MAY 2--Silicon Video Inc. (SVI; San Jose, CA; www.silicon-video.com) has unveiled its svW1 image-processor chip. This single chip is an image-warping engine that enables manufacturers of high-end image-acquisition and display systems to warp images dynamically in real time. Image-warping technology precompensates for distortions and deficiencies in optical systems. Available in a 480-pin BGA package, the chip also can provide special video effects such as "page turns" and real-time video mapping.
To demonstrate the chip's performance, a live video warping application was set up using a commercial S-video camera focused on a spherical mirror. The setup illustrated the "unwarping" of a 180° field of view in horizontal and vertical directions. Both "before,", or spherically related, and "after, " or corrected image-warping, images of the camera's field of view were displayed on flat-panel monitors. The corrected view showed the chip's capabilities as it unwarped the spherically acquired live video onto a flat field.
Adds Steve Wood, SVI vice president of sales and customer support, "The chip can zoom and pan in software by selecting a segment of the input image and expending it. It also can be used to digitally correct projection on curved surfaces and programmed to adapt to changing warp requirements for every output frame." Applications for the image-warping chip include security and surveillance, projection systems, automotive head-up displays, medical imaging systems, and streaming video.
