Personal and Portable: The Evolving Definition

The definition of Personal and Portable is rapidly changing. Portable systems have gone from something one person could carry to something we put into our pockets. Personal electronics are, at the same time, becoming more popular. Where will this trend of Personal and Portable take us as we advance our technology? When we can put complete systems on one chip, what will those systems be? This is our future for us to make happen. As DSP Business Development Manager, Gene Frantz is presently responsible for creating new businesses within TI utilizing digital signal processing technology. In recognition of his leadership role in establishing TI as the world's leading DSP solutions provider, Frantz was elected to TI Principal Fellow in 2002, a privilege enjoyed by less than 0.1 percent of TI's technical personnel. Frantz joined TI's consumer products division in 1974. While in that division, he took a leadership role in the development of TI's educational products: he was the program manager for the Speak & SpellTM learning aid, and led the development team for all of the early speech products for TI. In 1984, he transferred to Semiconductor Group's DSP Department to become the applications manager. Since this position, he has been recognized as a leader in DSP technology both within TI and throughout the industry. Frantz received his BSEE from the University of Central Florida in 1971, his MSEE from Southern Methodist University in 1977, and his MBA from Texas Tech University in 1982. Frantz is a Fellow of the Institution of Electric and Electronics Engineers. He holds 30 patents in the area of memories, speech, consumer products and DSP. He has written more than 50 papers and articles and continually presents at universities and conferences worldwide. Frantz is also among DSP experts widely quoted in the media, due to his tremendous knowledge and visionary view of DSP. Speak & Spell is a trademark of Texas Instruments Incorporated. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on VLSI Design (VLSI’03) 1063-9667/03 $17.00 © 2003 IEEE