Telephones that transmit pictures have been a stock item in science fiction for decades, but until recently such appliances were rare and costly. Now, however, advances in computer and communications technologies have made it feasible for large numbers of PC and workstation users to see one another on screen and share data files while they converse.
This new activity-videoconferencing -owes its existence to advances in high-speed processing and transmission of digital data. Among the leaders in both these rapidly evolving areas of digital technology is Texas Instruments. By pioneering leading-edge digital signal processing solutions, TI has enabled electronic original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to build systems that are bringing high-quality videoconferencing to the desktop today.
Among TI's products that target the videoconferencing market is the TMS320C80 (MVP)). This highly integrated digital signal processor (DSP) was created specifically for compute-intensive applications such as video and imaging. TI also provides a chip set that supports the IEEE 1394 high-speed serial bus standard endorsed by the industry for the next generation of connectivity in electronic equipment.
Both products combined provide a key DSP solution to enable high-quality videoconferencing on the desktop. As part of a total videoconferencing system, the 'C80 provides the processing engine, and the 1394 chip set provides high-speed data transmission between the computer and other equipment, such as cameras, VCRs, CD drives, video monitors, speakers and so forth.
TI's TMS320C80, the flagship of the industry-leading TMS320 DSP family, supplies in one integrated circuit all the processing power needed to operate a videoconferencing system in a desktop PC or workstation. The 'C80 is the only single-chip solution available today that fully supports the H.320 international standard for videoconferencing, including the standard's requirement for real-time audio-video compression and decompression. By offering this high-performance videoconferencing engine with a comprehensive package of industry-standard H.320 software, TI is delivering a complete DSP solution to help customers quickly and easily develop H.320-based videoconferencing systems.
The 'C80 integrates on the same silicon four 32-bit advanced DSPs, a 32-bit reduced instruction set computing (RISC) master processor with a floating-point unit, two video controllers, a transfer controller and memory. Integrating all these functions makes the 'C80 the industry's highest-performing DSP. With its capability of handling more than two billion operations per second (BOPS), the 'C80 represents an increase in performance by a factor of ten over previously available DSPs.
In addition, the 'C80's programmability gives flexibility to OEMs who want to introduce their own enhancements. A 'C80-based system can be reprogrammed easily to conform to new developments in H.320 videoconferencing and other standards. In addition, full programmability means that the 'C80 can serve as the signal processing engine for multipurpose systems supporting a variety of video, graphics, imaging and audio standards for different applications.
While the 'C80 provides massive processing horsepower, the IEEE 1394 chip set rounds out TI's DSP solution for videoconferencing by enabling high-speed transmission between computers and electronic equipment. The chip set provides a universal interconnect that enables OEMs to design a wide variety of electronic systems and peripherals that can exchange digital data at speeds up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps). These speeds allow the simultaneous transmission of compressed video, audio and other digital data required for videoconferencing.
A notable instance of TI's critical role in bringing about 1394 applications is the company's agreement with Sony Corporation to define the next-generation architecture for digital cameras based on the 1394 standard. TI's chip set is currently being designed into these cameras to enable them to communicate to computer hosts via the high-speed 1394 bus.
The TI-enabled digital video cameras will provide the last remaining link in an all-digital videoconferencing chain. With digital image capture, processing, transmission and display available, videoconferencing systems will no longer need space-consuming analog-to-digital conversion circuitry. Moreover, all-digital videoconferencing will improve markedly in quality over the hybrid analog-digital technology that has been available.
The 1394 high-speed serial bus standard specifies a six-wire, light-weight cable including data and power with a small connector designed to be a universal interface for computers and other high-speed equipment. These end equipments not only include computer peripherals such as displays and disk drives, but also consumer electronics such as audio and video CD players, televisions and VCRs. Up to 64 end equipments can be daisy-chained, with as much as 4.5 meters (nearly 15 feet) between units.
As a bus, 1394 handles data traffic between a computer and its peripherals, such as the videoconferencing camera and display monitor. Data transmission between computers for videoconferencing depends on high-speed local-area and wide-area networking technologies, such as 100-Mbps Ethernet and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). TI provides leadership IC technology to the market in these areas as well.
Industry endorsement of the 1394 standard has been widespread. More than 20 leading electronics corporations worldwide have joined together in a trade association to develop products in support of the 1394 standard.
TI's involvement in 1394 dates from the beginning, when the company assisted Apple in defining the standard (known as Firewire™ in Apple products). As a result, TI was the first IC manufacturer to provide chips to the market in support of 1394.
TI's 1394 chip set consists of two devices: a Physical Layer chip, which handles bus initialization and arbitration, and a Link Layer chip, which transmits and receives 1394 data packets. The devices are customizable, making them attractive to OEMs who wish to tailor the 1394 bus interface to the requirements of their systems. The chip set is being designed into a growing number of products from electronics companies worldwide.
The marriage of video, audio and computing that videoconferencing represents has been eagerly awaited for many years. Now, thanks in part to leadership technology from Texas Instruments, it will soon be a common event to see the person's image as you hear his or her voice, and to share your work on screen at the same time.
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Trademark:
Firewire is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc.