LeapMind announces license agreement for AI accelerator "Efficiera" with Maxell Frontier

Adopted on Maxell Frontier’s new image recognition solution "iXAM Vision series"

February 22, 2022 – Tokyo Japan -- LeapMind Co., Ltd. (Shibuya, Tokyo; CEO: Soichi Matsuda), a leading supplier of the standard in edge artificial intelligence (AI), today announced that have concluded a commercial license agreement of LeapMind’s ultra-low power AI inference accelerator IP "Efficiera" with Maxell Frontier Co., Ltd. (Yokohama, Kanagawa; President: Hiroyuki Ota), the group company of Maxell, Ltd.
Efficiera has been adopted as a technology to enhance AI processing performance in their new image recognition solutions "iXAM Vision series" announced by Maxell Frontier today and scheduled to be launched in October 2022.

This collaboration of LeapMind’s "Extremely low bit quantization," which supports the application of deep learning technology on edge devices with restricted power and space, and Maxell Frontier which has the proven track record of over 30 years will boost the AI performance into the next stage of their image recognition systems.
Together with “Efficiera” IP, LeapMind is providing Efficiera deep learning models “Object detection” and “Anomaly Detection”. The big features of Efficiera are space-saving, the compactness, and of the deep learning model are easy installation to edge devices and re-training. With those features, it is possible to shorten the development time of AI functioned edge devices.
LeapMind will continue to strive to popularize edge AI and aim to solve social issues through deep learning technology.

About “iXAM Vision series” of Maxell Frontier

iXAM series lines-up two types of unit products, 1) “iXAM Vision Engine” - the intelligent image processing unit, 2) “iXAM Vision Sensor” - the intelligent camera, and “iXAM Vision Meister” - the AI image inspection application development tool, which runs on the unit products. These are scheduled to be launched in October 2022.
Maxell Frontier’s product release: https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/6810/ir_material21/177469/00.pdf (Japanese)

About Efficiera

Efficiera is an ultra-low power AI inference accelerator IP specialized for CNN inference processing that runs as a circuit on FPGA or ASIC devices. The "extremely low bit quantization" technology minimizes the number of quantization bits to 1 - 2 bits, maximizing the power and area efficiency of convolution, which accounts for most of the inference processing, without the need for advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes or special cell libraries. By using this product, deep learning functions can be incorporated into a variety of edge devices, including consumer electronics such as home appliances, industrial equipment such as construction machinery, surveillance cameras, broadcasting equipment, as well as small machines and robots that are constrained by power, cost, and heat dissipation, which has been technically difficult in the past. Visit product website at https://leapmind.io/business/ip/

Deep learning model for Efficiera

The Efficiera deep learning model is a trained model that can be used on edge devices. LeapMind develops andprovides trained models of Object detection, Anomaly Detection and AI Image processing.
• Object Detection model :
The position information of the detection target can be acquired from the image. