Wired: Microsoft announced the next generation of Xbox - Xbox One, featuring new Kinect based on ToF sensor. The new Kinect camera is tightly integrated now - the new Xbox does not function without it. It features 1080p30 video and is said to have a vastly improved depth camera that can even detect a heartbeat (from RGB image, it appears) (flash plugin needed):
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Nokia Lumia 920 Uses Sony Sensor
Yole Developpement and SystemPlus Consulting published a camera reverse engineering report of the new Nokia flagship phone, the Lumia 920. Its 8.7MP camera is based on Sony 1.4um BSI sensor, while most of other Nokia mobile phones rely on ST and Toshiba for rear camera imager:
The module features OIS with lens shifted in parallel to sensor and ST-manufactured gyro. DPReview quotes Juha Alakarhu talking about OIS in the 925 model, 920's sibling:
"I think we are the only in the smartphone market to it the way we are doing it. We are moving the lens so that it stays parallel to the sensor at all times, for example, not tilting it unlike some other systems, because when you are tilting it means the corners become blurry and that seriously limits the power of the optical stabilization. So I think the OIS we have is really unique and the amount of time and effort we’ve put in building it and optimizing it, I think the result is there."
The module features OIS with lens shifted in parallel to sensor and ST-manufactured gyro. DPReview quotes Juha Alakarhu talking about OIS in the 925 model, 920's sibling:
"I think we are the only in the smartphone market to it the way we are doing it. We are moving the lens so that it stays parallel to the sensor at all times, for example, not tilting it unlike some other systems, because when you are tilting it means the corners become blurry and that seriously limits the power of the optical stabilization. So I think the OIS we have is really unique and the amount of time and effort we’ve put in building it and optimizing it, I think the result is there."
Asygn Image Sensor Circuit Simulator
5 year-old CEA spin-off Asygn promises to break the speed barriers in the image sensor circuit simulation, allowing to simulate the whole image sensor circuit in reasonable time:
The company's Tactyle-MX simulator "has been used to simulate a 1.2M pixel imager device (where each pixel contained about 20 transistors) in less than 15 minutes on a basic machine using a single CPU." (The system time or accuracy numbers are not stated.)
"The most convenient way to understand the effect of pixel leakage or inter-pixel parasitics is to look at a sequence of complete images, comparing individual frames with each other and with references. Further, verification methodologies that do not include, at some point in the flow, a complete behavioural simulation based on the final netlist of a circuit run a considerable risk: if there are any errors in the extrapolation of results obtained on the test sub-circuits to the full device, then they may not be detected."
Examples of the effects that can be simulated:
The simulator is said to run on a real netlist, using the real, non-simplified, transistor models:
The company's Tactyle-MX simulator "has been used to simulate a 1.2M pixel imager device (where each pixel contained about 20 transistors) in less than 15 minutes on a basic machine using a single CPU." (The system time or accuracy numbers are not stated.)
"The most convenient way to understand the effect of pixel leakage or inter-pixel parasitics is to look at a sequence of complete images, comparing individual frames with each other and with references. Further, verification methodologies that do not include, at some point in the flow, a complete behavioural simulation based on the final netlist of a circuit run a considerable risk: if there are any errors in the extrapolation of results obtained on the test sub-circuits to the full device, then they may not be detected."
Examples of the effects that can be simulated:
The simulator is said to run on a real netlist, using the real, non-simplified, transistor models:
Monday, May 20, 2013
ISORG in Gartner's Cool Vendor List
ISORG, the maker of organic photodetectors and image sensors, announces that it has been named in the Gartner’s Cool Vendor list 2013 in Imaging and Display Devices. The list identifies innovative vendors and their products and services.
Meanwhile, the company moves toward the commercialization of its sensors. "We have launched building and installation for our mass production unit, also located in Grenoble, in different facilities than the existing pilot line," Laurent Jamet, business development and co-founder of ISORG says. "We plan mass production in volumes by the end of 2014, beginning of 2015. We have been starting international fund raising activity and are currently in discussions with several investors."
