Couger Ranks 7th Worldwide in MIPI Challenge "HybridEVS Camera Image Reconstruction Processing" at CVPR 2024

Couger Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya, Tokyo; CEO: Atsushi Ishii, hereafter "Couger") is pleased to announce that it ranked 7th in the image reconstruction (demosaic) processing of the MIPI Challenge, which was held the beginning of this year, at CVPR 2024, a leading international conference on computer vision.

As demand for enhanced imaging performance in mobile devices continues to grow, the HybridEVS camera, which enables high-quality imaging with high speed, low latency, and low power consumption, has gained attention. However, due to problematic and defective pixels in the original data of HybridEVS cameras, achieving high-quality image reconstruction (demosaicing) has posed challenges.

This MIPI Challenge focused on HybridEVS camera demosaicing and attracted 110 researchers and engineers from around the world. Couger’s AI team developed a unique approach using a multi-stage fusion architecture and pixel-level attention mechanism, securing 7th place.

Key features of Couger's AI team approach:

1. Multi-Stage Image Processing and Fusion Architecture：This approach processes and optimizes the input image in multiple stages to improve final image quality.
2. Self-Calibrated Convolution and Pixel Attention：Utilizing a Self-Calibrated Convolution with Pixel Attention (SCPA) block to enhance spatial and spectral consistency.
3. Effective Noise Reduction：Advanced noise reduction blocks were incorporated to effectively suppress noise while retaining essential image details.

Potential Impact of the Research

The advancements in HybridEVS camera demosaicing have significant potential impacts on mobile imaging, specifically:

• Enhanced Smartphone Cameras：Progress in HybridEVS camera and demosaicing algorithms enables fast, high-quality image capture on smartphones, allowing users to take better photos and videos across various scenes.
• Expansion into Industrial Applications：Beyond smartphones, this technology can also be applied to automotive, surveillance, and drone cameras, enhancing image quality across industries and potentially creating new applications.
• Integration with AI：High-quality image data is essential for AI learning and inference. Advances in HybridEVS and demosaicing technology improve AI processing accuracy on mobile devices, paving the way for advanced AI functions like real-time object recognition and image understanding.

Couger is also focusing on research and development that leads to practical applications of humanoid AI, such as the deployment of "RACHEL" at approximately 5,000 FamilyMart stores. Moving forward, Couger remains committed to advancing AI and its constituent technologies to realize "exploring human-likeness" in technology.