A 30 frames/s megapixel real-time CMOS image processor

Real-time motion pictures providing image quality superior to that of standard video in terms of resolution and color fidelity are often required. In many applications, e.g., in biomedicine or machine vision, only cameras with a single charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor can satisfy the stringent space requirements. Reconstruction of the RGB image from the CCD with Bayer color filter array (CFA) requires an extremely high computation effort if reasonable frame rates and artifact-free interpolation quality is to be achieved. An application specific IC (ASIC) performs this task for 1024 by 1024 pixels at 30 frames per second. Pixelwise black-current and white-gain balancing, color space transformation, and focus criterion calculation in real-time are additional functions of this chip.