Intel Developer's Forum & content protection........
techweb.com
Intel Shifts Direction To Content Protection
(08/28/98; 10:55 a.m. ET)
By David Lammers, EE Times
The Intel Developers Forum, planned for Sept. 15 to
17, is expected to focus on Intel's approaches to
content protection for digital video. Jim Pappas,
director of technology initiatives, said Intel will disclose
its latest work on the Digital Transmission of Content
Protection (DTCP) initiative, launched last year with
Hitachi, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Sony, and
Toshiba.
The DTCP specification must be adopted by the
industry to protect digital content, such as movies. And
indirectly, the 1394 serial interface can be widely
adopted only after Hollywood and other content
providers are reassured DTCP will work.
Last year, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel (company
profile) pulled back on supporting the 1394 interface in
its chip sets, largely because computer vendors balked
at the cost of adding the upwards of 100,000 gates of
logic needed to support 1394, as well as the lack of
computer peripherals that required 1394.
"DTCP is broader that 1394, but 1394 definitely will be
a part of the new DTCP spec being released," said
Pappas. Some system vendors offer support for 1394
with add-in cards, but now that the Universal Serial Bus
is a relatively straightforward implementation, Intel is
turning the spotlight back on getting 1394 added to the
motherboard.
Meanwhile, Intel will also showcase its effort to support
digital audio and modem functionality on the
motherboard, a furthering of the AC97 specification.
Modem functions often are partly country-specific, and
Intel has proposed an add-in card be used for those
variable functions while other modem and audio
functions are supported on the motherboard.
The audio modem riser specification will take 16-bit
audio to the 90-decibel (signal-to-noise) range, which
Pappas said is much improved over the "hollow tin can"
quality of the sound that emanated from desktops a few
years ago.
System-design engineers will receive hands-on training
on new tools, part of the Intel Performance and
Analysis Kit, or Ipeak. The tools themselves seem to
point to where the desktop is heading.
One tool, Iomon, will do performance-monitoring of the
Windows Drivers Model, Microsoft's latest
driver-technology initiative. By doing real-time,
isochronous functional tests with Iomon, system
engineers will better be able to implement drivers for
USB and 1394, and so on, Pappas said.
Another tool, Dquik, makes it easier to implement DVD
drives that operate at optimal performance. "Right now,
a lot of engineering effort is needed to implement a
DVD drive," Pappas said. "To get high-quality movies
on a desktop, the system designers need to do a lot of
work -- on both hardware and software -- especially in
the graphics and audio subsystems. These are the early
days of DVD, and good care must be taken in the area
of graphics acceleration, for example. Dquik runs a
checklist to make sure the system engineer has
implemented DVD successfully."
The twice-yearly Intel Developers Forum said it
anticipates a draw upwards of 1,000 system-design
engineers to Palm Springs, Calif. The engineers will
participate in technical seminars and hands-on training
on Intel-developed tools, which will enable system
designers to implement technologies that are expected
to hit the market next fall -- the so-called
back-to-school generation of desktops.
|
