Freescale公司的MCIMX31 (i.MX31) 和MCIMX31L (i.MX31L)多媒體應用處理器有最低的功耗,能提供高性能的多媒體處理.

i.MX31 和i.MX31L應用處理器采用ARM1136JF-S內核,工作速度大于532MHz.本文介紹了i.MX31 和i.MX31L應用處理器的主要特性,方框圖,視頻信號處理鏈,照相機數據流, MPEG-4 SP視頻捕捉和播放的數據流與i.MA31和i.MX31L連接案例等.

i.MX31 and i.MX31L Multimedia Applications Processors
The MCIMX31 (i.MX31) and MCIMX31L (i.MX31L) multimedia applications processors represent Freescale Semiconductor.s latest achievement in multimedia integrated applications processors that are part of a growing family of multimedia-focused products offering high performance processing optimized for lowest power consumption. The i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors feature Freescale’s advanced and power-efficient implementation of the ARM1136JF-S core, which operates at speeds starting at 532 MHz. Unless otherwise specified, the material in this product brief is applicable to both the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors.

主要特性:

Smart Speed Technology.The heart of the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors is a level of power management throughout the ICs that allow the rich suite of multimedia features and peripherals to achieve minimum system power consumption in both active and various low-power modes. Smart Speed Technology enables the designer to deliver a feature-rich product that requires levels of power that are far less
than typical industry expectations.

Multimedia Powerhouse.The multimedia performances of the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors are each boosted by a multi-level cache system and further enhanced by an MPEG-4 hardware accelerator that provides MPEG-4 SP encoding up to VGA resolution at 30 fps, as well as an Autonomous Image Processing Unit, Vector Floating Point (VFP11) co-processor, and a programmable SDMA controller.

Powerful Graphics Acceleration (not available in the i.MX31L).3D graphics are the key to mobile game designs. The i.MX31 processor delivers an integrated 3D Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) that provides an incredible 0.8.0.9 MTri/sec (double textured, bi-linear, Gouraud shaded) at about 100 Mpix/sec (effective).

Interface Flexibility.The i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors. interface support connection to all popular types of external memories.DDR, SDRAM, NAND Flash, NOR Flash, SRAM, and MDOC. Designers seeking to provide products that deliver a rich multimedia experience will find a full suite of on-chip peripherals: LCD controller and CMOS sensor interface, High Speed USB On-The-Go, and two USB hosts, a multiple expansion card, and serial interfaces. There is even an ATA hard disk controller in each processor. An important design goal of the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors is their rich and flexible connectivity support to ensure that any system configuration can be developed quickly and at minimum material cost.

Increased Security.Because the need for advanced security for mobile devices continues to increase, the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors deliver hardware-enabled security features allowing secure e-commerce, digital rights management (DRM), information encryption, secure boot, and secure software downloads.

Regardless of whether you are designing a smartphone, PDA, gaming console, or other portable device, the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors provide your design with the power and flexibility necessary for today.s competitive marketplace.

圖1.i.MX31和i.MX31L功能方框圖.

Video Applications
The i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors are optimized to support a variety of video applications. Figure 2 describes the video processing chain and its implementation.

圖2.視頻信號處理鏈
The video implementation in the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors is a result of a smart trade-off between performance and flexibility. The following points describe some of the video performance features:

Image processing.The processing required for a camera preview function is performed fully in hardware, allowing the CPU to be powered-down in this stage.

Encoding.MPEG-4 SP and the H.263 baseline formats are fully hardware accelerated, supporting resolutions up to VGA at 30 fps. As a result, a high degree of power efficiency is achieved, and the CPU is freed to perform other tasks. Encoding for other video standards are achieved using software implementation.

Decoding.Based on a mixture of software and hardware, this implementation provides the greatest flexibility to support a variety of algorithms and future extensions. A sufficient software optimization level may be achieved using the advanced ARM11 instruction set and multi-level cache system. For MPEG-4, the post-filtering (de-blocking and de-ringing) is accelerated by IPU hardware, resulting in a 75% load reduction on the ARM11 core. For H.264 baseline format.the most processing-intensive format.the deblocking filter is also performed in hardware providing a 30% acceleration improvement The powerful ARM11 processor (including its 2-level cache system) provides the flexibility to decode at a high rate any currently relevant formats (up to HVGA @ 30 fps), as well as possible future extensions.

MPEG-4 Encoding Accelerator
The video encoding hardware accelerator of the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors support MPEG-4 Simple Profile (all levels) and H.263 Baseline. They enable pixel rates up to VGA at 30 fps and compressed bit rate up to 4 Mbps.

圖3.照相機數據流

圖4.MPEG-4 SP視頻捕捉-數據流

圖5.MPEG-4 SP視頻播放-數據流

圖6.GPU方框圖和數據流

Figure 7 shows an example of the i.MX31 and i.MX31L processors. connectivity with a rich set of external devices.

圖7.i.MA31和i.MX31L連接案例

圖8.典型的AUDMUX應用圖.
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