Term

Description

ADD Card

AGP Digital Display. An adapter card that can be inserted into the PCIe x16 port of Intel chipset family-based systems. ADD cards allow configurations for TV-out, LVDS, and TMDS output (i.e., televisions, digital displays, and flat panel displays).

AIM

Add In Module.

API

Application Programming Interface.

BDA

BIOS Data Area. A storage area that contains information about the current state of a display, including mode number, number of columns, cursor position, etc.

BIOS

Basic Input/Output System. The Intel^® Embedded Media and Graphics Driver interacts with two BIOS systems: system BIOS and Video BIOS (VBIOS). VBIOS is a component of the system BIOS.

BLDK

Boot Loader Development Kit.

CED

Configuration EDitor. Graphical pre-installation utility allows easy creation of consolidated driver installation packages for Windows* and Linux *operating systems, and VBIOS across numerous platforms and display combinations.

Clone Display Configuration

A type of display configuration that drives two display devices, each displaying the same content, but can have different resolutions and (independent) timings. Compare DIH Display Configuration.

Contrast Ratio

Contrast ratio is the measure of the difference between light and dark on a display. If the contrast is increased, the difference between light and dark is increased. So something white will be very bright and something black will be very dark. Brightness and Contrast Controls differ in function between CRTs and LCDs.

COPP

Certified Output Protection Protocol* is a Microsoft-defined API to provide application with information about what output protection options are available on a system.

D3D

Microsoft Direct3D*. A3D graphics API as a component of DirectX* technology.

DC

Display Configuration.

DDCT

Intel^® Dynamic Display Configuration Technology.

DirectDraw*

A component of the DirectX* Graphics API in Microsoft Windows OS.

DIH Display Configuration

Dual Independent Head. A type of display configuration that supports two displays with different content on each display device. The Intel^® Embedded Media and Graphics Driver supports Extended mode for Microsoft Windows systems and Xinerama for Linux systems.

DTD

Detailed Timing Descriptor. A set of timing values used for EDID-less devices.

DVI

Digital Video Interface.

DVO

Digital Video Output.

EBDA

Extended BIOS Data Area. An interface that allows the system BIOS and Option ROMs to request access to additional memory.

EDID

Extended Display Identification Data. A VESA standard that allows the display device to send identification and capabilities information to the Intel^® Embedded Media and Graphics Driver. Intel^® EMGD reads all EDID data, including resolution and timing data, from the display, thus negating the need for configuring DTD data for the device.

EDID-less

A display that does not have the capability to send identification and timing information to the driver and requires DTD information to be defined in the driver.

EFI

Extensible Firmware Interface.

eIA

Embedded Intel^® Architecture.

EMI

Electromagnetic Interference.

EPOG

Embedded Pre-OS Graphics feature.

Extended Clone Mode

A feature that allows you to have different sized displays in Clone mode.

Framebuffer

A region of physical memory used to store and render graphics to a display.

GDI

Graphics Device Interface. A low-level API used with Microsoft Windows operating systems.

GMA

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator. Refers to both the graphic hardware in Intel chipsets as well as the desktop/mobile driver. The GMA driver is not intended for use in embedded applications.

GMS

Graphics Mode Select (stolen memory).

HAL

Hardware Abstraction Layer. An API that allows access to the Intel^® chipsets.

HDCP

High-bandwidth Digital-Content Protection. A specification that uses the DVI interface. HDCP encrypts the transmission of digital content between the video source (transmitter) and the digital display (receiver).

HDMI

High-Definition Multimedia Interface, an uncompressed, all-digital, audio/video interface.

IAL

Interface Abstraction Layer. An API that allows access to graphics interfaces including the GDI, and DirectDraw*.

iDCT

Inverse Discrete Cosine Transformation (hardware feature).

INF file

A standard Microsoft Windows text file, referred to as an information file, used by Microsoft Windows OS to provide information to the driver. The default .inf file for the Intel^® Embedded Media and Graphics Driver is emgd.inf. You can create customized parameters using the CED utility.

LPCM

Linear Pulse Code Modulation (LPCM). A method of encoding audio information digitally. The term also refers collectively to formats using this method of encoding.

LVDS

Low Voltage Differential Signaling. Used with flat panel displays, such as a laptop computer display.

NTSC

National Television Standards Committee. An analog TV standard used primarily in North and Central America, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan. Its resolutions are based on 525-line systems. Compare PAL.

OAL

Operating system Abstraction Layer. An API that provides access to operating systems, including Microsoft Windows and Linux.

Option ROM (OROM)

Code that is integrated with the system BIOS and resides on a flash chip on the motherboard. The Intel Embedded Video BIOS is an example of an option ROM.

OS

Operating System.

PAL

Phase Alternating Lines. An analog TV standard used in Europe, South America, Africa, and Australia. Its resolutions are based on 625-line systems. Compare NTSC.

PCF

Parameters Configuration File.

PCI

Peripheral Component Interface.

Port Driver

A driver used with the sDVO interfaces of the System Controller Hub (SCH).

POST

Power On Self Test.

PWM

Pulse Width Modulation.

Reserved Memory

A region of physical memory in a Windows Embedded Compact 7 system set aside for BIOS, VBIOS, and graphics driver operations. Reserved memory can be configured for use by the operating system and other applications when not in use by the BIOS.

Saturation

Monitors and scanners are based on the “additive” color system using RGB, starting with black and then adding Red, Green, and Blue to achieve color. Saturation is the colorfulness of an area judged in proportion to its brightness. Full saturation of RGB gives the perception of white, and images are created that radiate varying amounts of RGB, or varying saturation of RGB.

SCART

French Acronym - Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radiorecepterus et Televiseurs. A video interface possessing up to four analog signals (Red/Green/Blue/Composite PAL). S-Video (Luma/Chroma) is possible over the SCART interface as well.

SCH

System Controller Hub.

SCS

Software Compliance Statement.

sDVO

Serial Digital Video Output.

Single Display Configuration

A type of display configuration that supports one and only one display device.

SSC

Spread Spectrum Clock.

Stolen Memory

A region of physical memory (RAM) set aside by the system BIOS for input and output operations. The amount of stolen memory is configurable. Stolen memory is not accessible to the operating system or applications.

System BIOS

The standard BIOS used for basic input and output operations on PCs.

TMDS

Transitioned Minimized Differential Signaling. Used with DVI displays, such as plasma TVs.

TOM

Top Of Memory.

TSR

Terminate and Stay Resident. A program that is loaded and executes in RAM, but when it terminates, the program stays resident in memory and can be executed again immediately without being reloaded into memory.

VBIOS

Video Basic Input Output System. A component of system BIOS that drives graphics input and output.

VESA

Video Electronics Standards Organization.

VEXT Display Configuration

Vertical Extended. A type of display configuration that enables both Primary and secondary displays. Primary and secondary displays can be configured with separate timings. The resolution for the secondary display must be the same as the primary. Content comes from a single framebuffer that spans both displays oriented vertically.

VGA

Video Graphics Array. A graphics display standard developed by IBM* that uses analog signals rather than digital signals.

VLD

Variable Length Decoding.

VMR

Video Mixing Render.

WHQL

Windows* Hardware Quality Labs. WHQL is a testing organization responsible for certifying the quality of Windows drivers and hardware that runs on Windows operating systems.

YUV

Informal, but imprecise reference to the video image format, Y'CbCr. The Y' component is luma, a nonlinear video quality derived from RGB data denoted without color. The chroma components, Cb and Cr, correspond nonlinearly with U and V as differences between the blue and luma, and between the red and luma, respectively.