Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Texas Instruments (April 2001-March 2006)
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 06 January 2006
Automotive infotainment to the fore at
CES
Third-party relationships help provide manufacturers with the tools they need to help quickly and reliably bring multimedia and communications applications to the centre stack/head unit.
Helping fuel the growth of the automotive infotainment market, Texas Instruments announced at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) several of its key third-party relationships that help provide manufacturers with the tools they need to help quickly and reliably bring multimedia and communications applications to the centre stack/head unit TI is working with its partners to develop and integrate these technologies, providing a foundation for key applications, such as hands-free connectivity, digital media middleware and global positioning system (GPS) technology
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 7 Jan 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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New applications leveraging technology from Gracenote, Stonestreet One, Trimble and Universal Electronics (UEI) represent the next evolutionary step for digital multimedia and communications in the car.
These innovations are driven by TI's programmable OMAP technology for automotive applications, a dual-core DSP + RISC architecture designed to efficiently and cost-effectively implement automotive infotainment features.
Automotive infotainment applications typically require a blend of signal processing capacity with a general purpose control component.
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For example, MP3 playback and CD ripping use digital signal processing to encode and decode files, but rely on an efficient media database and synchronisation with the PC to enable users to easily manage thousands of files.
TI's partners offer an optimal implementation for quality multimedia applications by implementing their software specifically for TI's premier dual-core architecture, enabling OEMs to focus on value-added functions and product differentiation.
"TI puts our customers in the driver's seat, providing all of the tools necessary to make designing easier", says Curt Moore, Manager of Digital Radio and Infotainment, Texas Instruments.
"By working with our partners to optimise their technology for our automotive platform, we have brought a new level of digital features to automotive infotainment applications at an aggressive price point".
UEI's Simpleware software provides both embedded middleware for management of digital media in automotive products, as well as application software for in-home PCs.
It enables users to efficiently organise multimedia content at the home PC and then transfer media to automotive head units, including those with only three-line displays.
Another partner, Gracenote, offers an embedded music database facilitating the automatic recognition of CDs and digital music files, providing album and track titles and automatic playlists without requiring Internet access.
Middleware is the underlying glue that enhances the user experience by managing synchronisation between the home database and auto head unit, automatically tracking where specific content is stored (ie hard drive, CD, USB thumb drive, USB connected portable media player) and determining the appropriate encoding standard required for playback transparently, as well as bringing full control of content management to the user.
By running middleware on the RISC processor, the DSP can be freed to reliably provide high-quality real-time decoding and to process security software, such as digital rights management.
Stonestreet provides Bluetopia, a robust Bluetooth protocol stack with various user profiles, including headset, hands-free and streaming audio, which are ideal for embedded applications.
Because automotive environments pose unique challenges for hands-free connectivity using Bluetooth technology, Stonestreet One has also integrated Bluetopia with echo cancellation and noise suppression technologies from third parties.
In addition, Stonestreet One has partitioned the stack and profile processing to the RISC processor to lessen the burden on the DSP.
Trimble is a leading innovator of GPS technology and brings its extensive experience to TI's infotainment solution.
Leveraging the processing power of the DSP, customers are able to create robust navigation applications using Trimble's software-based GPS development platform.
With Trimble's technology, TI's customers minimise GPS integration cost, improve their development ROI and position themselves to take advantage of future positioning technologies, such as Galileo.
Each of these components has been built according to OMAP XDAIS interoperability standards and support TI's Reference Framework level 6, providing efficient integration with multimedia libraries available from TI and other third parties.
TI's OMAP technology for automotive applications and its third party applications run on QNX's operating system.
Software development kits are available from each partner for technology evaluation and immediate implementation in applications.
Developers can contact individual partners for SDK availability.
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