Hello, and welcome to the first of hopefully many ‘Ask the CEO’ sessions here on QuickLogic’s HotSpots Blog. I appreciate the time that our readers took to send in questions, and hope that you find this exercise worthwhile. Now, to the questions:
Q: How do we know VEE/DPO is used in a Phone/Tablet? Is there anything to identify at the software or user-settings level? Or, is a physical tear down the only option?
A: In short, that really would depend on the individual OEM’s choice. There is no standard software piece that QuickLogic requires at the user level to operate VEE and DPO. We offer our MDDO software to our customers as an evaluation, calibration, and user-level GUI. However, MDDO is not required for operation of VEE and DPO. The only way to know for sure, outside of a public confirmation from the OEM and/or QuickLogic (as in the BenQ case), is a physical tear-down of the unit.
Q: You now characterize your exclusive license with Apical as a long term license as opposed to a one year license. Could you tell me the term of the license? Is it two years, three years, or longer?
A: Our agreement with Apical is a multi-year agreement, but we are not releasing specifics of the terms.
Q: Hi, my question is technical, related to the VX4c chip. The overview specs say “it can be used to replace several discrete components typically used in mobile devices today”. Could you please describe the actual components it replaces? And looking at the BOM and board space, does the VX4c rise the cost and board space required or, assuming it replaces other components, do the BOM and board space go down when the VX4c is used?
A: The components the VX4 CSSP can replace is a mix of standard CSSP functions and the individual customer implementation. The hard logic portion of the VX4 contains VEE and DPO, as well as the PWM and MDDI to RGB video path bridge, and finally i2c and SPI controllers. This allows replacement of discrete PWM and MDDI-to-RGB video bridges. The programmable fabric portion of the CSSP can replace discrete chips that perform functions such as Bluetooth UARTs, memory controllers, and others. In general, where we do replace discrete components ( e.g. bridges and PWMs) we have seen a reduction in BOM and board space footprint.
-Andy
