ISP News

Recently there was a slew of ISP news toward 2010 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Here is the recap of some of the recent announcements:

Silicon Image announced that it uses Tessera’s FotoNation FaceTracker solution in its camerIC-18MP ISP. The camerIC-18 ISP IP core integrates the Lightweight Hardware Face Detector (LHFD) version of the FotoNation FaceTracker version. The LHFD version is a mixed hardware / software implementation that is said to detect up to 10 faces in the camera viewfinder in 0.1 seconds.

Tessera also reported it has licensed FaceTracker solution to SK Telesys. SK Telesys, based in Seoul, Korea, will integrate the Tessera(R) technology into its 3G-enabled handset, the W-Phone (SK-700).

NEC introduced its new Camera Engine 151 (CE151) SoC , an image-processing device for camera phones. The new SoC also enables full-HD (1080p) video stream and still-image data up to 13 MP. The new SoC has an improved noise-reduction function that "offers the latest generation 1.1-micron sensors to record still images and video frames". In 2007, NEC launched the CE131 SoC, which provided the 8MP mobile-phone market segment with accumulated shipments exceeding 30 million units. NEC also introduced the CE143 SoC in 2009, which enabled processing of 12MP images and full HD video.

PR NewsWire: Toshiba announced availability of new bridge chip for use in mobile phones, s MIPI camera serial interface (CSI) to a Mobile Display Digital Interface (MDDI) chip. The TC358740XBG camera bridge chip provides connectivity for MIPI cameras to baseband or application processors using an MDDI interface and supports up to two cameras, with the primary camera (up to 12MP) using a MIPI link and the secondary camera (up to 2MP) using a MIPI link or parallel port. Engineering samples are available now with mass production scheduled for Q4, 2010.