BEATNIK AND TEXAS INSTRUMENTS ANNOUNCE COLLABORATION TO DELIVER ENHANCED AUDIO APPLICATIONS TO OMAP™-BASED WIRELESS DEVICES
Beatnik Audio Engine To Be Optimized for TI DSP-Based OMAP™ Architecture
DALLAS and SAN MATEO, Calif., (Feb. 27, 2001) -- Delivering advanced audio applications to the next generation of wireless handsets and mobile Internet appliances, Beatnik, Inc., a leading provider of enhanced audio solutions and content for digital devices, games and the Web, and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE:TXN), today announced that Beatnik will optimize the Beatnik(r) Audio Engine(tm) (BAE) for TI's programmable digital signal processor (DSP)-based OMAP(tm) architecture. This strategic relationship will give consumers using OMAP-based mobile Internet devices access to high quality music and sound effects without extensive download times or storage. http://www.ti.com/sc/omap
TI and Beatnik will enable manufacturers to easily design the next generation of wireless devices with scalable and high-quality audio capabilities, applications and services. The BAE provides audio-based personalization and premium sound quality in consumer entertainment applications. For example, the BAE dramatically enhances the sound quality of ring-tones, games and user interface sounds on digital devices including mobile phones and PDAs.
"Beatnik will take full advantage of OMAP's ultra low power programmable DSP technology by optimizing the BAE for TI's OMAP architecture, to enable a wide range of compelling applications," said Lorraine Hariton, CEO and president of Beatnik, Inc. "This solidifies our goal to deliver enhanced audio and music to a broad range of wireless devices."
The BAE enables users to experience CD-quality audio and music through a variety of digital devices including mobile phones, PDAs and set-top boxes using extremely small file sizes and BAE memory footprint. It does not require special hardware and provides a low bandwidth audio solution for digital devices. The BAE can play back popular formats such as MP3, WAV, AIFF and enhances MIDI by adding custom samples to recreate the original sound of the music. This expanded capacity gives developers an unprecedented variety of sounds to use in their creative productions.
The BAE's true strength is its ability to play Rich Music Format (RMF®) files. RMF files are very compact and play back instantly when started. This technology makes it possible to create truly interactive audio environments and games on the Web and digital devices. RMF files are typically in the range of 10k to 400K while the equivalent MP3 file would be 1MB to 4MB.
In TI's DSP-based OMAP architecture, the BAE also functions as an audio management subsystem to mix and balance various audio file formats, including streaming audio, into a single data stream that can be output to the speaker or headsets. The application program interfaces will be exposed through various operating systems to allow third party applications developers to take advantage of the BAE's audio capabilities.
"Beatnik's advanced audio engine and content offers wireless consumers high quality music and sound effects without requiring extensive download times or storage" said Alain Mutricy, TI's director of worldwide wireless communications. "By leveraging the OMAP processor's high performance, low power DSP functionality, consumers will be able to enjoy an enhanced acoustic experience for significantly longer periods of time."
Unveiled in May 1999, TI's programmable DSP-based OMAP architecture delivers advanced wireless Internet and multimedia functionality without compromising the battery life essential to wireless communications devices such as digital wireless handsets, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and Internet audio devices. TI's OMAP architecture is quickly becoming the de facto standard applications platform for 2.5G and 3G with public endorsements by manufacturers such as Nokia, Ericsson, Sony and Handspring. Additionally, Symbian's EPOC operating system, Microsoft Window's CE operating system, Sun Microsystems' Java 2 Micro Edition platform are endorsed and supported on the OMAP processor available today.
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Trademarks:
Beatnik is a registered trademark of Beatnik, Incorporated
Beatnik Audio Engine and RMF are trademarks of Beatnik, Incorporated
OMAP is a trademark of Texas Instruments Incorporated
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