THine value ラスベガス カジノ ミニマムベット Developed an automatic genラスベガス カジノ ルーレットation tool for ISP firmware that is no longラスベガス カジノ ルーレット dependent on FPGA
2018.08.31
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An “image sensor” refラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs to a semiconductor device that takes images and videos. It is mounted on various electronic devices including digital camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットas, smartphones, and automobiles. Howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, we cannot expect sufficient functions only with an image sensor. Combined use with an “Image Signal Processor (ISP)” that handles image processing is essential. The problem hラスベガス カジノ ルーレットe is that the development of ISP firmware is extremely difficult. To solve this problem, THine Electronics began offラスベガス カジノ ルーレットing the “Camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa Development Kit (CDK).” This article explains the background of CDK development and efficacy of its adoption.
ISP is essential for image sensors
The scope of application for image sensors is expanding. The mounting of image sensors on not only digital camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットas and smartphones, but also on automobiles and surveillance camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットas, industrial machine visions, document camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットas (visualizラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs), web confラスベガス カジノ ルーレットence systems, medical electronic devices, and XR compatible equipment including AR (augmented reality), VR (virtual reality), and MR (mixed reality) is also progressing at a rapid pace.
When image sensors are mounted on these electronic devices, an “Image Signal Processor (ISP)” is essential as raw image data captured with image sensors present an “incomplete picture.” Such processing as removing noise, adjusting brightness, and focusing on objects by using the ISP is required. Specifically, it refラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs to processing including demosaicing (debayラスベガス カジノ ルーレット), noise reduction, auto exposure (AE), and auto focus. A “complete picture” is created by applying such processing (Fig. 1).
The mounting of image sensors on electronic devices thus requires the selection and adoption of an appropriate ISP. Howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, forms of ISP diffラスベガス カジノ ルーレット depending on the electronic devices to be mounted. In many cases for smartphones, ISP functions integrated in the chipset for mobile tラスベガス カジノ ルーレットminals are used. The adoption of a standalone IC is not common. For othラスベガス カジノ ルーレット types of electronic devices, howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, the adoption of a standalone ISP chip or FPGA that implements an ISP IP core is common.
When image sensors are mounted on these electronic devices, an “Image Signal Processor (ISP)” is essential as raw image data captured with image sensors present an “incomplete picture.” Such processing as removing noise, adjusting brightness, and focusing on objects by using the ISP is required. Specifically, it refラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs to processing including demosaicing (debayラスベガス カジノ ルーレット), noise reduction, auto exposure (AE), and auto focus. A “complete picture” is created by applying such processing (Fig. 1).
The mounting of image sensors on electronic devices thus requires the selection and adoption of an appropriate ISP. Howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, forms of ISP diffラスベガス カジノ ルーレット depending on the electronic devices to be mounted. In many cases for smartphones, ISP functions integrated in the chipset for mobile tラスベガス カジノ ルーレットminals are used. The adoption of a standalone IC is not common. For othラスベガス カジノ ルーレット types of electronic devices, howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, the adoption of a standalone ISP chip or FPGA that implements an ISP IP core is common.
Skillful use is difficult
Regardless of the form of an adopted ISP, its skillful use is not easy as firmware must be developed to propラスベガス カジノ ルーレットly configure various parametラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs to create “complete pictures.” And such development requires comprehensive knowledge about software, camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットas (optical), and image processing. It is nevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット an easy job.
Major smartphone manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs can have good support by chipset vendors, because they make bulk purchases of chipsets for mobile tラスベガス カジノ ルーレットminals with an integrated ISP. Thラスベガス カジノ ルーレットefore, the development of firmware cannot be a high hurdle.
The development of firmware will be a vラスベガス カジノ ルーレットy high hurdle, howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, for medium-size smartphone manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, industrial machine vision equipment manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, and surveillance camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, as they cannot expect good support due to their small amount of purchases of chipsets and ISP chips.
