Qualcomm Unveils RaptorQ Product for Enhanced Digital Content Delivery
SAN DIEGO – October 14, 2010 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced the commercial license availability of RaptorQ, a flexible and powerful software technology for forward-error correction (FEC). Based on technology acquired from Digital Fountain, Qualcomm’s RaptorQ provides a cost-efficient, application-layer FEC technology for delivering content to a variety of digital media devices reliably and in varying network conditions. By enabling content delivery through real-world networks, RaptorQ removes the barriers to ensuring high-quality content.
“RaptorQ‘s FEC technology eliminates packet loss and can be integrated at the service application layer to improve performance across all types of content delivery services, networks and devices,” said Michael Luby, vice president of technology at Qualcomm. “Content providers want to give customers a high quality of service across all their platforms. RaptorQ is designed to ensure that content arrives at its destination reliably, saving operators on network and customer service costs.”
RaptorQ encodes content at the source. The encoded content is delivered over a network to targeted devices, where Raptor is used to decode the original content. The RaptorQ encoder and decoder libraries allow streaming and file delivery services to recover data lost in transit and completely reconstruct it, without using a backchannel. RaptorQ is the latest version of the Raptor family of fountain codes achieving unmatched performance in several dimensions: error recovery property approaching that of a GF (256) random code for any packet loss rate; universality due to the fountain or rateless property of the code; and linear encoding-decoding complexity.
RaptorQ technology protects against packet loss with memory efficiency enhancements, enabling it to run on small devices like handsets and simple set-top boxes and client platforms. The technology is network and operating system agnostic, making it flexible for all types of services and as an application layer FEC, it is low-cost to deploy.
RaptorQ can enhance many different file delivery and streaming solutions:
• Wireless broadcast and multicast service providers can overcome the inherent challenges of content delivery in a mobile environment, enabling more content, more range and a more efficient use of bandwidth
• Providers of IPTV services can use RaptorQ to extend the DSL loop — even over Wi-Fi — to reach more subscribers and improve quality of service with efficient, reliable video delivery, no video or audio degradation, fast channel change times and low bandwidth overhead
• Enterprises can broadcast time-sensitive database updates to remote sites with fast, reliable operations and enhanced, error-free delivery of digital media – even in the most challenging network conditions
• Operators and consumers benefit from RaptorQ-protected video streaming applications, whether they are deployed for IPTV, mobile TV, broadcast, video-on-demand, Internet video streaming or HD audio
“Consumers today are enjoying content over a variety of wired and wireless networks and using a broad range of display devices, and they naturally expect a consistent user experience,” said Roberto Padovani, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Qualcomm. “Qualcomm is developing technologies such as RaptorQ to make content more accessible to people at home, at work or on-the-go. Qualcomm has a history of leadership in the development of FEC technologies and we are extremely proud of this latest accomplishment.”
Additional information on RaptorQ is availabile at www.qualcomm.com/raptor
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is the world leader in next-generation mobile technologies. For 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of wireless communications, connecting people more closely to information, entertainment and each other. Today, Qualcomm technologies are powering the convergence of mobile communications and consumer electronics, making wireless devices and services more personal, affordable and accessible to people everywhere. For more information, visit Qualcomm around the Web:
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