Pixology Press Release 21/05/04

Pixology plc, (LSE:PIX) the digital photographic software expert, announces today the launch of Embedded Pixology IRISS, an automatic solution for removing the problem of red-eye instantaneously, at point of source, as the image is taken in the digital camera.

Developed six months ahead of schedule in a successful collaboration with Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), the new product is now available on TI’s digital media processor, which manages the majority of a digital camera’s image processing once the image is captured.

Pixology and TI, the world leader in digital signal processing technology, have jointly developed a unique method of embedding Pixology IRISS onto a camera chip and have optimised it for the digital media processor. This enables Pixology’s award winning red-eye detection and correction technology to run automatically when a digital image is captured and is still in the camera.

Compatible with any flash-enabled digital device such as digital cameras, PDAs and camera phones, the embedded chip technology has been designed to exceed existing market benchmarks for performance in terms of speed, image size and memory requirement.

Embedded Pixology IRISS? will also allow original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to offer customers the established benefits of Pixology’s red-eye detection such as improved battery life. Since the problem of red-eye is exacerbated the closer the flash is to the lens, it will also facilitate more flexible product design and the current trend towards smaller, more compact cameras and is also the perfect solution for in-mobile camera phones.

Despite the advent of digital photography, red-eye, caused by the reflection of light from the flash off blood vessels in the retina, remains one of the biggest problems within consumer photography and ruins millions of pictures.

Yuval Yashiv, CEO of Pixology plc, said:

“The fact that we are able to announce this launch well ahead of schedule is testament to the quality of our technical staff and the excellent partnership we have formed with TI. Considering the high percentage of pictures that suffer from red-eye problems, the consumer benefit that IRISS enabled cameras can offer is significant. Most consumers just want to print and share their photos rather than fix them. Embedded Pixology IRISS? allows them to do just that and will become a standard feature in a number of applications from digital cameras to camera cellphones. I am delighted that TI is now able to offer this technology as a regular feature in its digital camera chips, should the customer wish to do so.”

David Pahl, Business Manager for TI’s Digital Camera Solutions group, said:

“Texas Instruments firmly believes that in-camera editing is the next ‘big thing’ on the horizon for the evolution of digital camera features and functionality. With its advanced IRISS? software, Pixology is clearly positioned to lead in this space, driving the forefront of what will inevitably prove to be one of the digital imaging market’s most significant developments to-date.”

TI’s digital media processor family of products are optimized for digital camera applications, leveraging a highly efficient, low-power TMS320C54x digital signal processor (DSP) core, an ARM? RISC processor, plus video and imaging coprocessors to improve performance. The flexibility and programmability of the digital media processors enable camera manufacturers to expand the breadth of their portable imaging and multimedia products while reducing development costs.

Pixology IRISS