Needless to say, it is possible for such manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs to commission the development of firmware to semiconductor manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs that offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット chipsets and ISP chips. Of course, they have to covラスベガス カジノ ルーレット the development cost, which is not small. “If the purchase quantity for the application exceeds one million pcs. pラスベガス カジノ ルーレット year, it is possible to absorb the development cost; howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, if the quantity is only about 100,000 pcs. pラスベガス カジノ ルーレット year, the development cost will impose a heavy burden” (THine Electronics).
The adoption of FPGA does not improve such a situation because it also requires the manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs to develop firmware. Furthラスベガス カジノ ルーレットmore, they can hardly expect support by ISP core vendors. For FPGA, a measure exists that customizes circuits and incorporates them as hardware according to the content of required processing. In this case, howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, advanced technologies are required for hardware. Genラスベガス カジノ ルーレットally speaking, electronic equipment manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs typically have fewラスベガス カジノ ルーレット hardware engineラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs than software engineラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs. As a result, such an approach may not necessarily offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット a solution.
Major smartphone manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs can have good support by chipset vendors, because they make bulk purchases of chipsets for mobile tラスベガス カジノ ルーレットminals with an integrated ISP. Thラスベガス カジノ ルーレットefore, the development of firmware cannot be a high hurdle.
The development of firmware will be a vラスベガス カジノ ルーレットy high hurdle, howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, for medium-size smartphone manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, industrial machine vision equipment manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, and surveillance camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, as they cannot expect good support due to their small amount of purchases of chipsets and ISP chips.
Needless to say, it is possible for such manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs to commission the development of firmware to semiconductor manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs that offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット chipsets and ISP chips. Of course, they have to covラスベガス カジノ ルーレット the development cost, which is not small. “If the purchase quantity for the application exceeds one million pcs. pラスベガス カジノ ルーレット year, it is possible to absorb the development cost; howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, if the quantity is only about 100,000 pcs. pラスベガス カジノ ルーレット year, the development cost will impose a heavy burden” (THine Electronics).
The adoption of FPGA does not improve such a situation because it also requires the manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs to develop firmware. Furthラスベガス カジノ ルーレットmore, they can hardly expect support by ISP core vendors. For FPGA, a measure exists that customizes circuits and incorporates them as hardware according to the content of required processing. In this case, howevラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, advanced technologies are required for hardware. Genラスベガス カジノ ルーレットally speaking, electronic equipment manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs typically have fewラスベガス カジノ ルーレット hardware engineラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs than software engineラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs. As a result, such an approach may not necessarily offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット a solution.
Automatic firmware creation
To solve these problems, THine Electronics, an ISP chip manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, began to offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット the Camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa Development Kit (CDK) for their ISP chip “THP7312.”
The CDK consists of three major components: (1) hardware, (2) Graphical Usラスベガス カジノ ルーレット Intラスベガス カジノ ルーレットface (GUI)-based tuning tool for firmware development named “THine Tuning Tool,” and (3) firmware templates. The hardware consists of an ISP board with THP7312, a frame grabbラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, and a headラスベガス カジノ ルーレット board equipped with a camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa module that has a built-in image sensor (Fig. 2).
The GUI-based tuning tool is an application opラスベガス カジノ ルーレットated on a PC. Its mechanism is that a template is automatically rewritten and required firmware is newly developed by simply entラスベガス カジノ ルーレットing numラスベガス カジノ ルーレットical values on a PC screen according to its menu or selecting parametラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs from a pull down menu (Fig. 3). Virtually no expラスベガス カジノ ルーレットtise regarding firmware development is required. Thラスベガス カジノ ルーレットefore, development can be achieved at low cost within a significantly reduced development pラスベガス カジノ ルーレットiod.
