Samsung Post Linux Patches For Trinity NPU Accelerator Driver

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Samsung Post Linux Patches For Trinity NPU Accelerator Driver

Samsung has posted a set of Linux kernel patches for enabling their Trinity neural processing unit (NPU) hardware as accelerators found within some of their embedded systems. Samsung Trinity NPUs have been in use since 2018 and their newer Trinity "TRIV2" accelerator is found within the latest Samsung TVs for AI purposes. Samsung hopes to upstream this new Linux driver simply named "trinity" into the mainline kernel...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Samsung-Trinity-NPU-Linux-AI

[coder]

I wonder if they're using it for low-level processing, like motion interpolation, or just to spy on their users (which Samsung famously got busted for doing, in their camera-enabled smart TVs, years ago).

[RedEyed]

I wonder if they're using it for low-level processing, like motion interpolation, or just to spy on their users (which Samsung famously got busted for doing, in their camera-enabled smart TVs, years ago).

I'm working at Samsung Electronics, and there is team near my working place that utilizes this NPU (not to spy, they analyze on screen video stream to give user more features).

[Developer12]

I wonder if they're using it for low-level processing, like motion interpolation, or just to spy on their users (which Samsung famously got busted for doing, in their camera-enabled smart TVs, years ago).

What a pointlessly nasty comment in response to a company posting an open driver and userspace for cutting-edge tech.

The obvious use is for video compression/decompression, which is also explicitly stated in the article. Pretty much all secret-sauce streaming (eg. netflix) is or has moved to neural-network feature driven compression. Decompression using those neural networks to a 4K image size requires some serious horsepower.

[Jumbotron]

I wonder if they're using it for low-level processing, like motion interpolation, or just to spy on their users (which Samsung famously got busted for doing, in their camera-enabled smart TVs, years ago).

We live in a Surveillance Capitalism world. For better or worse. Even the autocratic world is capitalist to a high degree and already a Surveillance State. This is why you have so many free and cheap computing, entertainment and consumerist options. Doesn't excuse Samsung, or LG or Vizio or Sony or Google (ahem). But you have no privacy. None. Only mitigations. So now let me give you a pro tip if you are concerned with your TV spying on you or for that matter your laptop or phone.

A little swatch of electrical tape. Cheap and cheerful.

[Paradigm Shifter]

We sold privacy for convenience and laziness.

But wait until the camera is behind the screen, like they're currently trying with phones. Then no easy blocking.

[coder]

What a pointlessly nasty comment in response to a company posting an open driver and userspace for cutting-edge tech.

1. How is it pointlessly nasty? Samsung was already busted for spying on people watching its TVs, and they're not alone: https://thehackernews.com/2015/02/smart-tv-spying.html
2. Unless and until they provide access to something with this NPU, I will assume the userspace contribution is merely to satisfy the requirement for submitting GPU drivers. It's likely a case just like that of Tesla, where they're upstreaming stuff to alleviate their own burden of maintaining out-of-tree patches, without any intention of anyone but themselves actually using it.

The obvious use is for video compression/decompression, which is also explicitly stated in the article.

In fact, nowhere does the article mention compression/decompression. They give some examples of what it might be used for, but don't actually say. That leaves open the possibility that it's processing the feed from the camera and watching the TV's users rather than processing the displayed image content.