Santa Clara, California-based Integrated Information Technology Inc has unveiled the Vision Processor, a video compression device that the company says addresses multiple compression standards. The Processor has a programmable architecture which the company says can execute the Joint Photographic Experts Group standard for still-images, CCITT H.261 for video communications and Motion Picture Experts Group standard for high quality full-motion video. And the processor can be programmed through microcode to support evolving standards as they are revised, future standards as they emerge and proprietary algorithms or other OEM requirements. The device is also designed for stacking in parallel, to support larger screen sizes, higher resolutions and wider communications bandwidths. In communications applications such as video conferencing and picture phone, Integrated claims, the Vision Processor is the only device that can perform real-time encode-decode using the Px64 (H.261) standard for up to 2,000-to-one compresssion ratios of full-motion video at 30 frames per second. In addition, the processor enables a single hardware subsystem to handle different types of images for still-image capture and manipulation, quality video playback and editing, real-time motion video capture and video communications. Another target application for the processor is in colour laser printers and scanners where the device can be embedded as a compression co-processor. A JPEG-only version of the device is offered as an accelerator for full-colour, still-image applications. Currently the Vision Processor is designed into a video-conferencing codec offered by San Jose, California-based Compression Labs Inc. (According to the Boston, Massachusetts-based Yankee Group, Compression Labs has over 50% of the videoconferencing market). Compression Labs uses Integrated’s Vision Processor in its new Rembrandt II/VP to provide full-duplex video compression. The Vision Processor is manufactured in 1.0-micron CMOS and is available in versions with 20MHz and 33MHz clocks. The processor costs $60 for the JPEG-only version, and $150 for complete JPEG, CCITT Px64 and MPEG support.
