users, who listen with headsets, speakers, and docking stations; converse with microphones; receive the sound of music, movies, streamed multimedia contents, games, system sound effects, and ring tones; communicate on social media; and talk in real time on IM Chat and using pure voice software.According to Crebassa, users tend to complain about sound quality, such as the lack of bass, insufficient loudness, spatial degradation, poor quality of sound, treble aliasing, unclear conversations, and sharply increasing or decreasing loudness from different sources of sound. These issues can all be resolved by DTS Mobile Solutions for Post Processing that utilizes natural sound technologies such as a personalized equalizer to enable bass, audio frequency, and sound wave movement recovery. Loudness will be maximized while spatial degradation, contents, and loudness will be made consistent.Regarding the background echo and noise as well as inaccurate identification of voice commands associated with microphone input, DTS provides its Mobile Solutions for Pre Processing for noise suppression, echo elimination, improvement of the accuracy of voice command identification.DTS solutions to entry- and medium-level as well as high-end mobile devicesImmediately after Crebassa, Vincent Ting, director, account management, DTS, elaborated on DTS solutions to ultra mobile devices. DTS is not only a standard setter and does not only enjoy a reputation of high quality guarantee but also guided by the principle of resurrecting the original sound of high quality. DTS Ultra Mobile and DTS Premium Audio are mobile solutions for post processing specially provided to OEM partners to enable intelligent, easy-to-tune sound output of high quality.DTS Premium Audio, which will be launched in Fall 2012, targets high-end multimedia mobile devices, supporting multi-channel surround sound output, dynamic range recovery, augmentation and balance of loudness, and spectrum control. Moreover, DTS Premium Audio is capable of scenario optimization, loudness augmentation, surround sound simulation, as well as volume balance and bandwidth expansion. DTS Ultra Mobile, which is available in the market now, focuses on medium- and entry-level users who only use headsets and speakers, providing surround sound simulation to headsets as well as increased loudness to speakers.DTS also provides its DTS HD solution factoring in HD audio and video decoding that mobile devices need. The solution includes Ultraviolet, a digital rights authentication system, to decode and play multi-channel audio sources of HD films with Android Ultraviolet Player on the Android platform. The solution provides extra support to digital media libraries such as Deluxe Digital Media Library, DivX Plus Streaming, and Adobe Creative Suite 6, too.DTS HD is able to convert 5.1 channel or 7.1 channel to 2-channel stereo for output, and decode multi-channel film, music, or game content to provide genuine multi-channel surround sound that delivers a strong impact to mobile device users. DTS HD codecs implement coding and decoding at 1.5Mbps, and they are fully compatible with any TV and video recorder available in the market.In terms of the division of audio source products for mobile devices, it is DTS' recommendation that the system design of tablets and high-end video phones should adopt the combination of DTS HD and DTS Premium Audio; multimedia phones should adopt DTS Premium Audio; and entry- and medium-level phones should adopt DTS Ultra Mobile.Audio technologies that transform mobile devices into entertainment on the goTing further introduced the technologies as provided by DTS Premium Audio and DTS Ultra Mobile that enhance the quality of audio sources and reduce noise. DTS Ultra Mobile features the technologies of Envelo and Boost, while DTS Premium Audio has four technologies -- Enhance, Symmetry, Envelo, and Boost -- all in one.DTS solutions target mobile devices with limited space, in particular, the background noise resulting from heat ventilation that inevitably incurs crosstalk interference with microphones, and high-pitched, unnatural signals. When these issues happen, DTS implements decoding at 1.5Mbps and provides analogue signals that meet the DTS 2.0 stereo specification along with digital 5.1 channel output. As a result, when stereo headsets and speakers are connected only, stereo can be used to simulate multi-channel output. When the 1.5Mbps digital signal output port is connected, the genuine 5.1 channel digital output will resume.DTS Boost processes the sound signals that do not have a sufficient range of vibration, and the technology is able to increase loudness by at least 12 decibels. DTS Symmetry balances the volume of sound as defined by users, utilizing audio psychology to appropriately increase or decrease loudness to resolve the annoyance of sharply increasing or decreasing loudness resulting from different ranges of vibration associated with different sound sources.DTS 3D is a real-time 3D recording tool for game and movie dubbing. DTS Clear Voice suppresses audio feedback from local loudspeakers and rejects contribution from undesired ambient noises, enabling dual-microphone speech dereverberation and spatial sensing. Targeting different platforms, DTS supports API function links such as OpenAL and OpenSL ES, and DTS also supports Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) development to provide different product design options to customers.In sum, in terms of audio sources, the encoding structure of DTS is similar to concentric circles, in which 5.1 channel data compression is the core while 6.1 channel and 7.1 channel are outer circles. Therefore, all the DTS decoders available in the market completely support 5.1 channel output. Newer DTS decoders are capable of downward compatibility to decode any DTS sound source and deliver the best audio quality. For mobile devices, DTS enables surround sound simulation to provide a multi-channel effect of a spacious sound field. DTS post processing technologies improve audio playback when there are hardware restraints, resolving all the audio-related issues. DTS, which provides complete real-time local services, is a reliable audio technology partners to manufacturers for manufacturers to effectively enhance the added value of their products.Mary Crebassa, vice president, strategic partnerships, DTS

Vendors have been devoted to providing high-performance power chips and corresponding solutions in a bid to help the industry create small-sized power supplies for ultra mobile devices (UMDs), enhance conversion efficiency and reduce standby power consumption. This will save considerable amount of energy for over 100 million consumer electronics devices, mobile devices and home appliances around the world.During the recent DTF 2012 Ultra Mobile & Ecosystem Forum, Vincent Chang, NXP senior regional product marketing manager power solutions ICs - BL power & lighting/BU HPMS, introduced latest international regulations on ultra-low standby power chargers and adapters as well as NXP's latest power IC solutions, hoping to help the industry conquer the challenges of design in the era of UMDs.NXP, the spin-off of Philips Semiconductors in 2008, offers high-performance mixed signal and standard products such as transistors and solutions for logic devices.Brief introduction on NXP power IC solutionsThe standby power consumption of NXP's power IC is ultra-low at milli-W levels and in compliance with strict requirements of Energy Star or EUP Lot 6. Chang continued by sharing information about power consumption of home appliances, PC peripherals, mobile devices and the emerging-saving market, before lecturing on ultra-low standby power solutions' indispensability and regulatory challenges. In the last part of the speech he introduced charger and adapter power solutions NXP launched for reducing standby power consumption and boosting power, and shared some case studies on product designs.Trends of low standby power consumption design for power controllersMost power supplies now are based on the second generation low power platform (with low standby power consumption and high