CRI Middleware joins SpursEngine Partners Group - Planning to offer SpursEngine middleware for MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec
CRI Middleware joins SpursEngine Partners Group
Planning to offer SpursEngine middleware for MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec
CRI Middleware Co., Ltd., developer of middleware for entertainment software, is joining SpursEngine Partners Group, a third-party program for SpursEngine, Toshiba's stream processor for multimedia applications, based on Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.).
Based on working experiences in development of middleware for PLAYSTATION 3 powered by Cell/B.E., CRI Middleware plans to provide middleware and relevant products or services for SpursEngine users. The company is expected to announce the details at SpursEngine Developers Forum 2008 held by Toshiba on Friday, July 25 in Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo.
CRI Middleware, established in 2001, develops and provides software they call CRIWARE for game software, amusement and entertainment machines, and embedded systems. CRIWARE is middleware for creating high-quality video and audio, such as a package product, CRI Sofdec, a high-definition and high-quality video playback system.
Developing Sofdec for SpursEngine
Sofdec is a wrapper for middleware called “CANDI,” provided by Toshiba, and improves the ease-of-use.
Mr. Misao Matsushita, Technical Officer (R&D Department) and General Manager at CRI Middleware, told the aim to participate in SpursEngine Partners Group as follows (Figure 1): "Based on our development experiences in middleware for Cell/B.E. thus far, we will develop video middleware that can maximize the performance of SpursEngine. We will offer a easy-to-use scheme, with which our users can which can develop application software in a short period of time."
The company offers Sofdec, a high-definition and high-quality video playback system, and owns technologies involving H.264 video codec, implementation of video decoders, and related audio-visual codec techniques. Also, they have been developing software for Cell/B.E. over the past 3 years or so, allowing them to develop software that utilizes SPEs or Synergistic Processor Elements. Centered on games and amusement, their experiences in middleware development for a variety of embedded systems span over 10 years. "We are exactly the most suitable company to develop SpursEngine middleware," emphasizes Mr. Matsushita.
It is Sofdec for SpursEngine that CRI Middleware is going to develop (Figure 2). This middleware is a wrapper for middleware called CANDI, provided by Toshiba, allowing to easily develop SpursEngine applications. At present, CANDI has some limitations such as fixed resolutions and requires conversions to and from Toshiba's proprietary data format during decoding and encoding. Sofdec will enable to set arbitrary image resolutions and bit rates in order to easily create high-quality videos. In addition, it will allow to directly enter H.264 files.
"Right now, we are at the early stages of development. Nonetheless, we are pleased with the level of video quality achieved by SpursEngine's H.264 encoder. Except for commercial movies and videos for broadcasters, the video quality is sufficient for businesses and prosumers," said Mr. Matsushita.
The second-stage: "Framework" allowing users to embed software they develop
For CRI Middleware, Sofdec for SpursEngine is merely the first stage of their development. The company plans the second-stage of development, too. That is, according to Mr. Matsushita, going to be software that allows SpursEngine to utilize its genuine capability. To do so, CRI Middleware is aiming at applications in which SpursEngine’s codec logic and SPEs work all together.
Moreover, they plan to offer basic middleware with limited features for each application. Such middleware then allows the users to develop their software, implementing their own know-how through CRI's middleware. For example, such middleware can be provided for printers or MFPs (multi-function peripherals) so that the user (printer or MFP manufacturer) would have to develop the filtering software only, with the user’s proprietary algorithmic implementation.
CRI Middleware calls such software a "framework." As they develop a framework, they will need to collaborate with the users. It is difficult for them alone to develop such a framework; it is hard to judge what functionality is needed and how much a user is to develop. Mr. Matsushita told that they wanted to look for customers, who would be able to collaborate with them, at SpursEngine Developers Forum 2008 held in this July.
