1996-11-14 , S/IC-580/460

TriMedia Compiler Harnesses the Power of VLIW Technology for Multimedia

Eindhoven, The Netherlands - 14 November 1996 - Philips Semiconductors today announced its innovative VLIW (very long instruction word) scheduling compiler technology. The production compiler will ship for the first time in TriMedia's new Software Development Environment (SDE) for its media processor.

The TriMedia VLIW compiler technology shifts the complexity of instruction scheduling from hardware to the compiler. This shift allows the single-chip TriMedia media processor to be smaller, faster, and manufactured at a lower cost. In addition, developers and OEMs can program their multimedia applications entirely in ANSI-standard C/C⁺⁺ languages, as opposed to tedious machine-level code.

The electronics industry recognizes VLIW as a promising technology for next-generation multimedia. In traditional VLIW approaches, scheduling operations to execute in parallel was left either to the hardware - superscalar - or to assembly-language programming. However, this technology has been hindered by complex, costly silicon production and long application development times. The TriMedia compiler elegantly addresses these challenges.

The compiler technology was first prototyped in 1989 by Gerrit Slavenburg, chief architect for the TriMedia Product Group, and his team at Philips research labs in Sunnyvale, California. "Philips' TriMedia compiler is the key technology that enables a powerful, cost-effective VLIW media processor," said Slavenburg. "Other chips determine which operations go in parallel in the silicon. TriMedia achieves this in the compiler, which results in a processor with superior performance at a significantly lower price."

The VLIW compiler is part of Philips Semiconductors strategy to create a low cost, programmable media processor with the high-performance required to run next-generation multimedia products. It is a key component of the TriMedia Software Development Environment which also includes multi-level debuggers, performance analysis and enhancement tools, multi-level simulators, and a specialized multimedia operation set.

TriMedia's complete software development environment also provides partners with a real-time operating system and application development libraries (including standard algorithms such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, V.34 modem, H.32x video conferencing, audio synthesis, 2-D/3-D geometric modeling and rendering, and more). This robust environment ensures efficient, high-level multimedia application development not found in competitive product offerings. In addition, TriMedia's third-party independent software vendor program ensures a steady stream of routines and libraries for multimedia tasks.

The TriMedia solution will enable OEMs to design entertainment, education, set-top TV, and video conferencing products with high-performance and picture quality and lower system cost. TriMedia's compiler is currently shipping as part of the SDE.

The TriMedia Product Group of Philips Semiconductors was established in 1994 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. The mission of the product group is to bring to market high-performance, programmable media processor technology that will power the next generation of multimedia products at an affordable price. The TM-1 processor is the first in a family of media processors.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eleventh largest semiconductor supplier in the world and the third largest supplier of discretes in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by systems labs.