Patent reveals secrets of Xbox 2

A PATENT has shown up at the US repository of such thing$ that gives us some more clues as to the nature of the technology that Microsoft and ATI will employ with its next generation Xbox and the R520 component.

The patent is for a method and apparatus for determining a processing speed of an integrated circuit.

Sounding bizarrely like John Kerry, the patented circuit includes 'a first flip flop having an input port... an output port providing a flip flop output signal..." and other such indecipherable phrases.

The patent goes all the way back to a story that we covered last year concerning ATI's partnership with Intrisity.

The patent, we think, is part of the effort to get CMOS processing - as in traditional processors - and dynamic logic processing - as in supercomputers - working on the same chip. Dynamic logic works at far faster speeds, hence the need for an integrated circuit to regulate the switching between the two.

The discovery of this patent is the first hard proof that ATI is treading down this road of chip design, as its deal with Intrinsity was surrounded in speculation as to the exact nature of the technology being licensed and which way the information was flowing. The patent appears to confirm that the R500/R520 part will be something substantially different to anything we've seen in the past. µ