Prototype 3-D image coprocessor uses Cell Processor SPEs

Prototype 3-D image coprocessor uses Cell Processor SPEs

Notebook PCs integrating the Toshiba SpursEngine coprocessor were used in a recent demonstration of the chip’s capabilities in 3-D image processing at CEATEC JAPAN 2007. Designed to take the capabilities of Cell Processor technology into consumer electronics, and to take video processing to new levels of realism and image quality, the coprocessor integrates four Cell Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs), plus hardware dedicated to decoding and encoding MPEG-2 and H.264 video.

The demonstration featured real-time transformations of hairstyles and makeup that instantaneously recognize and process changes in position, angle, and facial expression, and render them as computer graphics. The laptop’s camera puts the users face on the screen, and the user can then manipulate styles and makeup as he or she chooses, in real time. Dubbed “Facemation,” it makes those changes in the image in 3-D, allowing the user to check the look from different angles.

Also shown was an application that can process motion detected by a camera and turn it into commands to control a DVD player. The camera can detect hand motions from 10 ft away. The prototype SpursEngine operates at 1.5 GHz and consumes 10 to 20 W. No dates for production of the chip were given. For more, contact Toshiba at http://www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm.

Jim Harrison