Image processing circuit and semiconductor integrated circuit

1. An image processing circuit comprising:

an input section that receives, as input, image data having pixel data of N bits (N is an integer equal to or greater than two);

an image processing section that performs pipeline processing with respect to the image data based on a clock signal; and

an output section that outputs data acquired by the pipeline processing, wherein

the image processing section comprises:

a higher-order n-bit register that receives, as input, data of higher-order n-bits among the pixel data having the image data on which the pipeline processing is performed by the image processing section;

a lower-order 1-bit register that receives, as input, lower-order 1-bit data which is different from the data of higher-order n-bits among the pixel data;

a comparison circuit that inputs an input value of the higher-order n-bit register and an output value of the higher-order n-bit register among an input value and an output value for the higher-order n-bit register and the lower-order 1-bit register, and determines whether the input value of the higher-order n-bit register and the output value of the higher-order n-bit register are identical; and

a clock gating control circuit that controls supply of the clock signal to the higher-order n-bit register such that the clock signal is not supplied to the higher-order n-bit register when the comparison circuit determines that the input value and the output value are identical, and

a pipeline register that includes no circuit which controls the supply of the clock signal to the lower-order 1-bit register and holds image data or an operation result in the course of the pipeline processing,

the image processing circuit further comprising:

a correlation level detection section that acquires a correlation level indicating a matching frequency between adjacent pixels of the image from the image data; and

a comparison processing mode control section that stops operation of the comparison circuit in a segment in which the correlation level is low.

2. The image processing circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the correlation level detection section acquires the correlation level, using one frame forming the image or a division area resulting from division of the frame, as a unit.

3. The image processing circuit according to claim 2 , wherein the correlation level detection section diverts the correlation level detected in another frame.

4. An image processing circuit comprising:

an input section that receives, as input, image data having pixel data of N bits (N is an integer equal to or greater than two);

an image processing section that performs pipeline processing with respect to the image data based on a clock signal; and

an output section that outputs data acquired by the pipeline processing, wherein

the image processing section comprises:

a higher-order n-bit register that receives, as input, data of higher-order n-bits among the pixel data having the image data on which the pipeline processing is performed by the image processing section;

a lower-order 1-bit register that receives, as input, lower-order 1-bit data which is different from the data of higher-order n-bits among the pixel data;

a comparison circuit that inputs an input value of the higher-order n-bit register and an output value of the higher-order n-bit register among an input value and an output value for the higher-order n-bit register and the lower-order 1-bit register, and determines whether the input value of the higher-order n-bit register and the output value of the higher-order n-bit register are identical;

a clock gating control circuit that controls supply of the clock signal to the higher-order n-bit register such that the clock signal is not supplied to the higher-order n-bit register when the comparison circuit determines that the input value and the output value are identical; and

a pipeline register that includes no circuit which controls the supply of the clock signal to the lower-order 1-bit register and holds image data or an operation result in the course of the pipeline processing, wherein

the image data includes left-eye image data and right-eye image data of a stereo image, and

the image processing section comprises:

a left-eye image processing section that performs the pipeline processing on the left-eye image data; and

a right-eye image processing section that performs the pipeline processing on the right-eye image data,

the image processing circuit further comprising:

an input timing adjustment circuit that adjusts, for each pixel line, at least one of an input timing of the left-eye image data to the left-eye image processing section and an input timing of the right-eye image data to the right-eye image processing section such that the pipeline processing in the left-eye image processing section and the pipeline processing in the right-eye image processing section are performed on a corresponding pixel pair between the left-eye image and the right-eye image at a same time; and

a comparison processing mode setting section that stops operation of the comparison circuit of at least one of the left-eye image processing section and the right-eye image processing section, and that causes the clock gating control circuit of the one image processing section to use a determination result of the comparison circuit of the other image processing section.

5. The image processing circuit according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of the image processing sections provided for respective color components forming pixel data to be processed, wherein pipeline registers included in the plurality of the image processing sections have a different bit range of data to be input to the higher-order n-bit register.

6. A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising the image processing circuit according to claim 1 .