2D to 3D video conversion IC

EDN Europe, 20 Dec 2010

Dialog Semiconductor’s DA8223, is a real-time 2D to 3D video conversion chip for portable devices including smartphones and tablet PCs. It includes a parallax barrier screen driver that lets users view 3D content without the need for glasses. The IC analyses each 2D video frame and creates a layered depth map, isolating foreground and background objects. From this, each original image pixel is mapped into left and right eye pixels that, when viewed through a parallax barrier filter on the display module, renders the 3D image directly. The DA8223 integrates the complete 3D conversion process: unlike software-based solutions, there is no extra load on the host application processor and no external memory requirement. Dialog says that you need minimal software development and that the chip uses a tiny fraction of the battery and compute power software-based approaches. The device supports still images and video at 60 fps, in portrait and landscape formats. You can use it with 3D capable displays from 3.8-in. smartphones up to 10-in. tablet PCs. It will also work with any display equipped with a parallax barrier filter including OLED and the latest TFT displays from Sharp. You can mount the 5x5 mm, 81-ball UFBGA package on the PCB, between the application processor and 3D display, or on the display module as a chip-on-flex.