(iTers News) – Smartphones and tablet PCs are all about dramatic improvements in the user interface, or UIs – the way that people interact with machines. But, they also excel in downloading and streaming graphics-heavy full HD movies and 3D games.


What power up these multimedia-rich features are GPUs, or graphics processor units, or GPU cores. As consumers are more frequently streaming down and playing back 3D games and full HD contents, SOC chip designers are now deploying and embedding more of GPUs, or graphic processing units resources into SOC chips for smartphones and tablet PCs.


Better known for its Power VR GPU technology, Imagination Technologies Ltd. of the U.K. has been cashing in on the growing integration of GPUs into SOCs.


Today, its PowerVR GPU technology is a de facto standard in more than 600 million embedded and mobile devices, supporting OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Open CL, Direct X, and other APIs.


On top of that, its PoGLwerVR VPU video decoders and encoders are at the heart of more than 200 million devices.


Yet, the GPU IP core provider sees more opportunities rising ahead on the horizon. Enthusiastic with the new way that they are interacting with smartphones and tablet PCs, consumers are clamoring for the same experience on every device from TVs and hi-fi equipment to notebook PCs. The change in the UIs of consumer devices bodes well for the future of Imagination Technology, as it will open up new, yet uncharted market.


According to Imagination Technologies, GPUs are technologically good enough to power the transformation in the UIs of consumer electronics devices.


GPUs transform the future of SOCs


For example, GPUs are truly parallel processors, so that performance scales efficiently with advances in silicon processes. And, more execution units are added, the more powerful the GPUs are becoming.


The software-driven scalability promises to enable SOC designers to easily embed a set of sophisticated algorithms to power the UIs of consumer electronics devices, running on the same GPUs already used for these rich GPU-based user experiences.


This signals that parallel software revolution can begin, thanks to the wide installment base of suitable GPUs that are now starting to proliferate in the market. The emergence of industry standards such as Khronos Group’s OpenCL and Google’s Renderscript to program them, will help GPUs to proliferate, too.


A case in point; Imagination’s new generation of PowerVR Rogue graphics architecture, which is at the heart of the new PowerVR Series6 GPU core family, has already been adopted by many of the world’s leading players. And, they will spearhead this transformation of UIs across many market segments by delivering exceptional performance per mm2 and per mW.


These new generation PowerVR GPUs not only will bring supercomputer class parallel processing to the mobile and consumer world, but also help to deliver a next generation of stunning graphics experiences, according to Imagination Technologies.


Imagination Technologies has one more key ingredient to deliver on this vision; VPUs, or video processor units.


As consumer devices become more multimedia-rich, support of multiple streams of video in the most bandwidth-efficient and power-efficient manner is key to delivering a next generation of user experiences.


To keep up with this trend, Imaginations is pairing VPU and GPU in a highly optimized way that can minimize losses in system bandwidth and memory, which can be caused by unnecessary data movement, buffering and copying of video.


True enough, Imagination believes the most successful SoCs will be those that optimize GPU and VPU as a tightly coupled unit.


Power VR graphics6


On-chip GPUs and RPUs


The proliferation of connected devices also brightens the future of Imagination Technology. The connectivity to the Internet is rapidly becoming a ’must-have’ feature on every device, resulting in billions of new connected products across every category of consumer entertainment product, as well as an emerging array of broader products from consumer healthcare equipment to home automation systems.


Says Tony King-Smith, VP marketing, Imagination: “Our business is focused on enabling new markets as well as taking full advantage of discontinuities in the evolution of more established and familiar product categories. Our PowerVR GPU and VPU (video processor) technologies continue to enable profound transformations in user experiences in an ever broader array of consumer and mobile products, resulting in consumers now expecting these same user experiences on every device they use.


“Given our experience in these markets, and our strategic relationships with many of the world’s leading semiconductor, end product, content, applications and internet technology companies, we are increasingly confident that our Ensigma RPU communications IP cores, complemented by our Meta connected processors and Flow connectivity technologies, are destined to increasingly power the next wave of ubiquitous cloud-connected smart devices and systems throughout the home, car, office and factory, as well as enabling innovative new mobile and embedded products that touch everyone’s lives.”


Long ago, Imagination pointed out that on-chip GPUs alongside CPUs would become the norm. Today, that forecast has become reality. However, the relentless demand for lower cost and power while increasing performance and functionality means that the next logical step is to integrate not only the graphics and video on-chip, but the communications too. SoCs must be sold in high volume to be commercially viable, which has historically meant that communications has remained off-chip due to the proliferation of regional standards.


However, thanks to multi-standard, multi-stream solutions such as Imagination’s Ensigma Series3 RPU, SoC designers can now integrate many of the communications functions they need, and configure it to any target market by software. In the same way that integrating GPUs and VPUs (video processors) on-chip is enabling multimedia everywhere, so the next wave of integration is now arriving thanks to the RPU.


Cloud computing drives “the Internet Everywhere”


The rise of Cloud technologies is creating exciting new markets and discontinuities in existing ones, as all devices evolve to take advantage of connectivity. New applications in healthcare, home automation, security, smart energy and elsewhere will all increasingly follow the trend of computing and smart phones, and begin taking advantage of significantly enhanced functionality enabled by Cloud connectivity. And as consumers continue to embrace their world in the Cloud, so everything from cars to toasters will need to become connected.


However, deploying Cloud connectivity is far more complex than simply having a Wi-Fi port on a device. The services and infrastructure needed to ensure any connected products deliver everything expected by today’s smartphone-equipped consumer are complex and broad. Bringing together everything needed to make these products ‘just work’ is a challenge for all but the biggest engineering teams.


Imagination is unique in delivering many of the underlying technologies needed to make these connected smart systems happen. From its Ensigma communications RPU (radio processor) IP to enable ubiquitous connectivity, to its Meta connected processors, Flow technologies and FlowWorld portal, Imagination is creating a comprehensive technology infrastructure from the device to the Cloud for anyone contemplating creating a Cloud-connected product. By delivering this unique ‘shrink-wrapped’ connectivity technology portfolio, together with a growing ecosystem of Cloud services providers, Imagination will enable engineering teams to create a broad range of tomorrow’s connected solutions for a global market. The Ensigma RPU’s implementations of more than 20 standards, with more to come, including every major HD and SD TV as well as radio broadcast receiver standard, together with 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v3.0 connectivity standard today, will enable truly global next generation connected smart devices.


Imagination's platform solutions also include the highly integrated MetaFlow family of connected processor reference platforms, being demonstrated publicly at CES this week. Based on SoCs built from Imagination’s Meta processor IP and Ensigma RPU communications IP families, these complete systems, incorporating Flow technologies, enable systems designers to develop the next generation of connected products and solutions, with the backing of our growing portfolio of Cloud-based services from both Imagination and its partners.


 


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