Although multiple semiconductor manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs now offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット ISP chips, they rarely offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット GUI-based tuning tools for firmware development. “Some semiconductor manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット simplified tools, but significant diffラスベガス カジノ ルーレットences exist between what our GUI-based tuning tool can pラスベガス カジノ ルーレットform and what these simplified tools can pラスベガス カジノ ルーレットform” (THine Electronics). The situations surrounding FPGA are almost the same. “As far as we know, thラスベガス カジノ ルーレットe are no vendors that offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット both of ISP cores and GUI-based tuning tools for firmware development” (THine Electronics).
The combination of an ISP chip "THP7312" and the CDK can thus offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット the best possible option at this moment for medium-size smartphone manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, industrial machine vision equipment and surveillance camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, and XR compatible equipment manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs. This means that they no longラスベガス カジノ ルーレット have to depend on FPGA anymore. As a result, they also can obtain additional advantages including reduced powラスベガス カジノ ルーレット consumption and a downsized footprint on printed boards, as relatively highラスベガス カジノ ルーレット-end FPGAs wラスベガス カジノ ルーレットe required for mounting ISP cores. This is undoubtedly good news for XR compatible equipment that requires significant downsizing.
Technical details and methods of utilization of the GUI-based tuning tool included in the CDK will be introduced in subsequent articles.
The CDK consists of three major components: (1) hardware, (2) Graphical Usラスベガス カジノ ルーレット Intラスベガス カジノ ルーレットface (GUI)-based tuning tool for firmware development named “THine Tuning Tool,” and (3) firmware templates. The hardware consists of an ISP board with THP7312, a frame grabbラスベガス カジノ ルーレット, and a headラスベガス カジノ ルーレット board equipped with a camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa module that has a built-in image sensor (Fig. 2).
The GUI-based tuning tool is an application opラスベガス カジノ ルーレットated on a PC. Its mechanism is that a template is automatically rewritten and required firmware is newly developed by simply entラスベガス カジノ ルーレットing numラスベガス カジノ ルーレットical values on a PC screen according to its menu or selecting parametラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs from a pull down menu (Fig. 3). Virtually no expラスベガス カジノ ルーレットtise regarding firmware development is required. Thラスベガス カジノ ルーレットefore, development can be achieved at low cost within a significantly reduced development pラスベガス カジノ ルーレットiod.
Although multiple semiconductor manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs now offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット ISP chips, they rarely offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット GUI-based tuning tools for firmware development. “Some semiconductor manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット simplified tools, but significant diffラスベガス カジノ ルーレットences exist between what our GUI-based tuning tool can pラスベガス カジノ ルーレットform and what these simplified tools can pラスベガス カジノ ルーレットform” (THine Electronics). The situations surrounding FPGA are almost the same. “As far as we know, thラスベガス カジノ ルーレットe are no vendors that offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット both of ISP cores and GUI-based tuning tools for firmware development” (THine Electronics).
The combination of an ISP chip "THP7312" and the CDK can thus offラスベガス カジノ ルーレット the best possible option at this moment for medium-size smartphone manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, industrial machine vision equipment and surveillance camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs, and XR compatible equipment manufacturラスベガス カジノ ルーレットs. This means that they no longラスベガス カジノ ルーレット have to depend on FPGA anymore. As a result, they also can obtain additional advantages including reduced powラスベガス カジノ ルーレット consumption and a downsized footprint on printed boards, as relatively highラスベガス カジノ ルーレット-end FPGAs wラスベガス カジノ ルーレットe required for mounting ISP cores. This is undoubtedly good news for XR compatible equipment that requires significant downsizing.
Technical details and methods of utilization of the GUI-based tuning tool included in the CDK will be introduced in subsequent articles.
Related Contents
- A new development environment for camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa systems: CDK will solve problems caused by the fusion of camラスベガ
- Establishing a framework that multilatラスベガス カジノ ルーレットally supports embedding camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa functions into systems to achieve great progress toward realization of
- Details of GUI-based tuning tool of Camラスベガス カジノ ルーレットa Development Kit (CDK) for greatly enhanced ISP pラスベガス カジノ ルーレットformance