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QNX Aviage Multimedia Suite

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The QNX Aviage Multimedia Suite is a fully customizable platform for building scalable consumer-grade solutions that range from simple multimedia players to multi-console media networks with sharable media. It combines a full-featured media player with supporting multimedia software for building next-generation digital infotainment platforms and includes:

Business benefits

Ensure timely product development and quality
The QNX Aviage Multimedia Suite allows the project manager to control the multimedia experience by tuning an industry-hardened, quality-controlled multimedia engine. Programmers and system integrators immediately feel comfortable with the development model, ensuring timely product development and quality.

Quickly support the features your customers want
Popular features such as iPod integration, popular decode formats, playlists, album art, ripping of an audio CD are provided. No special coding is required to implement them.

Standards means developer comfort
POSIX and SQL standards are used to ensure that software is well understood. Text-based configuration files define device behaviour and high-level APIs are used to tune and control the media experience. The use of standards guarantees programmer comfort and code re-use.

Lower system BOM cost

What’s new for MME 1.2
  • DVD-V playback
  • Video file playback
  • Microsoft Zune support
  • Significant improvements to Album Art support
  • Significant improvements to metadata synchronization speeds
  • Additional playlists supported
  • Faster startup, much less memory used
  • RTP & HTTP streaming
  • TI OMAP3 Codec Engine (audio decoders)
  • Intel Performance Primitives codecs

Technology overview

To properly manage the wide range of media storage devices and streams available today as well as their data content requires a highly integrated and uniform software model. The QNX Aviage Multimedia Suite provides high-level control of an intelligent multimedia engine, which includes:

This high-level control allows the system integrator to focus on other value-add activities, such as:

In addition, the QNX Aviage Multimedia Suite is fully network-ready meaning that not only the control of the media player can occur over a network, but that media content itself can flow between media engines. Any digital media that appears in the network can be accessed by any media engine in the network.

Functional blocks

The QNX Aviage Multimedia Suite can be divided into several key functional blocks.

Identify & connect

This function block handles the identification and connection of USB flash disks, data CDs, audio CDs, iPods, Zunes, Certified for Windows Vista media players, mobile handsets, and other media storage devices, as well as streaming content providers such as Internet Radio. In some cases, the identify and connect block requires authentication, using Digital Rights Management (DRM). A common example is Windows Media DRM10 subscription content on a Certified for Windows Vista media player.

Play & record

Hidden within this block are any hardware-assisted decoders and audio/ video hardware dependencies. Often, a hardware vendor that offers multimedia DSP services will provide a services library API to the main CPU for control and data transfer. This API stays hidden from the rest of the multi-media function blocks, allowing for degrees of hardware independence while still providing high performance.

Any use-case restrictions are exposed to the other function blocks. For example, some hardware decoders may not support multiple simultaneous decode, requiring the HMI and Control blocks to handle user requests differently.

Organize (media database)

The organize function block is encapsulated in the media database and its API. Industry standard SQL is used. The database supports transactions and synchronous writes so that power loss does not cause corruption. It also handles corruption detection and auto correction. For media management, the database supports Unicode UTF-8.

Multimedia controller

The controller function block drives the other function blocks and exposes a high-level API to the HMI function block. The controller block can be specific to certain markets; for example, an automotive head unit may handle CD ripping and encoding differently than a home media center.

High-level set of APIs

Configurability

HMI

The HMI function block will use the controller block APIs and allow for multi-modal input and display. The HMI could be a graphical touchscreen or voice control, or both interfaces at the same time. The HMI could even be managed remotely, via a simple agent that translates control and status data into messages understood by a web browser, or by a Java or Flash interface. This design provides much more flexibility than simply re-skinning a media player.

Uniformity & scalability

The functional blocks above are abstracted from one another without sacrificing performance. This ensures that a component within a functional block can be updated without the need for any changes elsewhere. For example, a new decoder can be added to the play and record function block with no other changes required. A new storage media can be added. This uniformity of interface forces consistency while allowing the system integrator to dynamically choose the best software solution for their hardware design. For example, during some usage cases a DSP may be used for audio decode, while in other cases a software decoder will be used. All this can happen dynamically under control of the integrator.

Technology highlights

The QNX Aviage Multimedia Suite is built on the same design values as the QNX Neutrino Operating System. Here are some of those values as they relate to multimedia.

Built from trusted multimedia components that remain unchanged between projects

Control HMI, device behavior and media management using high level programming and configuration techniques

Embedded focus: Consumer and automotive-centric design

Realtime: Predictable response times

Fast booting and instant power off

Ensure future-proofing and field upgradeability

Industry Standards and market-focused hardware support

Specifications

1 Available in QNX Transaction Filesystem option
2 Requires hardware partner engagement
3 Requires graphics option

System requirements