The 1997 TI DSP Solutions Challenge Contest Rules and Conditions Teams must be composed of no more than five (5) students total and one (1) advising professor. Each team member must be eighteen (18) years of age or older to participate. To be eligible to compete, each TI DSP Solutions Challenge team must read and complete this entire entry form and supply the following information: Agree to create and submit an original design using a Texas Instruments DSP Solution. Accept and abide by all conditions and rules of the contest and fulfill all contest requirements. Complete fully and accurately all required information and return by the entry deadline a signed entry form. Submit a single page resume and completely filled team member information form for each team member and the teams advising professor which contains biographical, educational, and employ ment information as well as awards, honors, and publications. The contest begins October 1, 1996 and ends October 31, 1997. No final design submissions will be accepted after October 31, 1997. Individual students may participate on more than one team, and teams may submit multiple entries. For each separate entry, however, each entrant must comply with all rules and conditions of the contest and must complete and sign a separate entry form with all requested information. Use of a TI TMS320 DSP in the contest design is required. Entry forms and design submissions will be accepted in English only, except where prohibited by law. In those countries where English is prohibited, the entry form and design submission must be made in the official language of the country. With each entry form, the team must submit no more than a 250 word description (abstract) of its design, including a title and the type of TI TMS320 DSP used in the design, a single page resume for each team member and the team advising professor, as well as, a completely filled team member information form. There are NO ENTRY FEES. Entry forms must be submitted to the TI DSP Solutions Challenge contest organizer NO LATER THAN July 31, 1997. No teams will be allowed to participate if their entry form is not received by that time. Each team which submits an entry form will receive for the chosen family of TI TMS320 DSP the following within 30 days of receipt of the entry: Technical data books and other data for TIs family of TMS320 Digital Signal Processors and Mixed-Signal Devices. Sample application notes. *Note: No patent, copyright or licenses are granted to any of the publications supplied by TI to the teams or to the sample application notes. Each team, however, may refer to or incorporate any of the ideas or product information provided in such publications and applications, in their design submissions. PARTICIPANTS DO NOT RECEIVE BY WAY OF OR UNDER THE CONTEST ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN ANY COPYRIGHTS, PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, TRADE NAMES, TECHNOLOGY, TRADE SECRETS, OR KNOW-HOW OF TI OR ANY THIRD PARTY. All final contest designs must be submitted to the TI DSP Solutions Challenge contest organizer according to the requirements of the rules and must be RECEIVED NO LATER THAN October 31, 1997 AT THE LOCAL TI CHALLENGE CONTEST TERRITORY HEADQUARTERS OFFICE, LISTED IN RULES AND CONDITIONS. No design submissions will be considered if they are not received by that time. Participants will not be allowed to change or supplement their design submissions once they have been received by TI. All contest design submissions must consist of the following: A report which describes a TI TMS320 DSP application. The report must be in HARD COPY and ELECTRONIC FORMATS (ASCII or Microsoft Word; no postscript), and cannot exceed ten (10) pages. Anything after ten (10) pages may not be read. Follow complete style guide information. A hard-copy paper schematic of the design application or electronic file in Orcad. Final contest design submissions must be consistent with the abstract on the teams entry form. All entrants and advising professors agree to follow and abide by the design requirements and judging criteria. All entrants and advising professors warrant and represent that all contest design ideas and applications submitted to Texas Instruments are entirely original and that they are the owners of all interests in and rights to such designs. This representation is a requirement of participation in the contest. By their signature to the entry form, all entrants and advising professors represent and guarantee to TI that there is no third party of any kind, whether an academic institution, commercial company, individual, or governmental legal entity which has any proprietary or other interest in, claims or rights to, any intellectual property rights, including trade secret, "know-how", copyright, patent, trademark or trade name, in any designs submitted under the contest. All entrants and advising professors agree, and by their signature to the entry form represent and guarantee to TI, that there are no obligations of any nature, legal or otherwise, which would prohibit, restrict, or interfere with their participation in the contest, submission of their contest design or team member information. All entrants and advising professors agree to obtain any necessary clearance or approval from their academic institution for participation in all contest activities and any such approvals which are required as a condition of participation. No confidential relationship is established between Texas Instruments and the entrants and advising professors as a result of entering the TI DSP Solutions Challenge. None of the information submitted by the participants will be treated by Texas Instruments as trade secrets, confidential information, or as protected data under any obligation. To protect participants intellectual property rights, (and our ability to publish the contest design submissions), all entrants and their advising professors agree to be bound by the contest requirements for licensing of non-exclusive rights. Ownership of the design ideas and contest design submissions (hereinafter Designs) shall remain with the entrants and their advising professors. All entrants and advising professors hereby grant Texas Instruments Incorporated and its corporate subsidiaries (hereinafter TI) a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, and royalty-free license to use the Designs in, or as part of, TI DSP products or products containing or utilizing TI DSPs, to modify the Designs for such uses, and to publish the Designs for such uses by TI or by customers of TI under all applicable intellectual property rights related to the Designs, including but not limited to, patents, trade secrets, copyrights (including all moral and statutory copyrights), and trademarks. To the extent additional documents or actions are required under local law