Meanwhile, the company moves toward the commercialization of its sensors. "We have launched building and installation for our mass production unit, also located in Grenoble, in different facilities than the existing pilot line," Laurent Jamet, business development and co-founder of ISORG says. "We plan mass production in volumes by the end of 2014, beginning of 2015. We have been starting international fund raising activity and are currently in discussions with several investors."
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| ISORG Organic Pixels |
Nokia Growth Partners to Keep Investing in Imaging
Nokia Conversations, the official Nokia blog, posts how Nokia Growth Partners supports imaging technology progress. Their three recent investments are Pelican Imaging, Invision and Luminate (advertising based on image content).
"It’s clear that NGP has its finger on the pulse when it comes to the latest imaging technologies then, and it’s exciting to see the trends that are developing in the smartphone camera world thanks to NGP’s investments. We can’t wait to see what’s next."
"It’s clear that NGP has its finger on the pulse when it comes to the latest imaging technologies then, and it’s exciting to see the trends that are developing in the smartphone camera world thanks to NGP’s investments. We can’t wait to see what’s next."
Gesture Recognition Startup Wins MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition
3dim earned the grand prize at this year’s MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition after successfully pitching its business plan to merge gesture-recognition and smart devices. The need for power-hungry, specialized hardware has kept gesture recognition from mobile devices — problems that 3dim has now rectified, co-founder Andrea Colaco, a PhD student at the MIT Media Lab, said during the winning pitch.
"What is the next interface [for mobile devices]? … The answer is gesture recognition," Colaco said. "Every mobile-device manufacturer is scrambling to bring gesture-recognition into their devices. This is an immediate and unaddressed market."
A Vimeo video shows 3dim pitch:
In this Youtube video dated by Jan 2012, Andrea Colaco explains how her ToF CODAC (Compressive Depth Aacquisition Camera) works:
"What is the next interface [for mobile devices]? … The answer is gesture recognition," Colaco said. "Every mobile-device manufacturer is scrambling to bring gesture-recognition into their devices. This is an immediate and unaddressed market."
A Vimeo video shows 3dim pitch:
In this Youtube video dated by Jan 2012, Andrea Colaco explains how her ToF CODAC (Compressive Depth Aacquisition Camera) works:
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Pixel Simulation Tutorial
Crosslight published a two-part video tutorial on how to use its TCAD simulator to simulate pixel (links to part 1 and part 2):
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Rambus Binary Pixel Patent Applications
WIPO published two Rambus PCT applications talking about its Binary Pixel idea:
WO2013070932 Conditional-Reset, Temporally Oversampled Image Sensor (111 pages)
by VOGELSANG Thomas, STORK David Geoffrey, LINSTADT John Eric, HARRIS James
WO2013070942 Image Sensor Sampled at Non-Uniform Intervals (74 pages)
by VOGELSANG Thomas, STORK David Geoffrey, SHEN Jie, WANG Yueyong, ALEKSIC Marko
The applications are huge and describe a lot of different pixel versions. Here are few quotes and figures giving just a taste of the Rambus' ideas:
"In various digital image sensor embodiments disclosed herein, numerous sub-diffraction-limit (SDL) pixels are clustered about an embedded sense amplifier and sensed with respect to a binary threshold to yield a collection of single-bit pixel values that can be combined to form the output of an image pixel. Because integrated-circuit (IC) process geometries permit pixel sizes below the diffraction limit of visible light, a photon striking within a SDL cluster of such "binary" pixels may activate (i.e., be detected by and exceed the threshold of) one binary pixel but not others illuminated by the same blurred source, thus decreasing the number of non-activated pixels available to detect subsequent photons from the source. Consequently, when exposed to a stationary photon flux, the rate of pixel activation slows as the exposure interval transpires (i.e., due to photons striking activated pixels), thereby yielding a logarithmic rather than linear sensitivity profile and thus a potentially much higher dynamic range than achieved through prior-art techniques (in other embodiments disclosed herein this behavior is modified while still improving dynamic range). Further, because the pixels can be scaled with decreasing process geometries, pixel densities can increase freely with process improvement, thus overcoming physical impediments faced by conventional architectures and enabling dramatically higher performance in future generations of imaging devices."
