Android Building the JNI Source Code in Eclipse

Building the JNI Source Code in Eclipse is a very good tutorial to explain the steps to build JNI source code in Eclipse. I tried the NDK r6b and "Using NDK to Call C code from Android Apps" and got a successful application build.

One Click Rooting for Eee Pad Transformer TF101 8.6.6.19

Recently Asus updated it new Eee Pad Transformer TF101 firmware  8.6.6.19. Razorclaw is a new APK tool (on-device!) for rooting any version ASUS Transformer including 8.6.6.19. It is easy and cool. The current version is 1.0.1.

Install a Native C Executable on Eee Pad Transformer Android 3.2

After Eee Pad Transformer TF101 is rooted, we may like to install a native C executable which was generated by the NDK tool chain. A Busybox installer may be helpful since it provides the "cp" command. Then we may want to put this executable in /system. No matter we use "mv" or "cp", we still often get a "cross device link ERROR" or since /system is not writable unless we use something like this:

mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /system

If the /system is not in mmcblock0p1, please use "mount" to find the right place.

Now we can use "cp" the executable to /system/xbin, and "chmod 744 ..." to be executable.

Performance and Complexity Comparison between H.265/HEVC and H.264

HEVC Test Model under Consideration (TMuC) serves as a starting point for definition of the new video coding standard. The current version is HM-4.1-dev.

An article "Towards high efficiency video coding: Subjective evaluation of potential coding technologies" pointed out:

"The TMuC has similarities to the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard, including block-based intra / inter prediction, block transform and entropy coding. New features include increased prediction flexibility, more sophisticated interpolation filters, a wider range of block sizes and new entropy coding schemes. Twice the compression efficiency of H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is expected to be achieved, at the expense of a considerable increase in computational complexity. The performance of the coding algorithm resulting from this integration step will be analyzed by means of formal subjective quality assessment in a next subjective test campaign."

The article "High Performance, Low Complexity Video Coding and the Emerging HEVC Standard" describes a low complexity video codec with high coding efficiency. It was proposed to the high efficiency video coding (HEVC) standardization effort of moving picture experts group and video coding experts group, and has been partially adopted into the initial HEVC test model under consideration design. The proposal utilizes a quadtree-based coding structure with support for macroblocks of size 64 × 64, 32 × 32, and 16 × 16 pixels.

• Entropy coding is performed using a low complexity variable length coding scheme with improved context adaptation compared to the context adaptive variable length coding design in H.264/AVC. 
• The proposal's interpolation and deblocking filter designs improve coding efficiency, yet have low complexity. 

Dan Grois also summarized

• Average interpolation complexity is less than that of H.264/AVC due to the 1-D directional interpolation filters. 
• Memory bandwidth for motion compensation is lower than H.264/AVC. This is because motion partitions smaller than 8 × 8 are not used. 
• Interpolation complexity for B pictures is significantly lower in the proposal than in H.264/AVC, as the SKIP and DIRECT modes use integer motion vectors. Using motion vectors with integer pixel accuracy implies that reconstruction of a SKIP/DIRECT block can be done by copying pixels from one location in memory to another location, instead of applying the 6-tap interpolation filter. 
• The deblocking filter has significantly lower computational complexity. This is mainly because a much lower number of block edges are filtered, and the filter has simpler logic for enabling/disabling the filter on an edge. In addition, filtering can be performed in parallel first for each of the vertical edges and then for each of the horizontal edges, which is not possible for H.264/AVC. 
• VLC (de)coding of coefficients is simpler than H.264/AVC CAVLC coefficient (de)coding. In particular, CAVLC relies on decoding a large number of syntax elements (e.g., coeff−token, trailing−ones−sign−flag, level−prefix, level−suffix, total−zeros, and run−before). Also, the VLC decoding uses significantly fewer syntax elements, and requires less conditional branches (run/level/sign in run mode, and level/sign in level mode). 

