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Did not see much reference to the cost implications of the various IP
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Glad you looked into that. So, a rough guide is as follows:
1. All the IPs which are included under the list "Altera Megafunction library elements" are free.
2. IPs from Third-party vendors are not free
3. Altera Communications, DSP, Embedded Processor and Interfaces IPs are not free except for certain functions like FIR filter (which wasn't free a few years back but now comes bundled with QII) for which it is better that you consult an Altera representative.