1998-01-08 , S/IC-738-460

Philips Semiconductors TriMedia™ Product Group today announced an ITU H.324 compliant software library for its award-winning TriMedia processor. The software, combined with the TriMedia processor, provides the industry's most comprehensive H.324 video telephony solution for consumer videophones.

The TriMedia processor and H.324 software library allow manufacturers to produce a new generation of video communications devices that achieve a higher level of picture and audio quality and reduce the latency associated with existing consumer products. In addition, by implementing all audio, video and communication processing on a single TriMedia processor, Philips enables OEM manufacturers to offer videophone solutions aggressively priced for the nascent consumer market.

"Philips Semiconductors is the only manufacturer capable of offering this high level of performance and consumer friendly price point to the videophone market," said Fuad Abu Nofal, general manager, Video Communications Sector for Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia Product Group. "We believe the video and audio quality that the TriMedia processor and H.324 software library provide will stimulate rapid growth of the consumer videophone market."

Features
The TriMedia H.324 software library provides the basic software building blocks for compliance with the ITU H.324 videoconferencing standard, and further enhances the library with optional modules that dramatically improve both picture and audio quality. These enhancement modules include video pre- and post- filtering, audio echo cancellation and Natural Motion™, a proprietary Philips motion estimation algorithm.

The modular architecture of the H.324 software library, coupled with the easy-to-program TriMedia processor, enables manufacturers to customize their videophone offerings with additional modules that add unique features as well as proprietary video and audio improvements.

The combination of the TriMedia basic H.324 software library, the video and audio enhancement modules, as well as the TriMedia processor result in a new standard of video and audio quality for consumer videophones. These enhancement modules include video noise reduction pre-filtering that processes outbound signals for higher-quality compression and faster transmission and a deblocking post-filter that smoothes the picture at block boundaries. Another module implements the Philips-patented Natural Motion algorithms that improve perceived image quality by interpolating between frames to smooth jerky motion.

The full-duplex, acoustic echo cancellation software enhancement module enables TriMedia-based videophones to deliver the same echo-free, hands-free performance previously found only in high-end conference room speakerphones. Additional enhancement modules that implement further video and audio quality improvements as well as support for forthcoming ITU videoconferencing standards are planned for future release.

Additionally, all videophone processing is handled by a single TriMedia processor, which eliminates the need to coordinate several different video, audio and communication processors. As a result, developers can achieve extremely low latencies (less than 200 ms) that alleviate the audio delay and synchronization problems associated with earlier videophone offerings.

The TriMedia Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) core can power multimedia applications at up to four billion operations per second (4 BOPS). This allows the TriMedia processor to simultaneously handle real-time encoding and decoding of both the audio and video streams in addition to the bi-directional communications processing. Furthermore, a TriMedia-based videophone could easily support other application modules, such as an Internet browser. The TriMedia Software Development Environment makes it easy for developers to port existing software, develop new applications or add new features using C/c⁺⁺ programming languages.

The TriMedia H.324 software library will be available in early February. For further information visit the Philips TriMedia website at  trimedia.

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

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the ninth largest semiconductor supplier in the world and the fourth 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.

 TriMedia is a Trademark of Philips Electronics North America. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.