A systems approach to custom VLSI for a digital color imaging system

An analysis of system requirements is presented that guides the design of a chip set that provides all the required functionality and control for single-sensor color imaging systems. The first device is a color filter array (CFA) processor that processes the single stream of sparse color information from an unconventional CFA pattern and produces a full-resolution color image in real time. The second chip is a red, green, and glue (RGB) processor that improves the image quality of the reconstructed RGB data by performing black-level adjustment, color matrixing, gamma correction, and edge enhancement, again in real time. The third device is a timing controller with an architecture specifically suited to imaging systems. The chips are algorithm specific, and the algorithms, architectures, and design methodology are detailed. The chip set is readily applicable to slide and negative film-to-video converters, electronic still cameras, and component or composite video cameras. It is capable of operation with NTSC, CCIR 601, and PAL/SECAM video standards.<
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