efficiency), with a size as small as possible for better portability. USB chargers are noiseless and easy to use. Currently, USB 3.0 chargers provide for up to 0.9A (about 4-5W), while next generation USB chargers can deliver up to 9-10W. Statistics from Energy Star show that 29% of global energy consumption goes to heating, with 17% for cooling, 13% for home appliances, 12% for lightening and the remaining 11% for usage in external power supply, telecom equipment, STB, home video/audio recreation, etc. Home appliances and 3C/PC/NB products, amounting to 25% of all energy consumption, can help reduce power consumption by using power chips designed for lower power consumption and higher efficiency.Gartner forecasts that annual desktop PC shipment around the world will stay above 150 million units by 2017, but annual notebook shipment (ultrabooks included) will reach 400-450 million units. Tablet PC shipments are expected to surpass the 300 million units mark by 2015. Smartphones will enjoy significant growth, with annual shipment hitting around 500 million units in 2012 before increasing three-fold to 1.5 billion in 2015. These all represent great opportunities for charger and power supply makers.Chang demonstrated a 90W ultra-thin power adapter developed by his client, a device in an LC framework as small as a business card case. He emphasized that NXP chips can help adapter vendors break through barriers on standby power consumption and create LC-framework products with a low 0.2W power consumption. Meanwhile, NXP also offers 40-50W adapter solutions for ultrabooks, and even smaller versions of 5-10W.As for regulations on lower standby power consumption, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson in 2007 agreed on a five-star rating scheme regulating standby power consumption: zero star for consumption greater than 0.5W, one star for 0.35-0.5W, two stars for 0.25-0.35W, three stars for 0.15-0.25W, four starts for 0.03-0.15W and five stars for consumption lower than 0.03W. Energy Star requires that power supplies below 50W must consume less than 0.5W for AC-AC and 0.3W for AC-DC. Adapters in 50-250W, AC-AC or AC-DC, have to consume less than 0.5W.Starting January 7, 2009, EUP Lot 6 demands that all home alliances, PCs, consumer electronics products and even toys have to consume energy of less than 1W under standby, sleep or off modes, or 2W if including status display. Products sold after January 7, 2013 cannot consume more than 0.5W under off and standby modes, or 1W if including status display.In compliance with EUP Lot 6, NB adapters and LCD TV power supplies have to respectively meet the 0.5W and 0.25W maximum energy consumption under standby and off modes. As NBs from some major brands would need 0.5W just for chipsets alone, many solutions still fail to meet the requirements. China requires an even lower maximum of 0.5W/0.2W, and Japan is also stricter with a 0.5W/0.15W limit.Desktop PCs are under standby mode for an average of 36% of time, while NBs are on stand by 34% of time and the figure is even higher at 43% for computer monitors or TV. With 200 million notebooks and 2 billion smartphones around the world, a 50% cut in standby power consumption might save NT$20-30 billion on electricity bills each year.Case studies on design of lower standby power consumption applicationsUsing a conversion efficiency chart of switching power supply, Chang pointed out that energy losses consist of switching losses, magnetic losses and conduction losses. Conduction losses would be constant when the system is in full load,while switching losses are constant in no-load status. Synchronous rectification is adopted to reduce conduction losses at heavy load, using TEA1791/1761 as a flyback switching power supply or replacing Shottky-barrier diodes with TEA1791A/1795 linear rectification. The MOS process can also be adopted to reduce on-resistance. Higher conversion efficiency at a lower load can be achieved with the burst mode, soft switching, quasi-resonant (QR) or switching frequency.For Flyback QR to deliver high performance at a heavy load, multi-mode operation can be adopted to reduce power chip frequency at a heavy load, while QR can minimize switching losses and reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI). For flyback QR to deliver high performance at lower load, the PFC converter should be shut down under the low-load mode to reduce energy losses. TEA175X power chips will allow feedback circuits to adopt the more sensitive sense resistor IC.Next Chang showed the audience a switching power line chart with load demand as one variable, adding the power chip's power consumption into the calculation. With power chips developed by avoiding the frequency range between 22KHz and 28KHz, the burst mode, which often requires high power in dozens of milliseconds, can reduce switching losses and raise efficiency under difference load status. For example, TEA1733/1738 can reduce switching losses by lowering switching frequency, while current output is cut by 25% as compared to peak current.For low-load application environment with output power lower than 65W, active x-cap discharge circuit and high-ohm sensor patterns can be added to replace low-power TL431 IC and achieve better precision. Moreover, TEA1733 IC only consumes 0.01W at no-load mode due to extremely low operating current for IC at 0.03W. For chargers and adapters with power output lower than 20W, the TEA172X series is recommended for burst mode with switching frequency between 400Hz and 1850Hz. Standby power consumption will be reduced and the operating current is only one fourth of peak volume. The frequency should be fixed between 22.5Khz and 51.5Khz under normal operation mode.TEA1731, which is in TSOP6 package with an average 90.55-90.9% conversion efficiency, can be applied 19.5V, 40W adapters. Components made with SOI process are recommended if further reduction of ICs power consumption is desired, as leakage will be significantly lowered with each transistor being wrapped in dielectric. For example, TEA1738 is made with the SO8 process in the same 90.55-90.9% conversion efficiency needs a merely 10μA for start-up current and 5μA operating current, which is about one third or one fourth of those required by rival products.GreenChip SR TEA1792 chips can be used as power supply for notebook adapters, chargers and LCD TV. Adoption of SO8 process, 8.5-38V ultra high working voltage and 10V high voltage output will also further raise the conversion efficiency. For EUP Lot 6-compliant power supply with over 100W output power, TEA1713 plus TEA1716 are recommended to meet the 0.25W standby power consumption requirement.The TEA172x family of power chips- from 5W TEA1721(TEA1721AT/BT/DT/FT), 8W TEA1722 to 11W TEA1723 (TEA1723AT/BT/DT/FT)- is recommend for low standby power consumption solutions on USB chargers, smartphones, tablets or even home appliances. Such solutions offer support to high c/p value design and require less than 30 components on the bill of material (BoM). Standby power consumption is below 5mW under 115V power supply, and the conversion efficiency will also be higher than EPA 2.0 requirements (an average 75-78% .in 5W). For example, a 5W (5V/1A) small-sized UBS cell phone charger based on 5W TEA1721 is only 40mm in length, 28mm in width and 14mm in height.NXP Sr. regional product marketing manager power solutions ICs - BL power & lighting/BU HPMS, Vincent Chang

