MediaTek releases innovative cross-device hardware and software resource sharing technology

Latest update time：2015-03-03

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Taiwan's chip design giant MediaTek announced its latest cross-device resource sharing technology, CrossMount, on the eve of the 2015 Mobile World Congress (MWC).

MediaTek CTO Kevin Jou explained that CrossMount is a "new industry standard" that is royalty-free and open to all industry vendors. It can simplify the sharing of multimedia content between various devices. More importantly, it can allow the software and hardware resources in devices such as smartphones, tablets and TVs to share and combine to bring more functions or performance improvements.

He further pointed out: "We are not just talking about applications like DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance), such as sharing content between two paired devices, we are talking about connecting multiple (more than one) devices in a better way than DLNA."

MediaTek has always been known for its innovative business strategies, such as the one-stop solution that swept the Chinese smartphone market; however, through the release of CrossMount technology, the company hopes to lead the technology trend by proposing a new industry standard for sharing software and hardware resources, rather than just being a follower. Zhou Yujun said: "This is a new concept that other chip manufacturers, including Qualcomm and Broadcom, have never discussed before."

Zhou Yujun explained that the foundation of CrossMount is quite simple, and is built on the UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) protocol. Just as DLNA uses UPnP, CrossMount uses UPnP as the basis for multimedia management, discovery and control, and its new function is to share and combine resources of various devices. He also revealed that after a year of development, some functions of the technology have been embedded in the chip that MediaTek is expected to release in the second half of this year in a "hook" manner.

Zhou Yujun also provided several application cases of CrossMount's resource sharing function. Through this technology, the hardware function on a certain device, such as the microphone on a mobile phone, can be added to another device through a Wi-Fi connection, such as a TV without a microphone. In this case, CrossMount technology can turn the TV into a device that supports voice control, allowing the microphone function of the mobile phone to be transferred to the TV.

Similarly, some people may wear headphones when watching TV in the bedroom to avoid disturbing other people in the dormitory. In this case, there is no need to find a separate pair of headphones for the TV. Through CrossMount technology, you can watch TV programs quietly by using the headphones that come with everyone's mobile phone.

Zhou Yujun said that the most amazing part is that CorssMount can combine the hardware resources between devices to improve performance. The venue of MediaTek's press conference was basically a cave. He gave an example: "The coverage of mobile phone signals in such a room is usually not good, and the packet error rate may reach 10%." At this time, putting two mobile phones together, through the CorssMount technology combined with its PHY part, can reduce the error rate to 1%, allowing the mobile phone to even support video call functions.

MediaTek Chief Technology Officer Zhou Yujun, with the press conference behind him

Zhou Yujun gave another example: "At a birthday party, several people used different smartphones, cameras and camcorders to capture the moment of blowing out candles; using CrossMount technology, continuous footage from different angles can be combined to create a 360-degree movie." However, even though MediaTek's chips include software "hooks", he admitted that not all CrossMount functions have been developed. For example, the function of aggregating mobile phone modems will be more difficult to achieve because it involves physical layer definitions.

Zhou Yujun also said that MediaTek currently has no plans to license CrossMount, but will release a license-free software development kit (SDK) to promote the adoption of the technology and build a wider ecosystem. In other words, MediaTek has no intention of using CrossMount as an exclusive technology to promote its chips. By providing a license-free SDK, TVs that do not use MediaTek chips can also add CrossMount functions.

MediaTek is setting up the CrossMount Alliance, bringing together partners and customers to explore the possibility of further promoting the technology. The company said that CrossMount technology will be open to developers to expand the possibility of innovation and creation of new applications, hoping to change the way people use devices and share content.

At a time when many chip manufacturers have given up their TV chip businesses, MediaTek is now a rare IC company that is still actively operating in the smartphone, tablet and TV chip markets. Zhou Yujun, who worked in Qualcomm's R&D department for many years, joined MediaTek four years ago. He said that MediaTek is very pleased and excited to be able to come up with a cross-device hardware and software resource sharing technology like CrossMount that targets the three major device application markets.

MediaTek will provide CrossMount technology to customers and partners in the Android-based smartphone, tablet and TV markets in the third quarter, and devices using the technology are expected to be available by the end of this year.

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