Imagination Technologies extends POWERVR I2P Interlace-to-Progressive scan converter IP core family

November 25, 2008 -- Imagination Technologies, a leader in System-on-Chip Intellectual Property (SoC IP), announces POWERVR I2P261 and I2P280 de-interlacers. These latest versions of Imagination's broadcast quality interlace-to-progressive scan converter technology deliver substantially improved image quality, without silicon area penalty. Both cores are available for licensing from Imagination now and are already in design with Imagination's lead partners.

The POWERVR I2P261 core, based on Imagination's many years of experience in this area, achieves quality close to that of a full motion compensated solution but requires approximately a quarter of the silicon area by utilizing Imagination's unique, patented gradient compensation engine. POWERVR I2P280 also includes an advanced hybrid motion compensation engine to give motion compensated deinterlacing for specific motion patterns. This results in further improved quality of progressive output frames for a small silicon area overhead.

The cores are an ideal solution for converting 1080i broadcast video to match the full HD, 1080p displays commonly available today. The cores also ensure the maximum detail is extracted from SD interlaced images to create a progressive image that is the perfect starting point for HD display. POWERVR I2P261 and I2P280 minimise the introduction of artefacts and maximise the image quality enjoyed by consumers of HD displays – whatever the image source.

Consumers will benefit from POWERVR I2P261 and I2P280's ability to significantly reduce the 'jaggies' seen with traditional de-interlacers – creating smooth edges even when the motion is complex and fast moving and ensuring no artefacts such as colour smearing or weave patterns are present. Imagination's patented gradient algorithm ensures that the processing of diagonal edges is accurately traversed along the edge rather than crossing through it, resulting in superior image quality. Gradient compensation is performed both spatially within fields and temporally across multiple fields guaranteeing that all motion is accurately modelled.

In order to ensure perfect reconstruction of frames from progressive film material that has been interlaced, the core include a sophisticated cadence detection engine, that detects 3:2 and 2:2 pull down cadences as well as six others that are less frequently encountered.

Equally importantly, both POWERVR I2P261 and I2P280 cores also include a detector for mixed video/film material, as well as a 'bad-edit' detector. Other key benefits include: enhanced visual quality verified with a wide range of interlaced content; processing of any resolution up to high definition 1080i streams; low host CPU processing requirements; low power consumption; and compact silicon area. The core also includes sophisticated noise reduction techniques, to minimise any Gaussian noise present on the input, without reducing the video quality, whilst retaining all the original detail. The core can be configured in either 8-bit modes for optimising core area, or in 10-bit mode, for use with high quality video processing paths.

All POWERVR I2P IP cores come complete with a complete software driver incorporating a single easy to use application programming interface (API). The driver is supplied as ANSI C source code, enabling quick and easy porting to a wide range of operating systems and host CPU architectures.

Applications for the core include: Digital TV (DTV), Set-Top Boxes (STB), Blu-ray players, SD DVD and up-scaling DVD Players, Personal Video Recorders (PVR), streaming media players and digital video cameras. The low power and compact area of the core means this core is also suitable for use in portable devices where increasingly there is demand for the capability to output quality images to HD displays. POWERVR I2P261 & I2P280 are ideal partners for Imagination's POWERVR VXD family of multi-standard video decode accelerators.

About Imagination Technologies

Imagination Technologies Group plc (FTSE:IMG) – a leader in semiconductor System on Chip Intellectual Property (SoC IP) – creates and licenses market-leading embedded graphics, video and display accelerators, multi-threaded processors and multi-standard receiver technologies. These IP solutions are complemented by dynamic and extensive developer and middleware ecosystems. Target markets include digital radio and audio; mobile phone multimedia; personal media players (PMP); in-car navigation and driver information; personal navigation devices (PND); Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) and Mobile Internet Device (MID); digital TV & set-top box; and mobile TV. Its licensees include leading semiconductor and consumer electronics companies, as well as innovative leading edge start-up and fabless semiconductor companies. Imagination has corporate headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and R&D offices worldwide. See: www.imgtec.com.