High-strength mechanical parts are necessary to manufacture light and thin chassis for ultrabooks. In addition to expensive aluminum magnesium alloy, mechanical part makers can also achieve metal-like characteristics of ultra-thinness, high strength and sleekness by using plastic plus 25-50% glass fiber when making high-strength chassis. The method will also significantly reduce the cost of ultrabook's mechanical parts.Speaking at the recent DTF 2012 Ultra Mobile & Ecosystem Forum, MiTAC Precision Technology (Kunshan) president John Lin started with an introduction to the background of Getac Technology Corporation and MPT. Founded in 1989, Getac is an entity that is listed on Taiwan's Gre Tai Securities Market (TAIPEX: 3005) with a NT$5.8 billion capital. The company reported NT$15.8 billion of revenue in 2011.Getac's main business encompasses ruggedized computer, composite mechanical component, plastic and metal component module, auto mechanical component and aerospace mechanical component. Getac is now the world's second largest ruggedized computer manufacturer and supplier. The company now owns 11 manufacturing bases: one in Shunde (located in Guangdong Province, China), three in Kunshan and one in Changshu (both cities are located in Jiangsu Province, China), two in Nanchang (in Jiangxi Province, China), two in Vietnam's Bac Ninh Industrial Zones, one in Shanghai, China and one in Taoyuan, Taiwan.MPT is a composite mechanical component subsidiary of Getac founded in Kunshan in 2003, with 4,500 employees and a R&D/engineering staff of 800 people. Major injection equipments at MPT factories include 330 injection molding machines and 297 RHCM controllers, delivering a monthly capacity of 8 million pieces. The company's tooling center can produce as many as 320 sets per month with a short lead time of 15 to 35 days. MPT also owns key technologies for HCM injection, high-temperature mold, gas-assisted injection molding, IMR, IML, double injection, sputtering lines and coating lines.Light and thin chassis: An inevitable trend amid the ultrabook boomLin said Apple's decision to cut the price of MacBook Air to around NT$30,000 shook up the market. People no longer find appealing the bulky notebook computers that are at least three to four centimeters thick. That's why Intel requires a thickness below 18 mm and less than 1.5 kilograms of weight for 13.3-inch ultrabooks. Intel hopes to achieve a 43% penetration for ultrabooks by 2014, and reduce the average selling price (ASP) to below US$600 in an effort to cater to enthusiasm for thinner and lighter devices with affordable prices.In addition to specs, cost is another key problem for higher penetration of ultrabooks. And among all cost-related problems, chassis and frames are the most crucial subject. Currently more than 90% of ultrabook chassis are metal, and one single chassis item in the CNC process would cost over US$100. As one CNC machine can produce eight pieces per day and three of the items will be used in CNC machines, existing CNC machines are not enough to achieve an annual mass production of 24 million ultrabooks, and the prices of ultrabooks will remain high. Under such circumstances, high glass fiber reinforced plastic chassis, which is also light, thin, stiff and affordable, has become an alternative for ultrabook chassis.Technology development of light, reinforced glass fiber ChassisLin mentioned that mid-end notebook computer makers used to adopt PC ABS because it is quite cheap, but the material fails to achieve ultra-thinness due to poor stiffness. Glass fiber is therefore added in order to improve plastic chassis' stiffness as more plastic fiber offers higher stiffness. However, mass production would become more difficult at the same time.Due to limitations in fluidity, PC ABS can only consist up to 30% of glass fiber. Manufacturers turned to nylon later, adding up to 50% glass fiber to meet the fire-proof and heat-proof requirements. Up to 75% glass fiber can be added if not considering the fire-proof requirement, so that the chassis can be thinner with strength and stiffness greater than existing metals.Other crucial technology barriers to mass production of glass fiber chassis include the problems of warp and floating fibers, simultaneous delivery of lightness, thinness and toughness, and stronger chassis structure in order to pass drop tests.Lin said plastic chassis makers using conventional injection molding technology would melt plastic material and then inject it into molds of 40-50�J temperature before unmolding after cooling down. It would warp the item if the material fails to cool down before reaching its crystallization temperature.MPT developed a Rapid Heat Cycle Molding (RHCM) technology for plastic since 2003, employing a rapid temperature-changing molding process. Temperature of the molds will first be raised to a certain high level, and then the plastic material with high percentage of glass fiber is injected into the molds. The item is finished when the mold is set to room temperature, and the chances for warp will be significantly reduced.Flatness and stiffness close to aluminum magnesium alloyConventional plastic manufacturing process is prone to floating fibers that often cause unevenness and obvious welding lines. Getac's glass fiber reinforced plastic chassis adopts the RHCM process technology to achieve a glossy surface. The surface, plated with a 50nm layer of resin without any floating fibers and welding lines, is sleek and meets the requirement for glossiness and seamlessness. In terms of the characteristics of stiffness, lightness and thinness for a 13.3-inch notebook chassis cover, the Al alloy-6063 process (unibody, CNC) adopted by MacBook Air has a 67 GPa bending modulus, with an actual weight of 227 grams and 0.7-1.2 mm minimum wall thickness, while the PC/ABS plastic chassis has a 2.5 GPa bending modulus with a 218 gram weight and wall thickness of 1.8 mm. MPT's PA+50% glass fiber chassis has a 17.5 GPa bending modulus, with a minimum wall thickness of 1.0-1.1 mm when the actual weight is 157 grams, which is pretty close to aluminum magnesium alloy in terms of stiffness and wall thickness.Lin added that surface treatment for chassis with 50% glass fiber, with an IMR or coating, can result in great product texture and pattern transfers, satisfying the need for stylishness and environmental protection at the same time. Requirements for cost efficiency, mass production and sufficient capacity will also be met. As a leader in RHCM technology process, MPT offers clients the shortest cycle time in the industry and reasonable prices with an economic and eco-friendly (heating by steam) process.Glass fiber material is cost-competitive as its price is only one third of that for metal. With experiences in plastic molding technology and excellent control of mold temperature precision, the company offers molds with lifespan close to those of regular molding molds, and chassis with 50% glass fiber can achieve a yield of over 90% due to great command of glass fiber's characteristics. With 330 injection molding machines and 297 RHCM controllers, monthly capacity can reach 8 million pieces.Lin concluded that a chassis with 50% glass fiber is ultra-sleek, seamless and free from floating fibers and welding lines, offering great stiffness for device protection. It is also 40% thinner than plastic chassis, not to mention other features such as metal-like lightness, diversified styles with post processing, eco-friendliness (paint-free, with great product texture and pattern transfers), low costs (one third the prices of metal), potential for mass production (with over 90% yield) and sufficient capacity. All the aforementioned characteristics demonstrate that molding with high percentage of glass fiber is the best chassis solution for ultrabooks.Technology skill to collaborate with notebook industry and facilitate mass productionWith strong engineering analysis capability and powerful databanks, MPT has accumulated 307 tooling patents and 59 patents related to HCM R&D (material, manufacturing process and equipment). The company has also accumulated over 625 development projects, developing more than 1,709 sets of molds and offering solutions to covers, LCD frames, computer keyboards and bases.Taking billiard balls and combs as examples, Lin said finally, earliest products made with ivory, ox horns, rhino horns and goat horns were only affordable for aristocrats. When the plastic industry emerged, billiard balls and combs made with petrochemical material began to deliver excellent quality and durability, with prices low enough to affordable levels. Chassis with a high percentage of fiber glass consumes lesser energy but its capacity is limitless, making the mass production of ultrabooks and higher penetration rates possible.MPT Precision Technology (Kunshan) Corp. President, John Lin, Ph. D

