1394 Trade Association Press

1394 TRADE ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE

New IIDC Specification for Machine Vision, Surveillance Products, Set by 1394 Trade Association’s Industrial Working Group

Improves Bandwidth Efficiency, Image Buffer Functionality, Adds Look-up Table, Little-endian Mode

Dallas and Stuttgart, Germany, Oct. 27, 2008 -- The 1394 Trade Association today introduced Version 1.32 of the IIDC 1394-based Digital Camera Specification, adding several new features designed for the machine vision and surveillance markets.

Developed by the 1394 Trade Association’s Industrial Working Group, the new specification will be introduced at VISION 2008 at the Neue Messe Stuttgart, Germany, November 4-6.

The first improvement is look-up-table support using a simple table access method that can provide multiple channels for use with color video pixel data. For example, a lookup table with three channels could be applied to RGB8 data. If the bit depth of a lookup table entry is not a multiple of 8 bits, it is padded so that an entry becomes a whole number of bytes.

Another feature of V1.32 involves image buffer functionality. Many cameras have internal frame buffers to store multiple images. A method to control the storage and transmission of images from a frame buffer is included in IIDC V1.32, representing the first time an IIDC specification has included this function, which is useful for retransmitting images acquired with an external trigger or to store images for later transmission.

Version 1.32 also improves bandwidth efficiency by accommodating 12-bit per pixel transport mode, which coincides with the capabilities of almost all digital cameras. Transferring 12-bit data using a 16-bit mode has until now been necessary, but does not use bandwidth efficiently.

Also included is Little-endian mode. Prior versions of the IIDC specification use Big-endian encoding, which accommodates the high byte first, enabling16-bit per component pixel formats. IIDC V1.32 adds a mode where these formats are transferred in Little-endian encoding (low byte first). This simplifies camera implementations for many image sensors and imaging architectures.

IIDC V1.32 also addresses a handful of challenges that became apparent as designers implemented the previous version of the specification in software.

“IIDC is critical for the vision market, and since every industrial 1394 camera now is compliant with IIDC, it’s easy for system integrators to pick the optimum camera for their needs. This new version provides significant improvements and enhances the benefits of a standardized protocol,” said James Snider, 1394 Trade Association executive director.

IIDC V2.0 Now in Progress

The Industrial Working Group also has begun work on IIDC V2.0, which represents a ground-up redesign of the specification designed to simplify the construction of 1394-based industrial cameras significantly. Version 2.0 also reduces the required memory space significantly. The new proposed architecture also makes it much easier for a PC to detect the individual features of a particular camera over the bus.

Work on IIDC V2.0 is a joint effort between the1394TA and the Japanese Industrial Imaging Association. IIDC V2.0 is expected to be available by the end of 2009.

The 1394 Trade Association is a worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement of the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) standard. The 1394TA recently celebrated its 13th year of promoting 1394 and its one billionth 1394 port shipped. FireWire is used today in mass-market computer, entertainment, and professional products, and in a wide range of specialty applications such as music, defense, aerospace, industrial, and robotics products. For more information, visit www.1394ta.org

More information
Dick Davies
IPRA@mindspring.com
415 652 7515

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