http://www.sgi.com/Headlines/1995/May/mips_magic.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
"Silicon Graphics and MIPS are providing the building blocks for an interactive digital future," said Tom Jermoluk, president and chief operating officer of Silicon Graphics. "This new digital media technology will launch the next interactive entertainment and information revolution, making MIPS the premier processor inside the world's best digital consumer devices."Feature-rich, flexible and affordable, the initial implementation of MIPS Magic Carpet consists of the MIPS Media Accelerator and MIPS Media Microcode that extends the existing MIPS RISC architecture. The first microprocessor designed for Magic Carpet, the recently introduced R4300i, delivers the performance of high-end PC processors at a fraction of the price."MIPS Magic Carpet leverages Silicon Graphics' and MIPS' core strengths -- digital media and RISC -- to create the breakthrough MediaRISC technology," said Ron Bernal, president of MIPS Technologies. "By shattering price and performance barriers, we will forge a new era in consumer products."
The MIPS Media Accelerator is a digital media application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) distilled from core Silicon Graphics technology. The powerful Media Accelerator can process two full-screen simultaneous broadcast quality (MPEG2) video streams and feature-full 3D graphics, audio and video processing. It extracts the primitive functions that implement key elements of audio, video, graphics and decompression. MIPS MediaRISC technology was created by integrating these primitive functions into silicon. The Media Microcode implements the Magic Carpet ABI and can readily adapt to new standards and accommodate new applications.
The power of MIPS Magic Carpet enables a set-top device or digital television to have the ultimate capability of true interactivity with media-rich content. High-performance local processing directly on the set-top leads to more compelling, advanced applications with decreased network bandwidth requirements and cost. Graphical image rendering can be implemented directly on the set-top leading to richer applications that could incorporate virtual reality capabilities such as the walk-through of a house or a "fly-through" of a travel destination.
MIPS Technologies, Inc. designs and supplies the world's most advanced RISC microprocessor technology. The company tests, certifies and licenses its processor technology to its semiconductor partners which provide processors for the computer system, emerging consumer and embedded control markets. MIPS microprocessors power systems from a number of computer industry leaders, including Siemens Nixdorf AG, Silicon Graphics, Inc., Sony Corporation, Tandem Computers Incorporated, NEC Technologies, Inc., NeTpower Inc. and Tektronix, Inc. MIPS RISC architecture components are available from world-class semiconductor companies, such as Integrated Device Technology, Inc., LSI Logic Corporation, NEC Corporation, NKK Corporation, Philips Semiconductor, Siemens AG and Toshiba Corporation. MIPS Technologies, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Graphics, Inc. and is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif.
MIPS is a registered trademark of MIPS Technologies, Inc. Magic Carpet, MediaRISC and R4300i are trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc. Silicon Graphics and the Silicon Graphics logo are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Pentium is a trademark and Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
