A function-rich FPGA system of camera image processing for video meeting

Abstract

A video conference is used as a means of meeting in remote places for research and education purposes. The video conference system provides some enhanced functions, such as virtual background function, slide sharing function, non-verbal feedback function. However, there is a problem that some computers cannot support such functions because the video conference system may require high-performance processors and the latest software stacks. In this paper, we describe a function-rich web camera system using an FPGA. We design and implement the core module named video processing module (VPM) for video processing. VPM provides various video processing functions such as virtual background, displaying messages, and the resize of the human face suitable for video meetings. We show that our camera system can be implemented using a low-end FPGA. Our evaluations show that our camera system is 11.7 times lower latency against a software implementation, providing rich functions with high frame rates at 60fps of 1280×720 pixels.