Hand held image capture device with multi-core processor for facial detection
View Patent ↗A hand held image capture device that has a camera with an image sensor to capture a scene viewed by the camera and, a central processor having multiple processing units and an image sensor interface integrated onto a single chip. The image sensor interface is configured to receive data from the image sensor and the multiple processing units being configured for processing in the data. The processing of the data includes detecting faces within the scene.
1. An electronic device, comprising:
an image sensor to capture a scene; and
a central processor having multiple processing units and an image sensor interface, the image sensor interface being configured for receiving data from the image sensor, and the multiple processing units being configured for processing the data based on image processing instructions that are stored in a memory and correspond to a signal that is associated with a bit pattern based on pixels;
wherein the image processing instructions are associated with detecting faces within the scene.
2. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the central processor is configured to detect faces using hue and local feature analysis.
3. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the central processor further comprises an input FIFO (first in, first out) for receiving data from the image sensor interface and inputting the data to the multiple processing units, and an output FIFO for receiving processed data that is output from the multiple processing units.
4. The electronic capture device according to claim 1 , wherein the central processor further comprises a crossbar switch for interconnecting each of the multiple processing units.
5. The electronic device according to claim 3 , wherein the central processor further comprises a central processing unit and a data bus connecting the central processing unit to the input FIFO and the output FIFO, the central processing unit providing a processing core to operatively control the multiple processing units.
6. The electronic device according to claim 5 , wherein the central processor further comprises a data cache to store the processed data until required by the central processor unit.
7. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the image processing instructions are further associated with one or more processing tasks selected from:
rotating the data from the image sensor;
color converting the data from the image sensor; and
dithering the data from the image sensor.
8. The electronic device according to claim 3 , wherein the central processor further comprises a plurality of interfaces for transmitting the processed data to functional components within the electronic device.
9. The electronic device according to claim 5 , wherein each of the multiple processing units includes a RAM (random access memory) for microcode written by the central processor unit to operatively control the multiple processing units.
10. The electronic device according to claim 8 , wherein one of the plurality of interfaces comprises an input interface for input of instructions to the central processor.
11. The electronic device according to claim 8 , wherein one of the plurality of interfaces is a scanner interface for receiving scanned image data of an image encoding the image processing instructions in a machine readable form.
12. The electronic device according to claim 3 , further comprising a display, wherein the processed data is displayed on the display.
13. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the image processing instructions comprise a script.
14. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the central processor is configured to decode the bit pattern based on pixels to generate the image processing instructions.
15. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the multiple processing units and the image sensor interface are integrated onto a single chip.
16. A processor, comprising:
a first interface for receiving data from an image sensor;
a second interface for receiving a signal that is associated with a bit pattern based on pixels; and
a plurality of processing units for processing the data received by the first interface based on image processing instructions that correspond to the signal that is associated with the bit pattern based on pixels, wherein the image processing instructions are associated with detecting faces within a scene corresponding to the data.
17. The processor according to claim 16 , further comprising a display interface for outputting processed data output by the plurality of processing units to a display.
18. The processor according to claim 16 , wherein the bit pattern based on pixels is decoded to generate the image processing instructions.
19. The processor according to claims 16 , further comprising a memory, wherein the image processing instructions are stored in the memory as a script.
20. The processor according to claims 16 , wherein detecting faces within the scene is based on hue and local feature analysis.