MimoOn Fields LTE Software for Multiple Processor Vendors By BDTI, 9/2/2010 With the growth in mobile data traffic, there is increasing interest in fourth-generation (4G) cellular technologies, especially the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) – the successor to GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSxPA technologies.  LTE has gained a decided momentum advantage over WiMax and is expected to be the most important 4G technology.  BDTI recently spoke with mimoOn, a company headquartered in Duisburg, Germany that licenses LTE software for both terminals and base stations. mimoOn was founded in 2006 by Thomas Kaiser, a researcher from University of Duisburg-Essen.  mimoOn currently employs about 50 people, including wireless experts with backgrounds at companies such as BenQ, TTPCom, and Nokia.   (More)

Texas Instruments’ Graphical Programming Tool Generates Prototyping Code By BDTI, 9/2/2010 Texas Instruments (TI) recently introduced C6EZFlo, a graphical programming tool for its C6000 and DaVinci DSP families.  C6EZFlo is a prototyping tool to help users quickly develop initial software implementations of their applications.  In particular, C6EZFlo is designed to help programmers develop initialization, configuration, and framework code for their applications.  C6EZFlo generates C code and project files intended to be loaded into TI’s C language Code Composer Studio tool suite for further development.  (More)

Jeff Bier's Impulse Response— The Last One-Man Dog? By Jeff Bier, 9/2/2010 What’s a “one-man dog,” you ask?  It’s a dog that works for one person and one person only.  (It’s also the title of a 1929 movie about a dog that solves a murder mystery, but that’s a story for another day.)  What does this have to do with embedded processing or DSP, you ask? Well, I use the phrase “one-man dog” to refer to a processor architecture that is captive to a single semiconductor vendor.  (More)

Case Study: Patent Litigation Support By BDTI, 9/2/2010 These days it’s not uncommon to see patent infringement claims settled for hundreds of millions of dollars. There was RIM’s settlement with NTP for $612 million, Intel’s with Intergraph for $600 million and with MicroUnity for $300 million, and the blockbuster, Qualcomm’s settlement with Broadcomm for $891 million. These huge sums stimulate the equivalent of high-tech ambulance-chasing: individuals and companies pursuing patent infringement claims against companies with deep pockets, seeking substantial settlements. Whether the claims of infringement are valid or not, technology companies need to ensure they are equipped to defend themselves. (More)