Volume 86 (May 13, 2009)

Elly's Investigative Journal (2): Reporting from Barcelona: Image Processing LSI chip "CE143" for mobile phone cameras — The role of semiconductors in the hottest home appliances

Hi, it's me, Elly. The semiconductor I'll be reporting on today is the "CE143," an image processing system LSI chip for capturing images on a mobile phone that are as clear as those offered by digital still cameras.

I'm reporting from Spain, the country of passion. But why overseas? I mean, it's only my second entry, right?!
Actually, I came all the way from Japan to report on the CE143 image processing system LSI chip, which is on display at the Mobile World Congress 2009 (MWC), the world's largest wireless communication exhibition, held in Barcelona from February 16 to 19. Believe me, I'm not here for sightseeing!

Of course, there are lots of great attractions in Barcelona, like the Sagrada Família church, which is the legacy of the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí, not to mention Spanish food, and the famous soccer team FC Barcelona. So although I would have loved to go out and see all these sites, I immediately headed for my main objective: the MWC2009 Exhibition, where the CE143 Camera Engine was waiting for me.

MWC2009 included exhibits of the latest mobile phones, communication devices, and services from all over the world. Nearly overwhelmed by the many fascinating exhibits that I passed, I arrived at the NEC booth where the CE143 was waiting. Already, the CE143 exhibit was surrounded by people, people, and more people.

It had generated so much attention that it was even getting TV news coverage.

The most distinctive feature of the CE143 image processing LSI chip for mobile phone cameras is that it allows you to take pictures using your mobile phone that are just as clear and beautiful as the photos you take with a digital still camera. With this camera engine, you can take pictures with a resolution of 12 million pixels, or full high definition (Full-HD) video at 1,920 × 1,080 pixels. That's the highest resolution ever achieved in the industry. 12 million pixels! Full-HD! And all on a mobile phone! I get goose bumps just thinking about it, but that's not all. It also offers image stabilizer, face detection and smile detection functions.

It also features an IP core with single-frame super-resolution technology written up in a Web magazine article, which supports tons of functions that you'd only expect to find on a digital still camera, like functions for reducing the graininess during the magnification process of digital zooming, and generally improving the clarity of your photos and videos without optical zoom components attached. It's hard to believe that they could fit so many functions into this one tiny semiconductor. The CE143 itself doesn't have lens and sensor, so it has to be used in combination with a lens module equipped with a CMOS sensor and a motor driver for the lens (see Figure 1).

As soon as I got to the booth, I saw a demonstration of the CE143 Camera Engine's capabilities. Well, actually, it wasn't a demonstration of a mobile phone camera; the demo used an evaluation kit comprising a development board equipped with a CE143, a camera module, a PC for controlling the image processing, and an image monitor. It was a little cumbersome, but the performance is the same as when CE143 is actually installed in a mobile phone. This demo was to measure the degree of a smile. The image on the monitor was a regular high definition image (1,280 × 720 pixels), and it was so clear that I could hardly believe it was taken using a mobile phone camera. Suddenly, squares appeared around the faces of the presenter and the customers. It seems that the "smile level" can't be measured if the subject is facing sideways, but as long as the subjects were facing the camera, the system detected the faces accurately and in real time — even the presenter, who was in the background, so his face was smaller. The smile level was displayed in the top left corner of the screen, as "SMILELEVEL xx%". I actually saw a "100% smile" displayed.

One of the other demonstrations showed how the system could detect five faces in real time. When I saw these demos, I was reminded of how incredible this CE143 really is. I get really excited when I think that mobile phones equipped with CE143 will be on the shelves in the mobile phone shops in just a little while.

NEC Electronics collaborates with partner companies not only in developing LSI chips, but also in providing development support; for example, with image tuning. With this reliable support structure in place, developers who are really busy, or who are struggling with tuning operations, can relax and focus on their own development tasks.

Mobile phones just keep on evolving. If your next mobile phone has a camera function that can take really cool pictures, you can bet that the CE143 is probably hard at work behind the scenes.

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