TOKYO - (Business Wire) HI CORPORATION (Headquarters: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kazuo Kawabata hereinafter
“HI
”)(JASDAQ:3846) announced today that they have developed
an OpenGL ES 1.1(*1) software implementation “MascotCapsule Renderion(*2)”.
The widely used industry standard OpenGL ES is normally not available in budget home electronics and cellular phones as they are not equipped with a graphics accelerator (hereinafter GPU*3). With the OpenGL ES compliant 3D graphics software implementation, graphics are not processed by the GPU, but by the main CPU as a software-implemented alternative processor using the processing capacity that has increased significantly in recent years. With this implementation, manufacturers will be able to support the industry standard OpenGL ES without GPU.
This time HI has developed a high-speed processing software implementation tuned for running on ARM core, which is now a “de facto” standard for the embedded microcomputer market. In this way, HI not only developed a software implementation with the industry standard for graphics application API JSR184(*4) but also with the industry standard for native graphics API OpenGL ES.
The implementation is scheduled to hit the market in the end of May 2008. It will be offered as a stand-alone to customers that wish to support OpenGL ES at low cost, or depending on the needs, as a solution by combining with the 3D graphics rendering engine MascotCapsule, with top market share, to improve graphics capability and convenience, and allow the use of a variety of readily available software assets.
With regard to this development, “HI was one of the first companies to innovate mobile 3D solutions and we are delighted to see this respected industry player leverage Khronos specifications in their product roadmap. Driving pervasive 3D adoption in the mobile industry will require a wide variety of price and performance solutions, and Mascot Capsule Renderion will help satisfy the strong demand for OpenGL ES in the market place,” says Neil Trevett, President of the Khronos Group.
HI is planning to optimize its software implementation for Renesas Technology’s CPU cores, and will greatly promote this product in low-end embedded devices as well as help manufacturers support industry standards at low cost.
*1 OpenGL ES
OpenGL is a registered trademark and the OpenGL ES logo is a trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc. used by permission by Khronos. OpenGL ES 1.1 is a subset of OpenGL 1.5, and is a royalty-free 2D/3D graphics API for embedded devices created by removing OpenGL desktop functionality not needed for embedded and mobile devices. Controlled by the Khronos Group industry consortium, it is intended for use in cellular phones, car navigation systems, etc. For more information, visit the Khronos Group website at http://www.khronos.org/opengles/.
*2 “Renderion” is not a official product name, but a development code name.
*3 GPU
Abbreviation of Graphics Processing Unit.
*4 Supported by MascotCapsule V4.
* MascotCapsule is a registered trademark of HI CORPORATION in Japan.
* The names of other products and companies mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
[About HI CORPORATION]
For more information, please visit our web site (http://www.hicorp.co.jp/english/index.html).
HI CORPORATION
Mitsutaka Monma or Pam Hung, +81-3-3710-9376
Public Relations
Marketing Dept.
press@hicorp.co.jp
Fax: +81-3-5773-8660
