Performance Comparison of Camera Interface Methods in a Mobile Handset

As we enter the 3G world, the new mobile handsets are challenged to show more and more functions. In order to process high-resolution image, the high-speed data transfer technology that was originally used in communication system or server system started to be adopted in mobile handsets. In this paper, we describe and compare some technologies for high-speed data transfer between camera and ISP focusing on the specifications in the physical layer. Most of these technologies are based on the serial interface and they show excellence in terms of power, bandwidth and EMI in comparison to the conventional parallel interface based on the LVCMOS technology. To verify this fact, this paper presents comparison of the SMIA interfaced camera module and the traditional parallel interfaced camera module.