Image data storage
AssigneesSony Corporation, Sony United Kingdom Limited
InventorsSimon Matthew Manze, Morgan William Amos David, David John Hedley
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Abstract
An image data value storage system is described comprising a plurality of tiled memories which are fed with a single set of read addresses from a read address generator. The data stored within each of the tiled memories is offset relative to each other by the action of a delay unit upon writing of the data into the memory units. Thus, a single set of read addresses accesses a larger contiguous array of image data values than is individually addressed within each of the memory units.
Claims10
Apparatus for storing an array of image data values, said array of image data values being subdivided into a plurality of tiled sub-arrays of image data values, with an individual image data value being denotable by a tiled sub-array and a relative tile position within that tiled sub-array, said apparatus comprising:
- (i) at least two tiled memory units, each tiled memory unit having N separately addressable memory blocks, where N is an integer greater than 1, each memory block storing those image data values having a common relative tile position, whereby a contiguous array of N image data values may be simultaneously accessed from said N memory blocks in response to an applied set of read addresses;
- (ii) a read address generator for generating sets of read addresses such that a set of read addresses is used as an applied set of read addresses to simultaneously access the contiguous array of N image data values from a tiled memory unit;
- and
- (iii) means for writing said array of image data values into each of said tiled memory units at different addresses in each tiled memory unit, said addresses being offset between different tiled memory units such that a set of read addresses from said read address generator applied simultaneously to said at least two tiled memory units simultaneously accesses more than said contiguous array of N image data values from said at least two tiled memory units, to provide a contiguous array of M image data values, where M>N.
A method of storing an array of image data values, said array of image data values being subdivided into a plurality of tiled sub-arrays of image data values, with an individual image data value being denotable by a tiled sub-array and a relative tile position within that tiled sub-array, said method comprising the steps of:
- (i) storing those image data values having a common relative tile position in at least two tiled memory units having N separately addressable memory blocks, where N is an integer greater than 1, whereby a contiguous array of N image data values may be simultaneously accessed from said N memory blocks in response to an applied set of read addresses;
- (ii) generating sets of read addresses such that a set of read addresses is used as an applied set of read addresses to simultaneously access the contiguous array of N image data values from a tiled memory unit;
- and
- (iii) writing said array of image data values into each of said tiled memory units at different addresses in each tiled memory unit, said addresses being offset between different tiled memory units such that a set of generated read addresses applied simultaneously to said at least two tiled memory units simultaneously accesses more than said contiguous array of N image data values from said at least two tiled memory units, to provide a contiguous array of M image data values, where M>N.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.