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Technical Review | January-March 2012
120 frames per second CMOS Image sensor for Super Hi-Vision (SHV) Camera
Advances are being made by the Science &Technology Research Laboratories on the Super Hi-Vision (SHV) system. A recent joint development with the Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, involved the construction of a CMOS image sensor for an SHV camera with a frame rate of 120 fps, which will allow a fast-moving subject to be clearly captured on video.
The previous SHV system could handle ultrahigh-definition video images with approximately 33 million pixels (7680 horizontal x 4320 vertical pixels) by using progressive scanning at approximately 60 frames per second. The recent enhancement doubled the frame rate; the new image sensor is for an SHV camera operating at up to 120 fps (progressive scanning).
Figure 2: Comparative experinment results
On the reception side, the decoded small video frames are up-sampled to the original resolution. STRL’s original SR technology in the up-sampler reconstructs sharp and clear video frames. As a unique feature of the reconstruction process, the video bit stream is accompanied by side information. The side information includes the optimal way of up-sampling and the locations of visually important regions, which are available by referring the original video frames on the transmission side.
120 fps CMOS image sensor for SHV system
Our newly developed devices such as a circuit that converts the analogue signal outputs from each pixel into digital signal (AD converter circuit) and a circuit to output the digital signal form the sensor (signal output circuit) have made it possible to increase the sensor’s speed of operation. This image sensor can shoot a fast-moving subject in clear, smooth, moving ultrahigh-definition images. (NHK Broadcast Technology)
Reconstructive Video Coding – A New Video Coding Paradigm with Super-resolution
Super Hi-Vision requires an extremely efficient video coding technique to compress the vast amounts of the video data to a reasonable bitrate for delivery to homes. However, conventional video codecs such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and AVC/H.264 would severely impair SHV signals with block distortions and flicker (Figure 1, top chart).
Super-resolution (SR) technologies have become practical, and some television sets now have SR functionalities built in to up-sample low-resolution videos clearly. STRL is seeking to exploit SR’s potential to restore lost textural information and is trying to combining it with a conventional video codec (core codec) under a new video coding paradigm named reconstructive video coding.
The proposed encoder first decimates the less important pixels before performing the core coding (Figure 1, bottom chart). The pixel reduction depressurizes the compression ratio at the core codec, leading to less image distortion.
An experiment was conducted to compare the subjective qualities of the video decoded by a conventional AVC/H.264 codec and video reconstructed by the proposed method at the same bitrate (Figure 2). While the conventional decoded image lost textures and showed flattened block patterns, the image reconstructed with the proposed method had a clear and natural appearance.
We will continue to improve the SR tools we are developing for SHV video coding.
(NHK Broadcast Technology) Inter BEE Show in Japan
The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) will be holding Inter BEE 2012 – now in its 48th year as a professional show for Audio, Video and Communications from November 14-16 at the Makuhari Messe in Mihama-ku, Chiba.
Inter BEE is an opportunity for broadcasting companies, equipment manufacturers and companies offering other broadcast related services to display their latest products.
A photo from Inter BEE Show 2011
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