The new SABIC Academy in Riyadh utilizes CAYIN's digital signage solutions to convey timely information throughout 38 LCD screens in the main entrance, meeting rooms, auditorium, and conference halls. Multiple state-of-the-art technologies were introduced to the new Academy to accomplish this smart building.SABIC Academy is the new learning center of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation in Riyadh. The new academy has become the benchmark of education facilities in the Kingdom. CAYIN's digital signage solution is introduced in this project by SMARTECH AV, CAYIN's premium partners in Saudi Arabia, to replace old-fashioned bulletin boards and create a speedy digital information channel."This is the first learning center in Saudi Arabia to use this technology to manage all meeting rooms completely," said Mr. Yousef Abdul Hadi Projects Manager of SMARTECH AV Co. "We are honored to be selected as the main partner to supply all AV and Digital Signage with room schedule systems for the first smart learning academy in Saudi Arabia."The new Academy contains 30 meeting rooms and hosts a wide variety of learning programs, including workshops, summits and training classes every day. Instead of using bulletin boards, SABIC deploys 17" LCD screens (Flush Mount) in the wall outside 30 meeting rooms, along with CAYIN's digital signage solutions. The screen clearly indicates the meeting topic, start time, and duration of the meeting. Therefore, enrolled trainees can locate the correct class and meeting room easily.Each screen connects to one CAYIN SMP-WEB4 digital signage player and is managed centrally via CAYIN's meetingPost software. Equipped with a room booking system, meetingPost enables administrators to process online booking for meeting and banquet rooms.Therefore, SABIC Academy can edit a meeting list for each meeting room in advance. For impromptu meetings or room changes, the administrator can also input meeting information remotely in the office without running back and forth in the building to change the post.In addition to meeting rooms, SABIC Academy also installs three 51" LCD screens in the main entrance, two for the auditorium, and two for the multipurpose hall to increase the reach of the Academy's public announcements. With the help of CAYIN lobbyPost software, SABIC can select a template, enter data, and immediately show high quality video, tickers, web pages, pictures, weather information, and even live TV programs from the satellite.SABIC Academy is an important education facility for the nation to develop industry leaders in the petrochemical industry. World-class leaders and courses, accompanied by world-class learning facilities successfully enhance the level of education and training and add a new dimension to the advancement of the Kingdom.Please download the complete case study from CAYIN's website:http://www.cayintech.com/digital_signage_applications/sabic_academy.htmlAbout SABIC AcademySABIC Academy is the new learning center of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation in Riyadh. It provides solid training courses for both SABIC employees and leaders of various government sectors in the Kingdom. The academy is constructed on an area of 11,000 square meters and can accommodate around 450 people.About CAYIN TechnologyCAYIN Technology offers a complete portfolio of appliance-based digital signage solutions, including media players, servers, and software, for various commercial applications, such as education, transportation, retail, hospitality, corporate use, and financial and public institutions. CAYIN is dedicated to being a reliable partner to its clients worldwide, and has successfully set up various application references globally. In order to best facilitate the deployment of CAYIN products, the company also provides tailored services to satisfy the ascending market demand for almost limitless applications.Instead of using bulletin boards, SABIC deploys 17" LCD screens (Flush Mount) in the wall outside 30 meeting rooms, along with CAYIN's digital signage solutions.

Advantech and L.G. Sokolov Memorial Hospital 1122 are together setting the trend in advanced mobile medical solutions in Russia. Advantech offered a complete mobile medical solution for the hospital which has now become the benchmark for other Russian hospitals. The hospital's integrated computerized nursing cart combined with Advantech's AMIS-60 medical-grade computer,PDC-170 medical-grade display and the MICA-101 mobile clinical assistant, greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of the hospital's workflow.Wen-Ta Chiu, Minister for the Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, visited L.G Sokolov Memorial Hospital and was highly impressed by the high-tech deployment in a medical institution on such scale. Bronislav Gorelik, President of MCS, Advantech's medical focus channel partner in Russia also mentioned that "In recent years, Advantech has devoted a great deal of research and collaboration efforts in the medical industry, especially in the mobile solution area, and it is very gratifying that the development of hospital services and medical equipment is inspired and driven by information technology."Advantech is a leader in the mobile medical solutions market, as well as having extensive experience in providing total solutions for a diverse array of medical applications to various hospitals worldwide that include: interactive information, self check-in, smart phone clinical status inquiry, intelligent medical carts, bedside infotainment, and patient dialysis information systems.Since L.G. Sokolov Memorial Hospital 1122 is the leading hospital in Russia with more than 400 physicians and 700 mid-level health care professionals, Advantech considers it a great privilege to be able to collaborate with it. And as part of its mission of "Enabling of an Intelligent Planet," Advantech is always putting its strength into improving lifestyles and building smart solutions.About AdvantechFounded in 1983, Advantech is a leader in providing trusted, innovative products, services, and solutions. Advantech offers comprehensive system integration, hardware, software, customer-centric design services, embedded systems, automation products, and global logistics support. We cooperate closely with our partners to help provide complete solutions for a wide array of applications across a diverse range of industries. Our mission is to enable an intelligent planet with Automation and Embedded Computing products and solutions that empower the development of smarter working and living. With Advantech, there is no limit to the applications and innovations our products make possible. (Corporate Website: www.advantech.com).About Advantech Mobile Medical Solutions- AMIS-60: A highly integrated computerized nursing cart with computer inside. This unit optimizes the patient care process as a mobile point-of-care station and is seamlessly integrated into a first-class medical nursing cart. There are no external cables to get in the way, and the I/O connectors are all recessed. Health care personnel will find AMiS-60 flexible for use in a variety of environments, simple and intuitive to use, and easy to keep clean. The integrated features of the cart with PC, allows users to easily upgrade computing performance while minimizing total cost of ownership.- PDC-170: The PDC-170-B series are quality medical image displays with high contrast LCD for clinical viewing. These series are designed with an IPX1 water resistant enclosure with an additional IP65 dust-tight front panel. The PDC-170-B series have a DVI –D for reduced signal distortion during transmission and are compatible to DICOM Part 14.- MICA-101: The newest MICA-101 has the same integrated features and ergonomic design as its predecessor, but the new release has been enhanced to provide better imagery, faster storage, and better power saving, making it even more robust. MICA-101 mobile clinical assistant is suitable for EMR, HER, and Nursing Information Systems (NIS). It is a fanless system that is lightweight, portable and quiet to use, and it streamlines workflow while increasing productivity.

