Reconfigurable image scaling circuit

A reconfigurable image scaling circuit comprising:

• a plurality of buffers;
• a vertical scalar;
• a horizontal scalar;
• and
• a processor which includes a first register and a second register,
• wherein the first register is configured to store a user-defined value,
• wherein the second register is configured to store a number of a plurality of first pixel data included in a row data included in an input image data and a number of a plurality of second pixel data included in a row data included in an output image data,
• wherein:
• in response to the number of the plurality of the first pixel data being smaller than the number of the plurality of the second pixel data, the plurality of the buffers store the input image data, the vertical scalar generates a vertically extended image data by extending the input image data vertically based on a first vertical scaling method,
• the input image data includes a plurality of first row data,
• the vertically extended image data includes a second row data which is generated based on a plurality of first reference row data included in the plurality of the first row data,
• the horizontal scalar generates the output image data by extending the vertically extended image data horizontally, and
• the processor changes a mapping relation between the plurality of the first reference row data and the plurality of the buffers based on a number of the plurality of the first reference row data;
• and
• wherein:
• in response to the number of the plurality of the first pixel data being bigger than the number of the plurality of the second pixel data, the horizontal scalar generates a horizontally reduced image data by reducing the input image data horizontally, the plurality of the buffers store the horizontally reduced image data, and the vertical scalar generates the output image data by reducing the horizontally reduced image data vertically based on a second vertical scaling method,
• the vertically reduced image data includes a plurality of third row data,
• the output image data includes a fourth row data which is generated by the vertical scalar based on a plurality of second reference row data included in the plurality of the third row data, and
• the processor changes the mapping relation between the plurality of the second reference row data and the plurality of the buffers based on a number of the plurality of the second reference row data.

A method performed by a controller included in a reconfigurable image scaling circuit, the method comprising:

• generating a horizontally scaled image data by scaling an input image data horizontally, the horizontally scaled image data including first row data which includes a plurality of reference row data;
• determining whether a mode signal stored in a mode storage is deactivated and whether the number of the plurality of the reference row data is fixed;
• determining the number of the plurality of the reference row data based on a user-defined value stored in a first register of the controller in response to the mode signal being deactivated and the number of the plurality of reference row data being fixed;
• determining the number of the plurality of the reference row data based on a number of a plurality of first pixel data and a number of a plurality of second pixel data, which are stored in a second register of the controller, in response to the mode signal being activated and the number of the plurality of reference row data not being fixed;
• reconfiguring buffers included in the reconfigurable image scaling circuit based on the determined number of the plurality of the reference row data;
• storing the horizontally scaled image data in the buffers;
• and
• generating an output image data by scaling the horizontally scaled image vertically by using a vertical scaling method, the output image data including a second row data which is generated based on the plurality of the reference row data,
• wherein the number of the plurality of the reference row data corresponds to a value of a tap of the vertical scaling method.