Samuelsson at el. proposed a method to for "Simplification of Intra Prediction Mode" for HEVC. The result shows that this processing is adaptive to the content of the video, and results in a reduction in the computational complexity of the prediction process by approximately 50%.

Using NDK to Call C code from Android Apps

Android NDK (Native Development Kit) allows working with native C code using a shared C library. It includes the entire toolchain needed to build for your target platform (ARM). Native C code accessible via JNI still runs inside the Dalvik VM, and as such is subject to the same life-cycle rules that any Android application lives by. The advantage of writing parts of your app code in native language is presumably speed in certain cases.



See more at Marko Gargenta's article.

DM8168 EVM for $999

Spectrum Digital is now shipping the DM816x/C6A816x/AM389x Standalone EVM Baseboard. This is the processor board which makes up part of the full development kit offered by TI. This CPU module allows developers to get additional platforms in a cost effective manner for software developers.This module, # 702391, is being offered in North America at a quantity one price of $999.00.

DM6467 ARM9 Trouble Writing Memory Block at 0x1c40900

When connecting to DM6467 from CCS (3.3.82.13), using XDS510PP Plus (Rev A) and the DM6467t Gel file from Spectrumdigital, we may see

"Trouble Writing Memory Block at 0x1c40900 on Page 0 of Length 0x4: Error 0x80002002/..."

The problem is due to "It is possible that when PLL is being programmed you loose RTCK while PLL is switching over.  The RTCK will also become much slower as it is slaved to the device core clock. It may only work if you are using an external adaptive clocking adapter to deal the RTCK issue. Aside of this, you will need to configure the PP+ via SdConfig(Ex) to uncheck disable polling and set the port speed to 100.  This will force the emulator to poll for emulator command completion and the 100 is the max retry loop count. " The fix is as follows.

Qualcomm to Lose HTC to Nvidia Tegra 3?

Like in recently announced Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the first tablet to feature Nvidia's new Tegra 3 quad-core processor, has attracted attention, Tegra 3 quad-core processor seems that it will be adapted by more phones and tablet. Desire Athow wrote:

HTC will apparently break the exclusivity of Qualcomm by adopting the penta-core Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset to power a new handset, the Edge, that is set to be launched next year at MWC.

According to Monica Chen and Joseph Tsai from Digitimes, the phone will launch either in March or April and will come with Nvidia's chipset, which would be a blow to Qualcomm who may lose both HTC and Sony Ericsson as exclusive partners in a single year. 

In addition, Microsoft has also confirmed that ST-Ericsson will also start producing chips for Windows Phone handsets ,heralding the end of the monopoly Qualcomm had on the platform.

Samsung Electronics, Motorola and LG have also adopted the Tegra 3 for their handsets and Asus has already shipped the first tablet based on the chipset , the Transformer Prime.

The new Tegra 3 adopts a similar strategy as ARM's big.LITTLE or TI's OMAP4, with smaller CPU(s) taking over from big ones for mundane and light tasks.

Nvidia says that the system on chip has three times the graphics performance of its predecessor - thanks to 12 GPU cores - while consuming almost two thirds less power than the Tegra 2.

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/11/14/qualcomm-lose-htc-nvidia-tegra-3/#ixzz1dyIrkEa3

Eee Pad Transformer TF101 Android 3.2.1 Root and adb shell

1. Download Asus Transformer NVFlash Stock 3.2 Recovery Roms from tabletroms.com; The latest version is the 3.2 Build of 8.6.5.13 which is the same as the one in Asus website;
2. NV flash the ROM with following the instruction in tabletroms.com;
3. Download Universal root toolkit v7.1 from xda-developers.com;
4. Backup and root it;
5. If "adb devices" returns nothing, you may unplug the USB cable and try to update the device driver using the USB driver in the transformer 3.1 rootkit.  If sometime SU can't not be installed due to ADB path problem, may also try the transformer 3.1 rootkit. However, if your adb path is set in the Windows environment, you may also need to delete the adb.exe in the tool kit;
6. Use Root Check Pro to check if the transformer is rooted.

