Point Grey and Fresco Logic Unveil World’s First USB 3.0 High Definition Digital Video Camera
Point Grey, a world leader in the development of advanced digital camera systems, and Fresco Logic, a global fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops and sells USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed USB) connectivity solutions, will jointly unveil the world’s first SuperSpeed USB-enabled digital video camera at the 2009 Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. The live demonstration showcases the performance benefits of SuperSpeed USB by streaming uncompressed High Definition (HD) 1080p60 video from a Point Grey camera, equipped with a high performance Sony HD image sensor, to a USB 3.0 host controller from Fresco Logic on an ASUS P7P55D platform.
The prototype camera is designed and manufactured by Point Grey and uses the new 3 megapixel (MP) Sony IMX036 CMOS image sensor, which features high sensitivity, superior color fidelity, low power, and no smear. The sensor also supports an HD 1080p60 mode, which allows the camera to output raw, uncompressed 1920 x 1080 pixel images at 60 frames per second (FPS). Point Grey’s own software driver provides low-level control of the camera via the USB 3.0 bus. The camera is connected to a USB 3.0 interface card on the host side which is powered by the FL1000, a PCI Express to SuperSpeed USB Extensible Host Controller Interface (xHCI) host controller chip from Fresco Logic. The host PC uses an Intel i5-based P7P55D motherboard from ASUS.
“We are very excited to partner with Fresco Logic and be able to visually demonstrate the bandwidth offered by USB 3.0,” says Vlad Tucakov, Director of Sales and Marketing at Point Grey. “One of the potential benefits of the increased bandwidth of USB 3.0 is that it allows the main processor to handle compression. This means that different types of compression can be used for different applications and that some applications, like face recognition, can work on uncompressed video data for increased performance. We certainly see USB 3.0 as a key interface technology for machine and computer vision, and one we plan to integrate into future Point Grey imaging products.”
“The FL1000 provides customers with immediate and easy access to SuperSpeed USB’s impressive bandwidth, and here we see how that bandwidth can be used to address the needs of next-generation HD video streaming applications,” says Robert McVay, Chief Technical Officer at Fresco Logic. “Fresco Logic is very pleased to work with Point Grey to accelerate the adoption of SuperSpeed USB into more consumer applications, demonstrating how the FL1000 can reduce equipment vendors’ time-to-market and offer an outstanding price/performance ratio.”
“This is another key milestone for SuperSpeed USB,” says Jeff Ravencraft, Chairman of the USB Implementers Forum. “We are very pleased to see Point Grey and Fresco Logic teaming up to demonstrate true uncompressed (HD) video streaming. This demonstration gives users insight into some of the other applications that are possible with SuperSpeed USB in addition to the high-speed data transfers with external storage devices that we have seen so far.”
The world’s first SuperSpeed USB camera will be demonstrated live from September 22nd to 24th, 2009 at IDF in the Fresco Logic booth #731 inside the USB-IF Community. The demonstration will also be highlighted on September 24th during the “USB 3.0 Architecture and PHY Interface (PIPE) Specification” Session — part of the SuperSpeed USB Technology Track at IDF.
About Point Grey
Point Grey Research, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the development of advanced digital camera technology products for machine vision, industrial imaging, and computer vision applications. Based in Richmond, BC, Canada, Point Grey designs, manufactures and distributes IEEE-1394 (FireWire) and USB 2.0 cameras that are known for their excellent quality, performance, and ease of use. A broad range of hardware, software and mechanical engineering skills has allowed Point Grey to successfully bring many innovative and ground-breaking products to market. This drive for innovation has led to many industry firsts, including the first and smallest 1394b digital camera.
Since its founding in January of 1997, the company’s approach to product pricing, quality control, and customer service has attracted thousands of customers worldwide, and its organic growth through product sales has enabled the company to expand significantly without any outside investment. Point Grey currently employs more than 90 people worldwide and has a wholly-owned German subsidiary that provides sales and support services to customers in Europe, Africa and Israel. The company also has a strong network of distributors in Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, and Taiwan.
About Fresco Logic
Fresco Logic is a global fabless semiconductor company providing advanced solutions that deliver highly-efficient connectivity for next-generation consumer electronics, personal computing, storage and mobile devices. As a leader in USB 3.0, also known as SuperSpeed USB, Fresco Logic provides a comprehensive offering of silicon, software and reference designs to help system designers accelerate the adoption of USB 3.0.
