NEC Electronics has introduced the µPD9245GJ, an ASSP (application-specific standard product) to address the divergence between the image resolution of the past days and the high resolution of present day's AV (audio-visual) display systems. Based on the company's single-frame super-resolution technology, the small, low-power ASSP reduces the blurring that occurs when low resolution images are expanded and displayed in high resolution. The ASSP sharpens out-of-focus images, smoothes rough edges and refines contours by analysing and processing information contained in one frame of data in real time. Using standard video interfaces for data input and output, designers can easily integrate the ASSP into a wide variety of consumer, industrial, medical and automotive devices that handle images and video. The super-resolution technology is available as an IP (intellectual property) core that can be embedded into ASICs or other ASSP products for digital AV devices. Using this ASSP, clearer images can be achieved quickly, easily and economically.
The ASSP consumes 0.9W of power at a resolution of 60frames/s for 1280x1024pixels SXGA (super extended graphic array) resolution. It has a resolution of 60frames/s for 1366x768pixels HDTV. The ASSP contains a built-in I2C bus for register setting and a JTAG support. The product has 144 pins and is offered in a LQFP (low-profile quad flat package). The product operates in -40 to +70ºC temperature range and requires 3.3V power supply for I/O and 1.5V supply for the core.
The super-resolution technology enables high resolution processing with one frame of image data. Reducing the processing load eliminates the need for expensive, external high-capacity memory, such as DDR (double data rate) SDRAM, thereby reducing power consumption and simplifying connections to existing systems. The technology enhances image data from QVGA (quarter video graphics array) resolution (320x240pixels) to wide VGA (WVGA) resolution (800x480pixels) for clear image display on mobile phones and car navigation systems.
Uses of this ASSP include shooting photos and video on lower resolution digital cameras and other devices, playing them back as high resolution images and enabling the consumer to capture more images using the same amount of memory. When 1Gbyte of memory is used, the super-resolution technology allows about 34 minutes of video to be shot in a standard 4Mbyte resolution mode, which would be similar to a 17 minute video shot using an 8Mbyte high resolution mode. Alternatively, scanning with low resolution sensors and rendering the image in high resolution shortens the scanning time and reduces the system costs.