American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), a leader in BIOS and computing innovations, is pleased to announce the availability of its new UEFI Development Workstation System for sale to manufacturers, developers, system integrators and testers. AMI's UEFI Development Workstation System is purpose-built for Aptio and UEFI development and testing.This leading edge desktop PC with premium components provides a comprehensive development environment for UEFI, particularly for the integration of UEFI 2.3.1-compatible operating systems including the upcoming Microsoft Windows 8. AMI has worked closely with Microsoft to develop this system in order to facilitate the rapid development of the soon-to-be-released Microsoft Windows 8 throughout the entire developer community.First and foremost, the UEFI Development Workstation System is a flexible development platform, built upon a full-featured hardware architecture optimized for firmware projects in a mini-tower configuration. It features an Intel Core i7-2600 Processor with 8 GB of DDR3-1333 memory for stellar performance under the most demanding conditions.Of course, this new UEFI development system is powered by the latest version of Aptio UEFI BIOS - version 4.6.5.x. Aptio 4.6.5.x not only offers full support for the next generation of Microsoft Windows, but also adds support for the latest UEFI specifications, UEFI 2.3.1 and PI 1.2. This makes the latest features of the UEFI specification, such as Secure Boot, UEFI boot mode, secure firmware update, eDrive support, fully localizable user interface and more, available to manufacturers in a production-ready UEFI BIOS. Notably, this development system will be the first PC on the market with full UEFI 2.3.1 support, allowing for a complete Windows 8 experience.The UEFI Development Workstation System integrates seamlessly with other AMI products for system development and debug, such as AMI Debug for UEFI and AMI Debug Rx, to give developers the ideal toolset to exhaustively test and debug UEFI drivers and applications. It is also the optimal solution to validate UEFI 2.3.1 compatibility of PCI-E expansion cards, especially HII compatibility. Additionally, the UEFI Development Workstation System includes the industry-standard Aptio Text Setup Engine (TSE) supporting the development of HII forms and can integrate seamlessly with the AMI Graphical Setup Engine (GSE) and other pre-boot UEFI solutions.S. Shankar, President and CEO of American Megatrends commented that "AMI is greatly pleased to be the first BIOS vendor to provide a purpose-built UEFI Development Workstation System to the manufacturing and development community. Most importantly, this system features the full production, latest version of Aptio that leverages the UEFI 2.3.1 standard and the security and usability enhancements that will be at the core of the 're-imagination of Windows' with Windows 8. This will help developers get the most out of their projects. We anticipate that this new system will quickly become a key component of the Windows development ecosystem and help enable the rapid adoption and interest in Windows 8 development throughout the worldwide developer community."Interested parties are encouraged to contact AMI at 1-800-U-BUY-AMI for pricing and detailed specifications on the UEFI Development Workstation System for Aptio.NOTE: This system is not available for sale or lease to the general public and is not intended for home or commercial use. This product has not been approved by the FCC at this time and is intended for UEFI development only.

SemiLEDs Corporation recently launched its new "Enhanced Vertical" (EV) LED product series. The EV LED has been designed to have higher thermal endurance, ensuring better reliability at higher temperatures. The EV LEDs feature SemiLEDs' vertical chip structure on a patented metal alloy substrate, offering advantages in excellent optical output and high thermal conductivity.SemiLEDs' EV LEDs are available for global sales and immediate sampling in blue, green and UV and chip sizes of 0.4mm x 0.4mm through 1.5mm x 1.5mm.For more information about SemiLEDs EV LED series, please visit http://www.semileds.com or contact sales@semileds.com.About SemiLEDsSemiLEDs develops and manufactures LED chips and LED components for general lighting, including street lights and commercial, industrial and residential lighting, along with specialty industrial applications such as UV curing, medical/cosmetic, counterfeit detection, and horticulture. SemiLEDs sells blue, green and ultraviolet (UV) LED chips.

