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Faroudja Labs was a San Francisco based IP and research company founded by Yves Faroudja. Faroudja Labs should not be confused with Faroudja Enterprises, Yves Faroudja's latest venture. Faroudja specialized in video processing algorithms and products. Its technologies for deinterlacing and inverse telecine have received great acclaim within the consumer electronics industry and have been widely used in many electronic devices, such as TV sets, set top boxes and video processors. Efforts by Faroudja generated more than 65 patents and provided technology licenses to consumer electronics companies, and helped receive three Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards (one for advanced encoding techniques, a lifetime achievement for Yves Faroudja and one for HDTV upconversion used in network broadcast applications),〔(Emmy Award Info )〕〔 as well as numerous other awards. Since 2007, the Faroudja brand and all associated video processing IPs are part of STMicroelectronics, an international semiconductor company, who now uses the technology in System-on-Chip (SoC) products. == History == Faroudja Inc. was founded by Yves and Isabel Faroudja in 1971, specializing in video quality improvement, particularly for VCRs, and soon became an acknowledged leader in this field. By 1973, their patents were licensed by various household names in the consumer electronics and broadcast industries. Faroudja was notable for co-development of the Hi-8 and S-VHS standards in 1987-1988. In the 1980s, the company developed technologies for the deinterlacing of NTSC signals, including motion adaptive processing algorithms. In 1989 Faroudja invented and patented film mode detection, also known as inverse 3:2 pulldown detection. Faroudja was the only company in the world that had the ability to detect the original frames of film within the video stream and reconstruct an accurate image, free of motion artifacts containing full vertical resolution. In 1991 the company created the first professional grade line doubler (480p) (deinterlacer) which incorporated this technology, for use with large CRT projectors used in Hollywood screening rooms and large home theaters. The highly acclaimed LD1 Line Doubler takes standard definition signals and converts them to higher resolutions with improved image quality, free of the usual NTSC artifacts (cross-color and cross luminance). At the same time, Faroudja started manufacturing products based on the same technologies, including adaptive comb filters and video quality improvement products for use with Sony’s U-Matic video recorders. This technology was a key factor in the growth of the home theater industry. Faroudja’s adaptive comb filter technology was recognized with a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in 1991.〔http://www.emmyonline.org/tech/applications/engineering_award_winners_rev8.pdf〕 Improvements in display device technologies drove the requirement for more advanced video processing and scaling. This included the introduction of a new product type called the VP400 Line Quadrupler (480i upconverted to 960p). In 2000 Faroudja introduced the industry’s first line doubler for HDTV (1080i upconverted to 1080p). The LD1, the VP400, the DVP5000, DVP3000 and Native Rate Series have made Faroudja the benchmark by which all other video processing is compared. For his lifetime’s work, Yves Faroudja was awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Emmy in Technology and Engineering, presented in 1998.〔(1998 Emmy Engineering Award winners )〕 The Digital Format Translator (DFT) was introduced in 1998 as a standard definition to high definition converter (480i upconverted to 720p or 1080i) for broadcast TV stations.〔( Business Wire, March 27, 1998 - Faroudja, Inc. Presents New Line of Digital Format Translators For Broadcasters )〕 This processor won Faroudja Labs a third Emmy award in 2001 for the efforts in HDTV processing.〔〔(Faroudja Awarded Third Emmy by National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences )〕 As TVs began to make the transition from analog CRTs to digital fixed-pixel displays Display resolution, Faroudja Labs made the transition from manufacturing complete systems to designing integrated circuits for use in TV and other video products. In 2000, Faroudja was acquired by Sage, Inc.〔(SAGE Acquisition of Faroudja (SEC Info) )〕 which in turn was acquired by Genesis Microchip in 2002. Faroudja’s growth in integrated circuits expanded with design-wins in various consumer electronics products such as DVD players, projectors, AV Receivers and TVs. These companies often promoted the DCDi by Faroudja logo, displaying it on products for differentiation and to identify advanced video processing. Beginning in 2005, a strategic alliance was established with Meridian Audio to manufacture and distribute the Faroudja video processor systems. Today, Meridian markets various video processors exclusively under the Meridian name. In 2007, Genesis Microchip, and its Faroudja technology, was acquired by STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor company with revenues over $9.8 billion in 2008. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Faroudja」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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