for an effective license to these rights, title, and interests for commercial purposes, all entrants and advising professors agree to fully cooperate in executing such further documents and in taking such further actions as are necessary. In such cases, all entrants and advising professors agree that commercialization license rights shall become effective upon completion of further required actions. There shall be nine (9) first-round semi-final prizes of US $1000, three (3) second-round finalist territory prizes of US $9,000 and one (1) worldwide grand prize of US $90,000 awarded as described herein. The advising professor of the worldwide grand prize winning team shall receive a US $15,000 prize or such sum shall be donated to the educational institution designated by the professor in the entry form. Taxes (United States federal, state and local and, any foreign) and other obligations are solely the responsibility of the winners. Prizes and travel reimbursement for the worldwide grand prize team may be subject to reporting for tax and other purposes. Winners agree to supply Texas Instruments with any information necessary for tax reporting purposes and to cooperate with TI in fulfilling all applicable legal requirements. The entrants and advising professors of any team whose design is chosen for consideration for any award level or prize, as a condition of award, may be required to submit further information concerning employment and residence. Also, as a condition of award, they may be required to sign or execute other documents necessary to ensure non-exclusive license rights to TI, for such designs. The non-exclusive license to TI of intellectual property rights, as described herein is free of charge and without remuneration of any kind. All entrants and advising professors agree that the opportunity to compete for prizes, receive publicity, and to increase ones understanding of TI products represents full and adequate consideration for license of these rights by all participants. Prizes do not represent fixed-sum monetary remuneration for the licensing of intellectual property and rights in design submissions. All entrants and advising professors grant Texas Instruments the right to publicize any information provided on the entry form, their design entry or team member information in whatever manner TI wishes without reservation or recompense. In certain countries, due to local requirements, it may be necessary for entrants and their advising professors to execute, in addition to this entry form, certain other documents for license of intellectual property rights, prior to any publication of the full design submission. In those countries, TI will make appropriate arrangements. Entries and design submissions may eventually be published in Texas Instruments or third-party publications. Reimbursement of reasonable travel expenses, which are only offered to the three (3) finalist teams and advising professors, require submission of sufficient documentation of the expenses. In order to be eligible for the grand prize award, finalist teams must be present at final judging. TI will not reimburse entrants or advising professors for any costs incurred or for efforts expended in connection with their participation in the contest. Such costs are the responsibility of the participants. NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY. In some participating countries, teams may receive a TI TMS320 DSP in order to comply with local legal requirements. This includes a DSP chip, not a development board. These countries are indicated in the country listing on this form. TI is not responsible for any legal requirements governing any purchases made by the teams in connection with the contest. Each team member must be enrolled in an accredited educational institution as a full-time student at all times during participation on the team and must ensure in writing at the time of entry and submission of the design that he/she is in fact a full-time student. Decisions by the contest judges are final. Judges names will be published to the participating teams. Employees of Texas Instruments and their immediate families are prohibited from entering this contest. The contest shall be considered void where, and to the extent, prohibited by law. Texas Instruments reserves the right to use information regarding contestants and advising professors for future mailings. Judges for the contest will be fully competent and are required to be fair and impartial. Names of the contest judges will be published. The contest is offered and participation is limited to only those participating countries indicated on this form. TI will notify all teams in a timely manner if their application is not accepted for any reason. Any teams whose design submissions do not qualify for any reason will be notified by TI. All entries and final contest design submissions which meet contest requirements will be accepted and shall compete in the contest. No entries or final design submissions will be returned to participants, regardless of whether they are accepted. All entries and final design submissions become the property of Texas Instruments Incorporated and its corporate subsidiaries. No team member who withdraws after the entry is submitted and before final design submission may be replaced. Each team must notify TI promptly if any team member withdraws. All prizes shall be awarded to all team members jointly and severally who have not withdrawn at time of final contest design submission. No prize money is designated for the advising professor, except for the US $15,000 prize that will be awarded to the advising professor of the worldwide grand prize winning team. All students on winning teams, regardless of whether they enter and subsequently withdraw, are responsible for dividing prize money awards among themselves and agree that they have no claim or course of action, and hereby waive all rights to file any judicial or administrative proceeding against TI or its corporate subsidiaries. THE CONTEST AND ITS RULES AND CONDITIONS SHALL BE GOVERNED BY THE LAW OF THE STATE OF TEXAS AND UNITED STATES FEDERAL LAW. EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION TO DECIDE AND HEAR DISPUTES SHALL BE WITH ANY US FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT FOR DALLAS OR HOUSTON, TEXAS. If any aspect of the contest or any rule or condition be found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or void, participants agree to allow TI to change such provision and, upon notice, to make it valid. Also, in such case, the remaining contest provisions shall remain in full force and effect and the contest shall proceed accordingly. The first-round semi-final winners will be notified by February 28, 1998, the second-round finalist winners by March 31, 1998 and the worldwide grand prize winner by May 31, 1998.