Pathpartner Technology and Consulting Co. of India has been rolling out a suite of software algorithms, which rev up a hardware accelerator on a CPU to improve those multimedia features, getting much of multimedia job loads off the CPU.
The Bangalore-based software development house recently showed off its suite of software at World IT Show 2012 held in Seoul, Korea from May 15 to 18, demonstrating how its software offerings not only can speed up video playbacks and system boot-ups, but also improve display performances.
During the demo, Ramkishor Korada, co-founder & vice president said that Pathpartner is a 6-year old company with good understanding on multimedia, because its co-founders came from Emuzed, one of the leading multimedia providers in the world.
Emuzed was acquired by Flextronics International, a pioneer in licensing mobile multimedia IPs and solutions to most of leading and consumer device OEMs, ODMS and semiconductor companies worldwide.
“Today, we have Skype video conferencing solution on TI’s OMAP4. We are demonstrating 720 p 30 fps HD quality video conferencing. So, to get the best performance, we are using a hardware accelerator on the silicon. And, the solution gives best video quality and also very low latency solution. Today, we have latency of close to 150 milliseconds,” added he.
According to him, Pathpartner has offering three major multimedia solutions like Skype video conferencing, SIP, or session initiation protocol-based video conferencing and Fastboot solutions for embedded devices market.
Running on Texas Instruments’ OMAP4 processor, the Skype video conferencing solution is to enable consumers to have a HD-quality video conferencing session on their smartphones, tablet PCs, set-top-boxes, and TVs.
Compared with a normal Skype solution, of which glass-to-glass latency is several seconds, Pathpartner’s solution can do a screen-to-screen image rendering in a matter of 150 millisecond, several 1,000 times as fast. It can also display 30 frames of images per second.
Running on Android, Linux and WinCE OS, the Fastboot technology is more breathtaking. Compared with normal Android phones that take a couple of minutes to boot up, the Fastboot solution can help boot up it just in a matter of 40 seconds, according to Ramkishor Korada, co-founder and vice-president.
“The Fastboot solution is very good solution for STBs, TVs and video phone devices, and embedded devices. Most of our solutions are running on TI OMAP4 processor. The same solution is also running on other applications processors, which could be from Qualcomm and Nvidia, and Renasas,” added he.
Texas Instruments, Inc. is now one of its biggest customers, as the OMAP applications processor maker has been licensing Pathpartner’s multimedia IPs to embed them on silicon circuit. The software design house also has been working with STMicroelectronics and other small-and medium-sized chip makers to help them to build better multimedia solutions without compromising CPU performances.
System integration business is another source of revenues. Pathpartner has been working together with OEMs and ODMs to help them to integrate multimedia features in their devices.
“They can differentiate their products in terms of fast boot-up and better multimedia solution and better performance. For example, some customers, who want to make Skype camera, they can make solutions for 720p and 1080p HD video call using our solution. Also we can support multiparty video conferencing, which is SIP based,” said Ramkishor Korada.
“We have better understanding on multimedia. Today, most of devices are having multimedia applications. Then, we have a multimedia. They are facing challenges in terms of best camera quality and best video playback. We solved all this problems, “ added he.
To cash in on the dynamics of Asian smartphone and tablet PC markets, Pathpartner is now aggressively expanding its business in Asia, especially in Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.