The Visconti2 (TMPV7500) series of image recognition processors

The TMPV7506XBG incorporates Toshiba’s original image processing accelerators suitable for human recognition and can detect pedestrians in the day in addition to conventional detection at night. Support for colour cameras allows recognition of both tone and colour of target objects, enabling recognition of traffic lights and signs. As it can connect up to four sets of cameras simultaneously, the TMPV7506XBG is also applicable for ‘bird’s-eye view’ parking assistance systems that use images synthesized from image data captured by multiple cameras.

The Visconti2 series also includes the TMPV7504XBG, which supports up to two colour cameras. This IC is suitable for forward monitoring systems where it can simultaneously detect multiple targets including vehicles, lanes and traffic signs.

Toshiba will start sample shipments of the new series in November this year, and mass production in September 2012.The company intends to expand its global image recognition processor business by enhancing these devices for industrial and consumer applications alongside automotive applications.

Background
In line with the expansion of advanced driver assistance systems and digital signage, the market for image recognition processors is expected to grow to 75 to 100 billion yen in fiscal 2015, which is about 1.5 to 2 times the market size in fiscal 2010 [2]. Toshiba commercialized an image recognition processor, Visconti, in 2004, which is incorporated in in-vehicle equipment for recognizing pedestrians at night and in surveillance cameras. The Visconti2 (TMPV7500) series offers enhanced performance.

Main Features of the New Products
1. Incorporating Toshiba’s original Image processing accelerators for human recognition The TMPV7506XBG of the Visconti2 series incorporates Toshiba’s original image processing accelerators using HOG (Histogram of Oriented Gradients) features, enabling real-time pedestrian detection both at night and in the day. HOG features are suitable for detection of humans due to their robustness against lighting changes and small deformations.
2. Support of high-resolution colour cameras Whereas Visconti supports greyscale cameras, the Visconti2 series also supports high-resolution colour cameras with up to 1.3 million pixels. As well as improving the object recognition rate, the new products are suitable for applications requiring colour recognition, such as detection of traffic lights and signs.
3. Up to 4 cameras (TMPV7506XBG) Up to four cameras can be simultaneously connected to the MPV7506XBG (compared with three for the previous Visconti series). This makes it suitable for a bird’s-eye view parking assistance system that uses images synthesized from image data captured by four cameras.
4. High-performance image recognition at low power consumption The first-generation Visconti incorporated only three sets of MPE (media processing engine) operating at 0.15 GHz and one image processing accelerator. Visconti2 incorporates four sets of MPE operating at 0.266 GHz, and up to six image processing accelerators, enabling object detection with enhanced performance. The new processors with operating frequency of 0.266 GHz achieve computing performance equivalent to that of
processors of 3 GHz class for notebook PCs and realize low power consumption.