Morpho Technologies demonstrates MPEG-4 video for 2.5G and 3G wireless applications

San Francisco, April 23, 2003 - Morpho Technologies continues to redefine the Digital Signal Processor with the demonstration of its 100 percent software MPEG-4 video codec for 2.5G and 3G Wireless multimedia applications at the Embedded Systems Conference, April 23rd through 26th, 2003.

One of the most significant applications and market drivers for 2.5G and 3G wireless communication is multimedia, specifically, digital video. The MPEG-4 video codec, the newest among many previous multimedia standards, allows low bit-rate compression/decompression of digital video data, as required in 3G wireless multimedia applications. Real-time streaming video, video-conferencing, and video-messaging require significant signal processing power. The ability to share this processing power with other applications within the mobile terminal allow for significantly reduced power consumption and silicon cost.

Morpho Technologies’ MS1 reconfigurable Digital Signal Processor (rDSP) Cores implement the complete MPEG-4 baseband processing in software while simultaneously performing applications such as WCDMA, 802.11a/b/g, GPS as well as others. The MS1 rDSP Cores execute these applications by running programs residing in flash memory outside the core. The MS1 architecture is optimized for mobile terminal applications including digital video and baseband physical layer processing. Many functions have been implemented on the MS1 family of rDSP Cores, including DCT, IDCT, Motion Estimation and Compensation, Pixel Interpolation, CDMA Chip and Symbol Rate Processing, Error Correction including Viterbi and Turbo Codecs, and many others. These functions are available to Morpho’s customers to use in their own designs that take advantage of the MS1 architecture.

Morpho Technologies currently has two versions of its MS1 architecture, the MS1-64 and MS1-16, available in test silicon available for customer evaluation. The MS1 rDSP Cores are available to customers as soft and hard IP cores as well as within the Morpho Technologies Development Systems.

"Morpho continues to develop products to meet the ever increasing embedded signal processing demands of 2.5G and 3G wireless applications. The MS1 rDSP supports the rapid implementation of applications in software that have traditionally only previously been available in hard-wired ASICs, comments Todd Nash, vice president, Business Development, Morpho Technologies. "For example, the MS1 provides a complete software solution for multimedia terminals including the physical layer and media processing without the need for separate signal processing paths in silicon. This can significantly reduce silicon area, power consumption, and development time."

Morpho Technologies will be demonstrating both the MPEG4 Codec and WCDMA baseband processing solutions running in real-time on development systems in booth 620 within the SoC Pavilion at the Embedded Systems Conference, April 23rd through 26th, 2003, at the Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, California.