"Although theorized, hardware implementations of SDL pixels have long been deemed impractical in part because their small output voltage falls well below the noise floor imposed by the relatively long, high-capacitance path (i.e., bit line) to sense circuitry at the edge of the array. By embedding sense amplifiers within respective clusters of SDL pixels, however, and sampling the pixels as digital rather than analog data sources (i.e., sampling the pixels with respect to a binary threshold and thus as binary pixels), such noise impediments can be overcome, enabling construction of image sensors having pixel densities that scale with process improvements and superlative dynamic range."
WO2013070932 Conditional-Reset, Temporally Oversampled Image Sensor (111 pages)
by VOGELSANG Thomas, STORK David Geoffrey, LINSTADT John Eric, HARRIS James
WO2013070942 Image Sensor Sampled at Non-Uniform Intervals (74 pages)
by VOGELSANG Thomas, STORK David Geoffrey, SHEN Jie, WANG Yueyong, ALEKSIC Marko
The applications are huge and describe a lot of different pixel versions. Here are few quotes and figures giving just a taste of the Rambus' ideas:
"In various digital image sensor embodiments disclosed herein, numerous sub-diffraction-limit (SDL) pixels are clustered about an embedded sense amplifier and sensed with respect to a binary threshold to yield a collection of single-bit pixel values that can be combined to form the output of an image pixel. Because integrated-circuit (IC) process geometries permit pixel sizes below the diffraction limit of visible light, a photon striking within a SDL cluster of such "binary" pixels may activate (i.e., be detected by and exceed the threshold of) one binary pixel but not others illuminated by the same blurred source, thus decreasing the number of non-activated pixels available to detect subsequent photons from the source. Consequently, when exposed to a stationary photon flux, the rate of pixel activation slows as the exposure interval transpires (i.e., due to photons striking activated pixels), thereby yielding a logarithmic rather than linear sensitivity profile and thus a potentially much higher dynamic range than achieved through prior-art techniques (in other embodiments disclosed herein this behavior is modified while still improving dynamic range). Further, because the pixels can be scaled with decreasing process geometries, pixel densities can increase freely with process improvement, thus overcoming physical impediments faced by conventional architectures and enabling dramatically higher performance in future generations of imaging devices."
"Although theorized, hardware implementations of SDL pixels have long been deemed impractical in part because their small output voltage falls well below the noise floor imposed by the relatively long, high-capacitance path (i.e., bit line) to sense circuitry at the edge of the array. By embedding sense amplifiers within respective clusters of SDL pixels, however, and sampling the pixels as digital rather than analog data sources (i.e., sampling the pixels with respect to a binary threshold and thus as binary pixels), such noise impediments can be overcome, enabling construction of image sensors having pixel densities that scale with process improvements and superlative dynamic range."
Friday, May 17, 2013
Google WebP Stills and WebM VP9 Video Compression
VP9 open-source video codec and WebP still video compression formats were presented at Google I/O conference. VP9 is said to provide a compression ratio similar to the new H.265, but is royalty-free open source format. WebP format is said to produce 30% smaller size files than JPEG at comparable quality. A Youtube video below shows the official Google I/O presentation of WebM/VP9:
This is Google WebP video presentation from March 2013:
This is Google WebP video presentation from March 2013:
High-End Camera Modules in Tight Supply in China
Digitimes reports that supply of high-end camera modules in China has been tight since the beginning of 2013 due to strong demand from smartphones vendors including Apple, HTC, and others in Korea and Japan, according to the newspaper sources.
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