According to a release issued by Pixim, Sony will use Pixim’s image sensor technologies and engineering design expertise to further strengthen its global design and support functions. Pixim will play an important role for Sony’s image sensor semiconductor business as a subsidiary of Sony Electronics, according to Sony.
“We are not at liberty to discuss details yet but are excited about this new endeavour,” said John Monti, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for Pixim.
Pixim’s patented Digital Pixel System technology was built on technology developed at Stanford University in the 1990s, Pixim has created an image capture and processing system that gives high quality pictures with enhanced dynamic range. This improved dynamic range raises both image quality in scenes that include both light and dark areas.
The core invention of DPS is the inclusion of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) within each pixel of the image sensor. This ADC translates the light signal into a digital value at the immediate point of capture, minimizing signal degradation and cross talk in the array – this allows for improvements in noise reduction. Once the data is captured in a digital format, a variety of digital signal processing techniques are used for optimal image reproduction.
The company’s latest chipset, the Seawolf, provides 10 times the low-light performance of previous generation security camera chip sets as well as the industry’s proven greatest wide dynamic range (WDR) and accurate color performance at half the hardware build cost. The Seawolf chip is also ideal for IP cameras. Users of IP cameras will benefit from Seawolf’s global electronic shutter, progressive scan image capture, and full D1 resolution at 30 frames per second.
