Samsung licenses imaging IP from Apical

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, through its System LSI division, has licensed Apical Ltd imaging IP. Samsung will use Apical's iridix IP core in its imaging products.

Apical's iridix IP provides dynamic range correction that mimics the way the human eye adapts to different lighting environments. When integrated into a camera imaging pipeline, it produces more natural, vivid images and video under a wide range of shooting conditions.

Most cameras cannot capture satisfying images under uneven lighting conditions, such as when the subject is in shadow, or at times of the day when the eye strongly adjusts the perceived image to compensate for changes in the quality of light. Conventional auto and manual exposure algorithms find such scenes difficult to balance, often resulting in images with weak contrast and incorrect exposure of shadows and highlights.

The iridix IP applies adaptive tone mapping locally to each pixel of each frame, resulting in images which closely resemble the perception of the original scene by the photographer.

The iridix IP core version 7 combines professional/broadcast -level image quality with compact, low-power hardware implementation suitable for any digital imaging device.

Michael Tusch, CEO of Apical said "We are delighted that Samsung has chosen to add Apical's iridix core into its IP portfolio. Since Samsung has such a strong position in several imaging markets, we believe that this will significantly increase the number of end users who can take better pictures using our technology."