LSI Logic and systems on a chip. Currently, there is yearly consumption of 10 million transistors per person in the world. Bet you can't eat just one................
techweb.cmp.com
<<Another multiple systems-on-a-chip demoed to
shareholders was the heart of what LSI Logic
called a universal set-top box. Working with Sony,
LSI Logic has developed chips to decode multiple
functions embedded on DVD disks. When the disk
is inserted into a player, it could yield movies with
such features as subtitles in multiple languages, or
an analysis of particular scenes from the movie, and
could include various plot scenarios that are
controlled by the user.
Another multiple systems-on-a-chip application
involves a Casio digital camera that shoots seven
exposures per second, and will be shooting 30
exposures/s in a year. That would allow still
cameras to show custom moving pictures on a
television or PC, or over the Internet. Another
demo showed a DVD decoder based on a
PCMCIA card and able to play a decoded movie
in the background on a notebook computer screen
while the system is engaged in office applications
such as word processing and spreadsheets.
The consumption of an ever-increasing number of
transistors per capita worldwide will provide fuel
for these products, especially as the expanding
Internet weaves a giant Web among world
communities. "The per capita consumption is
increasing at 55 percent a year to where we now
have close to 10 million transistors per person in
the world," [burp!]though not distributed equally among its
population, Corrigan said. "If you think that the
increase in chip units shipped per year is more than
50 percent, and the increase of transistors/per unit
is also at 50 percent, you begin to see the picture
that the demand for MSOC [multiple
systems-on-a-chip] ICs will increase exponentially
to populate the 'edge' devices that will hook us all
together over the growing Internet.">> |
