Qualcomm Incorporated

Nelson Rasquinha

Venkat Rangan

Alok Govil

Evgeni Petrovich Gousev

Jacek Maitan

Edwin Chongwoo Park

Raghuraman Krishnamoorthi

Hae-Jong Seo

Soo Youn Kim

Apparatuses, methods, and systems are presented for reacting to scene-based occurrences. Such an apparatus may comprise dedicated computer vision (CV) computation hardware configured to receive sensor data from a sensor array comprising a plurality of sensor pixels and capable of computing one or more CV features using readings from neighboring sensor pixels of the sensor array. The apparatus may further comprise a first processing unit configured to control operation of the dedicated CV computation hardware. The first processing unit may be further configured to execute one or more application programs and, in conjunction with execution of the one or more application programs, communicate with at least one input/output (I/O) device controller, to effectuate an I/O operation in reaction to an event generated based on operations performed on the one or more computed CV features.

Single-processor computer vision hardware control and application execution

Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for image processing and utilization are presented. In some embodiments, an image containing at a face of a user may be obtained using a mobile device. An orientation of the face of the user within the image may be determined using the mobile device. The orientation of the face of the user may be determined using multiple stages: (a) a rotation stage for controlling a rotation applied to a portion of the image, to generate a portion of rotated image, and (b) an orientation stage for controlling an orientation applied to orientation-specific feature detection performed on the portion of rotated image. The determined orientation of the face of the user may be utilized as a control input to modify a display rotation of the mobile device.

Multiple orientation detection

Techniques disclosed herein utilize a vision sensor that integrates a special-purpose camera with dedicated computer vision (CV) computation hardware and a dedicated low-power microprocessor for the purposes of detecting, tracking, recognizing, and/or analyzing subjects, objects, and scenes in the view of the camera. The vision sensor processes the information retrieved from the camera using the included low-power microprocessor and sends 'events' (or indications that one or more reference occurrences have occurred, and, possibly, associated data) for the main processor only when needed or as defined and configured by the application. This allows the general-purpose microprocessor (which is typically relatively high-speed and high-power to support a variety of applications) to stay in a low-power (e.g., sleep mode) most of the time as conventional, while becoming active only when events are received from the vision sensor.

Low-power always-on face detection, tracking, recognition and/or analysis using events-based vision sensor

An apparatus includes a hardware sensor array including a plurality of pixels arranged along at least a first dimension and a second dimension of the array, each of the pixels capable of generating a sensor reading. A hardware scanning window array includes a plurality of storage elements arranged along at least a first dimension and a second dimension of the hardware scanning window array, each of the storage elements capable of storing a pixel value based on one or more sensor readings. Peripheral circuitry for systematically transfers pixel values, based on sensor readings, into the hardware scanning window array, to cause different windows of pixel values to be stored in the hardware scanning window array at different times. Control logic coupled to the hardware sensor array, the hardware scanning window array, and the peripheral circuitry, provides control signals to the peripheral circuitry to control the transfer of pixel values.

Apparatus and method for low-power object-detection in images using computer vision feature computation hardware

Scanning window for isolating pixel values in hardware for computer vision operations

Techniques describe computing computer vision (CV) features based on sensor readings from a sensor and detecting macro-features based on the CV features. The sensor may include a sensor element array that includes a plurality of sensor elements. The sensor may also include in-pixel circuitry coupled to the sensor elements, peripheral circuitry and/or a dedicated microprocessor coupled to the sensor element array. The in-pixel circuitry, the peripheral circuitry or the dedicated microprocessor may include computation structures configured to perform analog or digital operations representative of a multi-pixel computation for a sensor element (or block of sensor elements), based on sensor readings generated by neighboring sensor elements in proximity to the sensor element, and to generate CV features. The dedicated microprocessor may process the CV features and detect macro-features. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the dedicated microprocessor may be coupled to a second microprocessor through a wired or wireless interface.

Feature computation in a sensor element array

Apparatus and method for low-power object-detection in images using image integration hardware

Apparatus and method for low-power object-detection in images using hardware scanning window

In rate matching and interleaving in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, use of a circular buffer following interleaving may be avoided by reading out interleaved data directly from the interleaver in a manner which matches an expected output from a circular buffer. The read out data may be rate matched according to instructions from upper layers. The order in which the data is read out is configured to match the expected rate matched output from a circular buffer. In this manner use of a circular buffer may be avoided, resulting in saved memory costs.

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Nelson Rasquinha