Atmel Ships 16 Megapixel Digital Camera Processor Chip.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2000 Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq:ATML ATML Automatic Test Markup Language ATML Automated Test Markup Language ) today announced the immediate availability of its MPIX MPIX Mpi Extension MPIX Mega Pixel 1 single chip digital camera processor. The chip, first sampled in June of this year, supports up to 16 megapixel CCD CCD in full charge-coupled device Semiconductor device in which the individual semiconductor components are connected so that the electrical charge at the output of one device provides the input to the next device. and CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. type imagers. Production is now ramping up in support of two major customers, one with a digital camera consumer product and the other with an industrial application. MPIX 1, which is the first of a family of products, is the most highly integrated camera engine in the market and requires fewer support chips than any other competitive product currently available. Based on an ARM 7 processor that controls the entire chip, the digital camera processor provides a large number of hardware features including DSP functions for imager processing, baseline JPEG JPEG in full Joint Photographic Experts Group Standard computer file format for storing graphic images in a compressed form for general use. JPEG images are compressed using a mathematical algorithm. compression/decompression, interfaces for all Flash cards, full speed USB USB in full Universal Serial Bus Type of serial bus that allows peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, digitizers, data gloves, etc.) to be easily connected to a computer. interface and UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter) The electronic circuit that makes up the serial port. Also known as "universal serial asynchronous receiver transmitter" (USART), it converts parallel bytes from the CPU into serial bits for transmission, and vice for PC camera applications, as well as direct interfaces to UNIPAC, and EPSON EPSON Son of Electronic Printer LCDs. The processor IC is cost effective enough to support medium quality consumer cameras, and is powerful enough to support the highest image quality required in professional and industrial cameras. In addition to high quality still pictures, the chip has movie mode options which include single shot and freeze mode, programmable size imager window and programmable size movie window through decimation DECIMATION. The punishment of every tenth soldier by lot, was, among the Romans, called decimation. and zooming. The powerful MPIX 1 image processor provides smear correction, color recovery, gamma correction, RGB-to-YC and YC-to-RGB conversion, saturation control plus luminance enhancement and chroma gain. Atmel's Director of Multimedia and Communications Products, Nick Kanopoulos remarked, "It takes still pictures, it displays video, it records/plays back voice memos and it is simply the most integrated camera processor in the market today." The ARM 7 processor has readily available third party development tools. In addition, Atmel provides an OEM Development kit at a cost of $15,000, this emulates the entire camera and contains a CCD modual plus the board with access to all interfaces. The MPIX 1 product is offered for sale in the USA, Europe and parts of Asia at a price of $15 in high production volumes. About Atmel Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with manufacturing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Irving, Texas; Grenoble, Nantes and Rousset, France; and Heilbronn, Germany. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets on a worldwide basis advanced logic, mixed-signal, non-volatile memory, and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system level integration semiconductor solutions using advanced CMOS, BiCMOS, Bipolar and SiGe process technologies. Atmel product and financial information are available from its Fax-on-Demand service. In North America call 800/292-8635 or Internationally, call 408/441-0732. Requests may be made via e-mail to literature@atmel.com or by visiting Atmel's web site at www.atmel.com. Note to Editors: Atmel, the Atmel logo and combinations thereof and others contained herein, are trademarks of Atmel Corporation. Terms and product names in this document may be the trademarks of others. |
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