Hewlett-Packard Improves Picture Quality for Camera Phones

Hewlett-Packard expects its photo-enhancing technology to be available on camera-equipped cell phones next year.

The technology was originally designed for the company’s own range of digital cameras. It improves picture quality by automatically correcting and enhancing images. The technology is expected to encourage consumers to print their camera-phone images and save them in the same way they do with photographs taken with cameras. This would be a significant benefit to Hewlett-Packard as the company’s most profitable business is printers, ink cartridges and paper.

Hewlett-Packard is licensing the imaging technology to Flextronics, a Singapore-based contract manufacturer, which designs and assembles camera-phone modules and cell phones.

Flextronics will pay Hewlett-Packard an undisclosed royalty for camera modules featuring its intellectual property.

Recording resolution can be reached up to 720×288 (PAL) or 720×240 (NTSC) pixels. The product has a removable hard drive to allow flexible storage expansion which can be linked to other PCs for viewing and playback. Video footage can also be backed up in a Compact Flash card.

TeleEye RV432 can be set for manual, alarm and motion triggered recording. It has a fast and easy search function, a security lock to prevent unauthorized access to the unit, telemetry control, intelligent playback, IR remote control, dual composite video outputs and OSD menu.