14 DAY TRIAL // At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ARM announced today that its ARM NEON technology would be included in the Dolby Mobile from Dolby Laboratories, Inc. The combination between the two will offer manufacturers new ways of leveraging the user listening experience on mobile phones and portable media players, while also offering optimized battery life.
Users require their smartphones to be able to deliver full functionality and a high-quality multimedia experience. The NEON technology, promoted by the ARM Connected Community, has been designed so as to offer a means for applications like the Dolby Mobile to be easily deployed on devices powered by the ARM Cortex processor, delivering maximum efficiency, as well as a premium-quality multimedia experience.
The NEON technology is basically a 128-bit SIMD (Single Instruction, Multiple Data) architecture extension for the ARM Cortex-A-series processors. The processor family is turning into one of the leaders in multimedia applications ranging from smartphones up to mobile computing devices and HDTV. It can also offer simple software migration across platforms, as well as low power and acceleration for intensive multimedia applications, including Dolby Mobile.
“With the advent of powerful processors, larger color displays, greater storage capacity and expanded wireless connectivity, mobile devices are becoming increasingly complex. NEON technology simplifies the implementation of multimedia applications such as Dolby Mobile across ARM Cortex processor-based mobile devices,” said Ian Drew, EVP Marketing, ARM. “NEON technology is having an enormous impact on the enhancement of quality multimedia applications on today’s smartphones.”
The NEON technology has been adopted in combination with Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9 processors. Companies are working on engineering their IP with NEON technology, while others are set on offering software optimized for NEON technology. The NEON ecosystem includes leading industry players like Broadcom Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor, Matsushita, NEC, NVIDIA, Panasonic, PMC-Sierra, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Toshiba America Electronic Components. All these companies have already licensed Cortex processors with the NEON technology as an option. Moreover, companies that develop and evaluate ARM processors-based boards, as well as multimedia codec vendors are still working on optimizing their codecs for the NEON technology.
“Today’s consumers are increasingly discerning, demanding premium-quality sound on their mobile devices. Dolby Mobile has been designed to meet this demand, bringing Dolby’s expertise in high-quality audio to the mobile domain,” said Rolf Schmitz, marketing director, Mobile, Dolby Laboratories. “NEON technology and Dolby Mobile represent a compelling package for manufacturers, who can now more easily provide their customers with integrated, high-quality surround sound.”