HTML5 and Adobe Flash's Failures

Since Apple refused to accept Flash and Windows 8 Phone and tablet will not support Flash, and Adobe want to focus on HTML5 development, Adobe abandons mobile Flash development.

Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver video over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player versions 6–11. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There are two different video file formats known as Flash Video: FLV and F4V. The audio and video data within FLV files are encoded in the same way as they are within SWF files. Flash Video FLV files usually contain material encoded with codecs following VP6 video compression formats. The most recent public releases of Flash Player also support H.264 video and HE-AAC audio.

Today David Murphy reported "Who's to Blame for Adobe Flash's Failures?" in pcmag.com. In his report, he referred to Cera Technology CEO Michael Mace's words "The root causes of the Flash failure should blame to a fundamental misreading of the mobile market, and to short-term revenue goals that were more important than long-term strategy at both Macromedia and Adobe. The full Flash player had been designed for PCs; it was too fat to run well on a smartphone." ...

Currently HTML5 Video Player is an opt-in trial for YouTube. It supports browsers that support both the video tag in HTML5 and either the h.264 video codec or the WebM format (with VP8 codec).

iOS 5.0.1 Update Failed

I tried to update my iPhone 3GS with iOS 5.0.1 which was released on Thursday to fix a critical security hole and promise better battery life for iPhone 4S users. It seems Apple may have not sufficiently tested it before release. Not only my update failed, but also my iPhone firmware could not be restored at the first try. I tried reset via tap both home button and power off button and a different cable, and finally got the restored firmware.

Updated: strangely enough, after I restored the firmware, my iOS is 5.0.1.

DM6467 Latest CODECS

TI published the latest DM6467 codec, DM6467_CODECS 1_00_003 Product, on October 24, 2011. However H.264 1080p encoder was not updated.

H.264 Encoder, Version 1.20.02.00 DataSheet	H264 BP/MP/HP L4.0 720p Encoder Data Sheet	648K
H.264 Encoder, Version 1.20.02.00 ReleaseNotes	H264 BP/MP/HP L4.0 720p Encoder Release Notes	128K
H.264 Encoder, Version 1.10.02.05 DataSheet	H264 BP/MP/HP L4.0 1080p Encoder Data Sheet	116K
H.264 Encoder, Version 1.10.02.05 ReleaseNotes	H264 BP/MP/HP L4.0 1080p Encoder Release Notes	48K

Transformer Prime vs. iPad 2 vs. Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet

There is more than enough room for tablet players. Current estimates suggest tablet sales will increase on average 83% a year to 185 million units in 2014; RBC estimates Apple will sell 50 million iPads in fiscal 2012 (up 54% yearly) and 65 million in 2013.

Asus' newly announced Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the first tablet to feature Nvidia's new Tegra 3 quad-core processor. The Prime will get an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich. The Prime joins Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet as the latest set of tablet devices hitting store shelves before the end of the year. Ian Paul, PCWorld, gave comparisons between four tablets:

Intel and MIPS Bets on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with 2012 Release

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich includes many improvements including a new interface and system bar that makes accessing and navigating through applications easier. Other features include an improved keyboard, integration of multiple email accounts, improved security, core application improvements, and near-field communications (NFC) abilities for mobile payments. It also provides  impressive media processing features, such as face unlock, camera functions for quicker photo, live effect, enhanced Talk-to-Text, and photo editor.

It has already been shown to work on a smartphone with an ARM processor. HTC confirmed that the HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation XL, HTC Sensation XE, HTC Rezound, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, and HTC Amaze 4G would all be seeing the update to Android 4.0.

The new OS includes OS optimization for x86, so Intel architecture-based devices, can support it, according to Suzy Greenberg, an Intel spokeswoman. HP new tablet Slate 2 includes faster hardware including Intel's Atom Z670 processor, which runs at a clock speed of 1.5GHz and has accelerators to decode 1080p video. 

