VL6524/VS6524
System architecture
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The whole system is controlled by an embedded microprocessor that is running firmware
stored in an internal ROM. The external host communicates with this microprocessor over
an I2C interface. The microprocessor does not handle the video data itself but is able to
control all the functions within the video pipe. Real-time information about the video data is
gathered by a statistics engine and is available to the microprocessor. The processor uses
this information to perform real-time image control tasks such as automatic exposure
control.
3.1.1
Video pipe
The main functions contained within the VL6524/VS6524 video processing pipe are as
follows.
Gain and offset:
This function is used to apply gain and offset to data coming from the
sensor array. The required gain and offset values result from the automatic exposure and
white balance functions from the microprocessor.
Anti-vignette:
This function is used to compensate for the radial roll-off in intensity caused
by the lens. By default the anti-vignette setting matches the lens used in this module and
does not need to be adjusted.
Crop:
This function allows the user to select an arbitrary Window Of Interest (WOI) from the
VGA-sized pixel array. It is fully accessible to the user.
Defect correction:
This function runs a defect correction filter over the data in order to
remove defects from the final output. This function has been optimized to attain the
minimum level of defects from the system and does not need to be adjusted.
Demosaic:
This module performs an interpolation on the Bayer data from the sensor array
to produce an RGB image. It also applies an anti-alias filter.
Subsampler:
This module allows the image to be sub-sampled in the X and Y directions by
2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.
Matrix:
This function performs a color-space conversion from the sensor RGB data to
standard RGB color space.
Sharpening:
This module increases the high frequency content of the image in order to
compensate for the low-pass filtering effects of the previous modules.
Gamma:
This module applies a programmable gain curve to the output data. It is user
adjustable.
YUV conversion:
This module performs color space conversion from RGB to YUV. It is
used to control the contrast and color saturation of the output image as well as the fade to
black feature.
Dither:
This module is used to reduce the contouring effect seen in RGB images with
truncated data.
Output formatter:
This module controls the embedded codes which are inserted into the
data stream to allow the host system to synchronize with the output data. It also controls the
optional HSYNC and VSYNC output signals.