Ingenic Semiconductor is a Chinese

fabless Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication (or ''fab'') to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclus ...

semiconductor company based in Beijing,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

founded in 2005. They purchased licenses for the MIPS architecture

instruction set In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA), also called computer architecture, is an abstract model of a computer. A device that executes instructions described by that ISA, such as a central processing unit (CPU), is called an ' ...

s in 2009 and design

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

microarchitecture In computer engineering, microarchitecture, also called computer organization and sometimes abbreviated as µarch or uarch, is the way a given instruction set architecture (ISA) is implemented in a particular processor. A given ISA may be impl ...

s based on them. They also design

system on a chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...

products including their CPUs and licensed

semiconductor intellectual property In electronic design, a semiconductor intellectual property core (SIP core), IP core, or IP block is a reusable unit of logic, cell, or integrated circuit layout design that is the intellectual property of one party. IP cores can be licensed to ...

blocks from third parties, such as Vivante Corporation, commission the fabrication of

integrated circuit An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

s at semiconductor fabrication plants and sell them.

XBurst microarchitecture

The XBurst CPU microarchitecture is based upon the MIPS32 revision 1 respectively the MIPS32 revision 2 instruction set and implements an 8-stage pipeline. XBurst CPU technology consists of 2 parts: * A

RISC In computer engineering, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a complex instruction set comput ...

/ SIMD/ DSP hybrid instruction set architecture which enables the processor to have the capability of computation, signal processing and video processing. This includes the Media Extension Unit (MXU), a 32-bit SIMD extension. All JZ47xx series CPUs with Xburst uA support MXU, except for the JZ4730. * MXU has its own register set, distinct from the general purpose MIPS registers. It consists of sixteen 32-bit data registers and a 32-bit control register. CPUs which support MXU are used in MIPS Creator single-board computers. They are also present in various tablets, handheld game devices, and embedded devices.

XBurst2 microarchitecture

XBurst2 development was, in summer 2013, expected to be completed by the first half of 2014. However, XBurst2 was eventually introduced in 2020 in the X2000, with the microarchitecture offering a dual-issue/dual-threaded CPU design based on MIPS32 Release 5.

XBurst-based SoCs

Game Boy Advance SP - board - Ingenic JZ4725B-0845

SoCs incorporating the XBurst

Adoption

XBurst1-based SoCs are commonly used in tablet computers,

portable media player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

s, digital photo frames and GPS devices: The JZ4730 CPU is used in the Skytone Alpha-400 and its variants. The Jz4720 is utilized in the Copyleft Hardware project

Ben NanoNote The Ben NanoNote (officially the 本 NanoNote)Melanson, Donald"Qi Hardware's tiny, hackable Ben NanoNote now shipping" ''Engadget'', 15 March 2010 (accessed 1 November 2012) is a pocket computer using the Linux-based OpenWrt operating system. An ...

. Another popular device, the

Dingoo The Dingoo is a handheld gaming console that supports music and video playback and open game development. The system features an on-board radio and recording program. It is available to consumers in three colors: white, black, and pink. It was r ...

gaming handheld, uses the JZ4732, a de facto JZ4740. Game Gadget is using the JZ4750. Velocity Micro T103 Cruz and T301 Cruz 7-Inch Android 2.0 Tablets used JZ4760. The JZ4770 SoC is used in several of the Ainol Novo 7 Android tablets and 3Q Tablet PC Qoo! IC0707A/4A40. JZ4770 SoC is also used in the dedicated handheld NEOGEO-X and

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

handheld GCW Zero running on OpenDingux. The JZ4780 is used in ImgTec's MIPS based

single-board computer A single-board computer (SBC) is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor(s), memory, input/output (I/O) and other features required of a functional computer. Single-board computers are commonly made as demonstrati ...

(SBC); The Creator CI20

References

External links