Super-resolution Core Development

Overview

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Development of core technology to upconvert SD size (analog TV) videos on the Cell/B.E. to HD size.
HD contents have started to enter the market as HDTVs and HD LCD monitors have become commonplace in households, however there are still vast amounts of SD contents available. We are developing a real-time high quality super-resolution upconversion process, which has not been possible until now, that will allow these legacy contents to be played back beautifully in HD by utilizing the Cell/B.E. processing power.

Comment

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The defining aspect of this project is that we are starting from scratch and get to build everything from the ground up. We have started from not having had any experience in image processing or knowing anything about super-resolution algorithms.
As for super-resolution, generally speaking, it is a technology that “combines multiple consecutive frames to increase the resolution”. We started by researching dissertations on super-resolution, but there were fewer dissertations available than our initial expectation and they were highly specialized, so that was our first major hurdle. In the first month we implemented and tested multiple algorithms according to these dissertations, and then in the next month we developed our original algorithm based on the capabilities of the Cell/B.E.
Algorithm development sounds like an information technology process, but in reality engineering and physics knowledge such as the Fourier transform and the wavelet transform as well as basic algebra and statistics are also used as tools. We had to study what we didn’t know initially, so this project gave us a chance to study such subjects after entering the company, which was an ideal environment that recognized this work. Also, it was very interesting and rewarding to conceive algorithms by utilizing our Cell/B.E. hardware knowledge.
The goal is a simple one, to upconvert beautifully, but the difficulty lies in creating a product that is better than existing products. When better than expected results are obtained through trial and error, the excitement made us want to boast to the people around us.