Imagination, one of the world's three largest makers of multimedia and communications semiconductor intellectual property (IP) cores recently held a technology forum in Taiwan's northern city of Hsinchu on June 14 that discussed topics ranging from IP cores to the latest SoC solutions. The forum also featured technology from some of Imagination's partners, and overall attracted nearly 200 participants.VP of sales and business development at Imagination, David McBrien, and Max Lin, director of sales, said during the introduction, that this was the first time the company held a forum of such size in Taiwan and the new event was due to the importance of the market and the number of partners there. "We want to keep investing in the Taiwan market and provide excellent service support, so that we may assist customers in developing competitive products," said McBrien.McBrien also said, "Not only will we be introducing our latest graphics processing IP, we will also talk about video, displays, multi-threaded cores, and wireless processors. We hope that industries can further understand that Imagination is a company that provides complete SoC solutions."David McBrien, VP of sales and business development at ImaginationMax Lin, Director of sales at ImaginationLater in the forum, VP of marketing at Imagination, Tony King-Smith, revealed the company is continuing to expand its market strategies and prospects by building advanced SoC technology combined with a wide range of ecosystems and rich product portfolio.Complete solutions to fulfill consumer requirementsKing-Smith pointed out that Imagination was established in 1985 in Britain and has a long history as an IP provider, with licensed clients listed as the world's top-20 semiconductor and OEM players in the world. A total of 800 million shipments ranging from smartphones, tablets, digital TVs and gaming systems have built-in technology from Imagination, and it is estimated that number will increase to one billion by 2016.Graphics processor IP is Imagination's core technology. King-Smith said that years ago the market was skeptical about on-chip GPUs, but now it is proven that this technology is widely accepted. We predict the adoption by video and on-chip multiple-standard communications solutions will grow at a rapid pace and will move towards M2M, which will bring more business opportunities for Imagination.He also said Imagination can provide a wide range of SoC solutions, such as PowerVR for graphics, video and displays, Ensigma receivers, and Meta multi-threaded processors, along with non-SoC solutions such as HelloSoft V.VolP and VoLTE software, as well as Flow cloud computing and service IP products. This will give customers unique differentiation and most cost-efficient solutions.King-Smith emphasized, "Imagination wants to be the building blocks for satisfying requirements in the market and we will continue to strengthen our relationship with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), ensuring that licensees receive optimal speed, area and power efficiency available."Tony King-Smith, VP of marketing at ImaginationAt present, Imagination is a member of the TSMC Soft-IP Alliance Program and is working to co-optimize with TSMC to will give SoC designers the most efficient solutions available.Touching on the current technology trends, King-Smith said that heterogeneous computing, 4K displays, connectivity and processor diversification will all be trends and new business opportunities for Imagination.King-Smith described that GPUs have better scalability due to their parallel processing features. After there are 2-4 CPU cores within SoC, there will be complications with design its processing sequence will make it difficult to expand. In contrast, GPUs are able to have 95% linear performance growth and will not add difficulties with writing applications. In order to gain even higher efficiency, present GPUs already occupy half of the surface area of SoCs.Hence, Tony King-Smith is optimistic about the future development of combining CPU and GPU in heterogeneous computing architecture. Imagination has also formed the HSA Foundation with AMD, ARM, MediaTek and TI to create standard APIs and tools, accelerating cross-platforms and cross-operating heterogeneous computing applications, which will all be the next set of opportunities for SoC.Social connectivity is becoming more and more popular and smart applications are becoming more integrated with automobiles, which is increasing the amount of requirements for on-chip connectivity. Moreover, as screen sizes become larger and support higher resolutions, combining video and non-video material is becoming increasingly important, as video, displays and graphics products indeed will react to 4K resolution trends.In terms of the availability of diverse processors, King-Smith said Android's neutral stance with its hardware architecture will give other CPU architectures more chances in the market. And, as heterogeneous computing develops, optimal design will not be necessary for CPUs. Therefore, Imagination's Meta multi-threaded processors will not be limited by problems concerning binary compatibility, and will be able to expand their market further.King-Smith also noted that consumers aren't concerned with what kind of hardware is used in products, but rather, if the products meet their overall requirements. If a good product image is created in the minds of consumers, then they will have even more trust with the products.In keeping in line with this notion, Imagination will be dedicated to creating complete solutions for consumers by combining performance optimization and further collaboration with TSMC along with creating new technology that will create win-win situations for both the company and its customers.Imagination Technology Forum on June 14, 2012Cooperation with TSMC for next-generation graphics technologyCliff Hou, TSMC Vice President, Research and Development, said as the development of consumer electronic products continues to strengthen, users are pushing for cloud computing, which has prompted TSMC to enhance GUI.Hou pointed out that GUI user experience is developing towards resolutions of the retina level. In addition, a 60Hz frame rate is a must. This coupled with requirements for cell phones and tablets supporting HDTV have all been important factors for enhancing graphics, added Hou.Looking at the evolution of desktop GPU requirements, TSMC's advanced processes have been pushing GPU performance to double on a biannual basis. And the progress of mobile GPU's performance has been even faster. In 2007, the performance was less than 1 GFLOPS, but with the implementation of 28nm technology this year, the performance can now reach 12-30 GFLOPS and could reach 100-200 GFLOPS next year after migrating to 20nm next year.However, Hou said that increasing memory bandwidth within high-performance systems is pushing up the power of chips and overall systems, which is a big design challenge.In order to solve production challenges resulted from process scaling, TSMC has been very active in developing technologies for 3D- IC chip stacking, CoWoS and 14nm FinFET 3D transistor structure, as well as building complete ecosystems with its partners.Hou added that a comprehensive design ecosystem needs to comprise of TSMC's design specifications, SPICE patterns, reference flows, EDA tools and IP product mixes. Only when an ecosystem is ready can TSMC help its customers adopt new process nodes. Key factors such as quality, accessibility, timeline and integration all need to be taken into consideration.Therefore, TSMC has put efforts in establishing an OIP in the past four years that can provide complete design kits, design processes, tools, IPs as well as overall solutions and services. Through mutual trust and hard work between customers, partners and TSMC, customers are able to use reliable design solutions to develop complicated chip products as well as shorten time to market.As industries begin to move towards 20nm, Hou said that TSMC will be able to achieve an increase of 15% in speed improvement and lower power by 32%, bringing even more value to its customers. Regarding the next generation 14nm technology, it's hoped that it can reach the goal of reducing power by 40-50% at the same speed, as well as lowering operating voltage by adopting the FinFET architecture.However, Hou added that FinFET is a brand-new 3D architecture that needs new design specifications and that logic gate density will still be a challenge. An industry wide cooperation is needed to overcome these difficulties.In terms of TSMC's CoWoS technology, since a higher level of system integration can be promoted, chip size and power can be decreased while at the same time increasing bandwidth and speed. Hou said CoWoS can solve issues with power usage created by high-performance systems as well.Hou also talked about the collaboration between Imagination