MIPS is the third processor architecture challenging ARM in the tablet and smartphone space. Tablets with MIPS processors already support Android 3.0, which is code-named Honeycomb, and the company is porting Android 4.0 for tablets.

See more @ computerworld.

DM6467 Boot

• The DM646x boot document "Using the TMS320DM646x DMSoC Bootloader (Rev. D)"
• davinci-psp_3.2.0.0-beta/sources
• Creating a DSP Boot Image for Host Boot
• dm646x_pci_targetdrv.c

Xilinx ISE 13.3, Artix-7 and Virtex-7 XT

This release is another try to support Artix-7 and Virtex-7 XT. According to the company press release, a full custom precision floating-point support, including new bit and cycle accurate, single, double and full custom precision floating-point in system generator for DSP, is provided to extend productivity for DSP designers.

Artix™-7 FPGAs deliver the lowest power and lowest cost to address high-volume markets. This family is one of three product families built on a common 28nm architecture designed for maximum power efficiency and offers over two times the capacity, 30% higher performance, 50% lower power consumption -- and logic up to 350K logic cell density at lower price points than Spartan®-6 FPGAs.

Virtex-7 FPGAs are optimized for advanced systems requiring the highest performance and highest bandwidth connectivity. Utilizing innovative 2.5D Stacked Silicon Interconnect (SSI) technology, 

the latest Virtex-7, 2000T FPGA, integrates 2 million logic cells, 6.8 billion transistors and 12.5Gb/s serial transceivers on a single device making it the world’s highest capacity FPGA. This is equivalent to 20 million ASIC gates.Virtex-7 XT provides larger block RAM (85.0Mb) than other Virtex-7 devices.

DM8168 or C6-Integra EVM

DM8168 is among the TI AM389x, C6A816x, DM816x Device family with multi-HD codec support.



Developed with Spectrum Digital, the DM8168 Evaluation Module (EVM) enables developers to immediately start evaluating DM816x DaVinci™ MPU (DM8168, DM8167, DM8166, DM8165), C6A816x C6-Integra™ DSP+ARM processors (C6A8168, C6A8167) and AM389x Sitara™ ARM MPUs (AM3894, AM3892) and begin building solutions such as surveillance DVRs, video conferencing systems, video broadcasting systems, media servers, single-board computers, gateways, routers, servers, industrial automation, human machine interfaces (HMIs), point-of-service data terminals, machine vision, test and measurement, tracking and control applications, amongst many others. The board contains

• with connectors for composite video, S-Video, Component Video, serial port, SD, SATA, PCIe, USB, Ethernet, Audio Input/Output, HDMI Tx
• DM8168 Processor (emulates AM3894 and C6A816)
• Expansion I/O Daughtercard (printed circuit board assembly) with connectors for DVI in, Component Video in, Composite Video in, HDMI Tx, serial port, Ethernet, and Audio outputs
• 7” Touch-screen LCD display
• Power supply and regional adapter
• Serial, USB, Ethernet and HDMI cables
• USB mouse
• SD card (with example software and SDK)
• SD card reader (for plugging in SD card to PC) JTAG emulator (XDS100)
• 1 GB DDR3 Memory

The technical reference of the EVM shows goof info. The Ubuntu based SDK 2011Q2 for DM8168 EVM Board was released in Oct 2011. Android Rowboat is supported for DM8168 platform. Android GingerBread is supported for ARM Cortex-A8 based AM389x.

TI demonstrated a bottle detection using the machine vision function in OpenCV.

Machine Vision Demo using OpenCV Machine Vision demosttration using OpenCV on Texas Instruments' C6-Integra(TM) platform Posted: 21-Apr-2011 Duration: 4:33 Views: 4535 Tags: integra, c6-integra, opencv,machine vision, c6a816x, omap-l13x C6-Integra(TM) DSP+ARM Processors

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