NEC开发首款能播放Flash Lite的IP核，比软件方案快若干倍

在本地举行的嵌入式系统博览会上，NEC系统技术公司展示了一款声称是世界上第一个能播放Adobe Flash Lite编码格式内容的评估板。

Adobe Flash Lite是Adobe Flash Player的轻量级版本，支持移动电话和其它便携式设备的用户观看多媒体内容和其它使用Adobe的Flash工具开发的各种应用。在这之前，Flash只能在个人电脑上播放。

Flash 使开发丰富的媒体内容和应用变得非常简单，例如利用阶数，alpha混合，反锯齿或者矢量字符渲染技术的图形用户界面的设计。但Flash的播放经常需要很多处理步骤，包括浮点单元运算。

Adobe公司设计的Adobe Flash Lite增加了专门为移动电话设计的指令集，在保证数据处理的同时能够保持数据量在最小限度。尽管如此，播放Adobe Flash Lite的文件仍然要求高速、高功耗的处理器。

NEC系统技术公司的LSI方案组的经理Shinji Aihara说：“通过使用我们的新IP核，在便携式设备上处理Adobe Flash Lite文件时，可以比使用普通处理器快几倍。”NEC开发的IP核可以在手机，汽车导航，数字电视接收机和DVD播放器中使用。

在IP核功能演示中，NEC公司使用了Xilink的FPGA—Virtex-4LX XC4VLX160。“我们的评估板采用了一个带ARM总线的FPGA。但我们可以根据客户的需求定制任意不同的总线。”

NEC将在减少了IC所需的门电路和进一步调整Abode Flash Lite输出的视频质量之后，于今年的八月份开始供应这个IP核。

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NEC develops Adobe Flash Lite IP

At Embedded Systems Expo here, NEC System Technology showed an evaluation board featuring what the company claims as the world's first intellectual property (IP) designed to play back content encoded in Adobe Flash Lite.

Adobe Flash Lite, a lightweight version of Adobe Flash Player, enables users of mobile phones and other portable devices to view multimedia content and applications developed using Adobe's Flash tools. Previously, Flash playback had been possible only on personal computers.

Flash makes it easy to develop rich media content and applications, such as a graphical user interface that takes advantage of gradation, alpha blending, anti-aliasing or vector-fonts rendering. But Flash playback often requires a number of processing steps, including floating point unit calculations.

Adobe developed Adobe Flash Lite by adding instruction sets specifically designed for mobile phones, while keeping the data it needs to handle to a minimum. However, playing back Adobe Flash Lite would still require a high-speed, high-power-consumption processor.

Shinji Aihara, manager of the LSI solutions group at NEC System Technology, said: "By using our new IP, one can design a portable device capable of processing Adobe Flash Lite several times faster, when compared with using a processor." NEC developed the IP for cell phones, car navigation systems, digital TV receivers and DVD players.

In its IP demonstration, NEC used a Xilinx FPGA--Virtex-4LX XC4VLX160. "In our evaluation board, we used an FPGA with an ARM bus. But we can customize it to [whatever] bus is preferred by our customers."

After reducing the number of gates required for an IC and further tuning the video quality output by Adobe Flash Lite, NEC will start offering its IP in August this year.