and TSMC, saying that TSMC will continue to validate all of Imagination's IP solutions to push its next generation GPU cores. He also said the results from the two sides' first round of cooperation will be announced at the OIP forum in October to be held by TSMC this year.TSMC uses the most advanced production technology to further shrink GPU process and estimates every process node that uses the same power standard will be able to double its performance. With the same performance standard, the goal of using 30% less power will also be fulfilled.Cliff Hou, TSMC Vice President, Research and DevelopmentPower VR graphics and video technologyImagination PowerVR graphics products business development manager, Kristof Beets, described GPU market trends and requirements, stating optimal GUIs need higher pixel processing capabilities. Mobile devices, automobiles and other products are developing in this trend such as digital dashboards, ICT entertainment systems, rear-seat entertainment units and multiple-screen displays.This high pixel growth rate has caused GPUs to be more important than CPUs, which can be seen from the tablet version. Beets said typical models use an A9/1GHz CPU, but the GPUs are moving from a dual-core version to a quad-core one, which doubles performance.According to reports, Imagination's PowerVR Graphic has a 79% market share in the mobile embedded graphics market. Beets said PowerVR's graphics architecture that is supported by DX9, OpenCL and Renderscript can provide excellent results for Windows 8, Windows Phone and Android.PowerVR SGX products use a flexible programmable architecture and have unique deferred pixel shading technology, which only draws visible parts, hence providing the highest performance per watt. More so, the next generation PowerVR Rogue products use the next generation Tile-based deferred shading and non-parameter/frame buffer technology, which will bring their performance to a new level.Regarding video applications, Imagination's business development manager, Chris Longstaff, said action streaming, 4K displays, OLED, wireless displays, OTT, smart TVs and HEVC will all bring both new business opportunities and challenges.Using the newest kind of HEVC as an example, it is predicted that as of next year when it is formally released that it will create new applications and markets. But since it needs high-performance solutions, low risk and a reduced time to market, this will bring industries a major challenge.Although HEVC won't replace H.264 in the short term, Imagination will provide low-risk and low-cost HEVC encoder and decoder programs as early as possible next year.Longstaff pointed out that 3D video hasn't appealed to consumers as much as predicted, which the 4K video market is taking advantage of. But he did emphasize that video standards means standardization of products. Imagination's 4K solutions will provide differentiating features with power, performance and functionality as well as fulfilling high-performance compression requirements.At present there are already customers using PowerVR video products to develop TV/set-top boxes and household video transmission products. In terms of low power play-back applications, mobile devices need long play-back time and low system costs. Imagination is the only company that can provide 4K 60Fps video solutions, and is optimistic PowerVR video will be another success following PowerVR graphics. In fact, Intel's new Medfield processors emphasize HD functions and uses Imagination's PowerVR video technology.In addition, consumers also have increasing requirements for color depth, which has moved to 10 bits from 8 bits indicating that screens need to display one billion colors. PowerVR D4500MP and E4500MP fulfill these requirements and support 4:4:4 and 4:2:2 color resolution, which is able to increase color resolution 1-3 times more for wireless displays and graphics coding.Kristof Beets, PowerVR graphics products business development manager at ImaginationChris Longstaff, PowerVR video & display products business development manager at ImaginationEnsigma RPU: Next-generation multi-standard wireless processing technologyEnsigma is Imagination's on-chip RPU solution that can support a wide range of global connectivity and radio receiver standards.Ensigma's business development director, Simon Hambly, said graphics, video and memory has integrated into the SoC trend and in the future, communications technology will be embedded into SoC design as well.He explained the TV market is already evolving into first generation digital and second generation high-definition digital standards and is set to use third generation of global integrated standards.Different terrestrial, cable and satellite broadcasting technology coupled with market protection have caused current differentiating standards in the TV market. In the past, industries have developed different demodulators for different standards but in the future will develop in a more integrated manner.Imagination has already been developing a multi-standard baseband for more than 10 years. Hambly said demodulators will significantly benefit both embedded and shared memory resources in the SoC, which will help OEMs lower system costs.Within the Ensigma UCCP IP platform is a digital TV receptor, connector, digital and FM radio receiver along with functions such as mobile TV receivers, all of which can be expanded to support multi-channel operations and MIMO.Hambly added that as future SoC needs to support multiple TV standards, RPU will be integrated within SoC, causing high-performance multi-cores to replace individual hardwired cores.Simon Hambly, Ensigma's business development director at ImaginationHelloSoft software IPHelloSoft's Business development director, Prabir Mohanty, meanwhile introduced HelloSoft V. VolP and VoLTE, the only cross-platform carrier-class software IP solution in the market that supports 4G.He quoted a market report that said according to statistics, annual LTE device shipments will reach 300 million units by 2016 with the number of LTE subscribers rising to 600 million during the same time. As telecommunication industries begin to use VoLTE technology more, mobile VolP applications will take advantage as well.To react to this growing market trend, Mohanty added that opportunities and challenges for industries both lie in a single integrated terminal device that can serve multiple platform requirements. This is because users have different systems, connecting technology such as LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi and WiMAX, along with different devices to perform telephone operations.HelloSoft can provide a single integrated dialer and brings seamless user experience to any platform and device. This is a multi-platform, multi-operating system VoIP/VoLTE/RCS base that has accelerated video capabilities.Mohanty pointed out that at present, HelloSoft has already been adopted by 200 devices, including smartphones, Wi-Fi mobile phones and IP phones. Companies such as T-Mobile and Orange have already started using the solution and have been conducting testing and making deployment.Moreover, because handheld devices are used in different settings, HelloSoft can ensure that telephone calls will not be cut off during handoff from any network to any other. Mohanty added that Imagination can provide IP communications software such as VoWiFi, VoWiFi+VoLTE, along with VoWiFi+VoLTE +VCC+IMS/RCS. He also said HelloSoftVoLTE has already optimized its design concerning performance, power and lagging. It is not only much better than circuit-switched voice performance, but also three times more efficient than the widely popular Skype in handling packet loss.Prabir Mohanty, HelloSoft's business development director at ImaginationMeta multi-threaded processorsThe next product that was introduced was the multi-threaded Meta 32 general purpose RISC processor core that has a DSP. Meta business development manager, Paul Evans, quoted IDC statistics saying that as of 2014, embedded systems and other mainstream systems will have a total of eight billion shipments, which means increased connectivity and computing requirements.However, designers now have to face two kinds of design requirements, which are to lower energy usage and increase efficiency. Latency is also another challenge because it will significantly reduce system performance and waste system power.Evans said some of the solutions include increasing clock frequency and additional L2 cache along with using dual-core or quad-core design.But he said in order to effectively solve these challenges, different concepts should be used to design CPU, such as: switching one's pursuit from the highest theoretical DIMPS to the highest system performance; from the lowest CPU power to the lowest system power; and from homogeneous computing architecture to heterogeneous architecture.In order to have more efficiency with