Bitboys Licenses Graphics Processor Technology from Ericsson

Espoo, Finland - September 24th, 2004 -- Bitboys, developer of graphics processor solutions for the power and size restricted environments of wireless and embedded devices, today announced that it has licensed five patents from Ericsson, the world's leading supplier of mobile systems. The licensed technology has been incorporated into Bitboys graphics processors.

By licensing Ericsson's cutting-edge technology for its graphics hardware solutions, Bitboys is opening the way to a world of new, appealing mobile software that includes not only games, but also user interfaces, 3D screensavers and other entertainment applications.

The licensed patents include FLIPQUAD anti-aliasing and PACKMAN texture compression, which are specifically designed to allow real-time 3D rendering in demanding wireless and embedded environments.

FLIPQUAD anti-aliasing is a high-quality image enhancement algorithm that operates at very low system cost and radically improves image quality by removing all visible noise and aliasing from the image. Lifelike detail in 3D graphics requires adding textures to the surfaces, but textures are costly in terms of memory bandwidth and processing power. PACKMAN texture compression saves both, thus allowing faster rendering.

"As real-time 3D rendering is typically a computationally expensive task in terms of memory bandwidth and processing power, dedicated hardware must be built in order to attain sufficient performance. Resultantly, innovative ways of lowering the complexity and bandwidth usage of the hardware architecture are of great importance," said Petri Nordlund, CTO of Bitboys.

NEC Electronics has licensed the Bitboys G34 graphics processor, which includes FLIPQUAD full-screen anti-aliasing and PACKMAN texture compression.

Bitboys products are licensed to semiconductor and mobile phone manufacturers as IP (Intellectual Property) cores that are integrated into the manufacturers' SoC (System-on-Chip) semiconductor products.

Finland-based Bitboys develops and licenses graphics hardware IP (Intellectual Property) solutions for various wireless and embedded devices. Bitboys graphics processors are specifically designed for power and size restricted environments and are the outcome of over 12 years of experience in graphics research and development. The first product line targeted for wireless and embedded devices has been available for licensing since July 2003. Bitboys currently employs 33 dedicated graphics professionals.

For more information about Bitboys, please visit www.bitboys.com

For more information about Ericsson, please visit www.ericsson.com