The META is a 32-bitmultithreadedmicroprocessor developed by Metagence Technologies Division from Imagination Technologies.[1] First version of META were developed in 2001 as META-1 multithreaded DSP core aimed for audio, radio and video processing.[2] META HTP core family was announced in 2007 and is based on META-2 architecture.[3][4] META is designed to support between one and four independent hardware threads, which typically operate concurrently on separate tasks. Despite the shared processing resources, each execution unit maintains a local register state, an execution pipeline, and a program counter (PC) for each thread to accommodate multiple thread contexts.[5]
META family consists of Meta HTP applications processors (400–700 MHz on 65L – 65G process[3]), META MTP Embedded Processors and Meta LTP Embedded Microcontrollers.[6]
In 2018 March, LWN.net reported that Imagination Technologies redirected its focus away from Meta after its purchase of MIPS Technologies in 2012. This has led to a proposal on Linux development mailing lists to remove support for the architecture from the kernel which became effective with the release of Linux 4.17 in June 2018.[10][11]