system resources, Evans pointed out that if Meta's simultaneous multi-threading technology can increase its active cycle, then it will be able to enhance system performance.Meta processors can support four virtual processors within a single core, which means multiple operating systems can simultaneously be run and provide three times the amount of processing capabilities. This is the CPU with the highest latency that is acceptable in the industry and can fulfill present embedded system requirements.Also, aside from reacting to CPU challenges, terminal devices are moving towards connectivity and cloud computing. This has caused Imagination to keep using Flow technology, which is a "device to cloud" platform that can provide API and portal information to quicken the development of connectivity products.Paul Evans, Meta's business development Manager at ImaginationIn the end, McBrien concluded that Imagination is not only an IP provider that fulfills anything from low-end to high-end graphics IP requirements, it also provides video, display, wireless processor and processor core solutions for consumers and is looking to boost product quality and sales through cooperation with TSMC.Looking at growth possibilities in Asia, Imagination already possesses a good foothold in Japan and South Korea and is now looking more at the Taiwan and China markets. McBrien added that Imagination possesses advanced SoC solutions and is dedicated to helping licensees achieve differentiated product features through cooperation with TSMC.Imagination Technology Forum on June 14, 2012

June 19, 2012–On the day before the opening of GSMA Mobile Asia Expo, Marvell presented its TD-LTE products to the press in its Shanghai office. Up till then, Marvell has maintained a low profile in marketing and promotion of its mobile products. Ivan Lee, Marvell Corporate VP of Mobile Business, is an expert in SoC design and computing platforms. He has worked at Texas Instruments, Sun, and AMLogic before joining Marvell, and has over 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. In the second half of 2008, Lee led his team onto the journey to develop TD-SCDMA chipsets and he is a pioneer in TD-SCDMA products at Marvell.Lee said that unlike other major global semiconductor companies, Marvell has invested in building up R&D teams and developing core technologies in China. "Locating R&D activities in China allows our team to get closer to customers in Greater China to better understand their requirements, and to quickly respond to the ever-changing market. Our headquarter in the US pays close attention to our R&D team in China, gives us full access to technologies developed elsewhere within the company, and thus accelerates product development and technology advancement.""For example, compared with our competitors, we were late to engage in TD-SCDMA product development. However, we fully tapped into our expertise in WCDMA products, CPU technology, and support from other teams, allowing us to catch up and become the leader. In February 2011, we achieved volume production of the world's first single-chip TD-SCDMA smart phone solution. At present, 80% of TD-SCDMA smart phones are based on Marvell solutions."Lee currently leads the over-800-member Marvell TD chipset and system R&D team. Over 200 staffs in the US are an integral part of this team, and its core members have been working together for almost ten years. It is this miracle-making team in TD-SCDMA that is working on the development of LTE technologies.Lee said: "Marvell's China team initiated LTE research in as early as 2009. From the very beginning of this project, our objective was to achieve productization quality in the very first design iteration, at the same time to meet requirements for prevalent commercial deployment. In addition, the solution must meet not only requirements for TD-LTE, but also those of LTE FDD. Considering the fact that initial LTE deployment will not have full coverage of mobile networks, our solution needs to be backward compatible with 2G and 3G technologies, thus supporting TD-SCDMA, WCDMA, and GSM. Furthermore, in order to meet the requirements for voice services from different operators, our chipset must support Single-chip dual-radio connection, and circuit-switch fallback (CSFB)–the two most popular voice solutions in the world."Comparing to single-mode LTE solution, designing such a product requires considering many competing factors and solving many challenges in a very complex system. While attaining a higher degree of integration, we have to achieve better power efficiency and to balance performance and cost, without sacrificing quality and robustness.It is note-worthy that Marvell's first multi-mode LTE chip sampled in October 2011 has performed extremely well in a variety of verifications. At present, its 2G and 3G functionalities quickly passed tests due to reuse of mature IP blocks. Marvell's LTE solution has completed the TD-LTE IOT tests with multiple infrastructure vendors, and its specifications have exceeded design expectations in all tests. In addition, it has achieved full category 4 LTE downlink throughput of 150 Mbps and uplink throughput of 50Mbps. This success is a testimony of our team's world-class experience and technology know-hows. Talking about Marvell's LTE commercial deployment, Lee said confidently that Marvell will be able to help partners to launch volume products by the end of this year, given its progress so far.Ivan Lee, Marvell Corporate VP of Mobile BusinessMarvell PXA 1802, Industry's Most Advanced Multimode LTE Modem ChipsetMarvell LTE Live Demo at GSMA Mobile Asia Expo 2012

Imagination Technologies, a leading multimedia and communications technologies company, announced its collaboration with TSMC to ensure that licensees of all of Imagination's IP (intellectual property) cores can optimize speed, area and power consumption on TSMC's most advanced 28nm and below processes.By bringing together engineers from both companies, this collaboration aims to improve power, performance, and area by co-optimising TSMC process technologies and foundation IPs with Imagination's most advanced IP cores, including its latest PowerVR GPUs.Imagination, a member of TSMC's Soft-IP Alliance program, is making this announcement as part of a closer relationship with TSMC. Imagination intends to validate its IP cores through the TSMC Soft-IP Alliance program.Imagination's IP core families in this collaboration include:* PowerVR graphics, the de facto standard for mobile, embedded and computing graphics* PowerVR video and display, the comprehensive and widely adopted range of multistandard decoder, encoder and enhancement cores for applications from mobile to ultra-HD* Ensigma communications, the multi-standard programmable communications and connectivity technology for TV, radio, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth* Meta processors, the advanced 32-bit hardware multi-threaded processor architecture that delivers the best in both general purpose and signal processing performanceImagination is one of the world's leading semiconductor IP suppliers, with cores which can be synthesised for a broad range of silicon processes. As more customers use Imagination's IP cores to deliver the key high performance processing on their SoCs (System on Chip), Imagination plays a key role in the semiconductor IP segment to deliver the levels of performance demanded by leading edge customers.Says Tony King-Smith, VP marketing, Imagination: "Many of our licensees rely on TSMC to provide them with leading edge low power, high performance silicon foundry capabilities. This strengthening of our relationship with TSMC reflects our determination to deliver the best possible SoC solutions on the latest silicon processes for our SoC IP licensing partners. We believe this initiative will ensure that Imagination's licensees to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible for future generations of advanced SoCs."Says Mark Dunn, VP of IMGWorks, Imagination's SoC implementation group: "The characteristics of the latest processes such as 28HPM and beyond have to be taken increasingly into account when designing future high performance IP-based solutions. As major blocks such as GPUs increasingly dominate the area, power and performance of next generation SoCs, design flows need to be tuned to maintain the optimum balance between maximizing IP portability and achieving the best possible performance. We believe this extensive engineering partnership will greatly benefit all of our IP partners.""We are delighted to be working with Imagination to deliver the full benefits of TSMC's latest and most advanced processes for mobile and embedded applications," says Suk Lee, Senior Director of Design Infrastructure Marketing Division, TSMC. "By leveraging Imagination's leadership position in the market, we can help our customers to ship the most highly optimised SoCs."