DIGITAL CAMERA USING PROGRAMMED PARALLEL COMPUTER FOR IMAGE PROCESSING FUNCTIONS AND CONTROL

摘要

A digital camera apparatus includes a sensor that generates image data. The apparatus further includes a parallel processor to process the sensed image data. Programmed parallel computing circuitry accomplishes compute-intensive image processing functions on the generated image data. Using semiconductor-efficient programmed parallel computing structures, the ratio of performance to hardware cost is maximized in the digital imaging apparatus, while enabling a great degree of functional flexibility and product diversity both within and across digital imaging product categories. In particular embodiments, the programmed parallel computing structures are instruction-cached SIMD computers.