computer science

Imagination Creator

Imagination Creator is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Imagination Creator rather than just read about it. In short: Creator is a family of single-board computers developed by Imagination Technologies to promote educational research and software development based on the MIPS architecture. The first board in the platform, the Creator Ci20, was released in August 2014.

Key takeaways

Imagination Creator belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Imagination Creator to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Imagination Creator from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Creator is a family of single-board computers developed by Imagination Technologies to promote educational research and software development based on the MIPS architecture. The first board in the platform, the Creator Ci20, was released in August 2014. A second development kit called Creator Ci40 was introduced through a Kickstarter campaign in November 2015.

Hardware

Creator Ci20 The Creator Ci20 board is based on an Ingenic JZ4780 mobile-class application processor, which contains a dual-core 1.2 GHz MIPS32 CPU with 32k I&D L1 cache and 512k L2 cache and an IEEE754 Floating Point Unit, coupled with a PowerVR SGX540 GPU. This processor supports MXU, a 32-bit SIMD extension. In addition, the board provides:

8 GB of flash and 1 GB of DDR3 SDRAM memory Video playback up to 1080p AC97 audio, via 4-pin input/output jack and HDMI connector Camera interface – ITU645 controller Connectivity – 10/100 Mbit/s Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 HDMI output up to 2K resolution 2 x USB – host and OTG 14-pin EJTAG connector 2 x UART, GPIO, SPI, I2C, ADC, expansion headers

Creator Ci40 The Creator Ci40 board is based on a cXT200 chip optimized specifically for IoT applications which contains a dual-core, dual-threaded 550 MHz MIPS interAptiv CPU with 32k I&D L1 cache and 512k L2 cache and an IEEE754 Floating Point Unit coupled with an Ensigma C4500 Wi-Fi radio processor. In addition, the board provides:

512 MB of NAND flash memory and 256 MB DDR3 SDRAM 1 x micro SD card 802.11b/g/n/ac 2x2 Wi-Fi, 802.15.4 6LoWPAN dedicated chip, Bluetooth 4.1 (Classic + Smart, respectively) Dedicated TPM chip 1 x RJ45 Ethernet port 1 x 3.5mm input/output jack, 1 x S/PDIF input/output connector 32 x GPIO, 2 x mikroBUS i/f, 4 x PWM, 1 x SPI, 2 x UART, 2 x I2C, 5 x ADC, expansion headers, 14-pin EJTAG connector, 9 x indicator LEDs (7 x I/O, 1 x MCU), 1 x micro USB 2.0 OTG

Software All Creator boards support the Creator IoT Framework, an open source software package based on the LWM2M protocol developed by the Open Mobile Alliance.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Imagination Creator

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Imagination Creator claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Imagination Creator before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Imagination Creator ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Imagination Creator

In research: Imagination Creator appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Imagination Creator in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Imagination Creator is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Computer science education in the United Kingdom, Educational hardware, Linux-based devices, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Imagination Creator outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Imagination Creator in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Imagination Creator means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Imagination Creator out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Imagination Creator in simple terms?

Why does Imagination Creator matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Imagination Creator?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Imagination Creator.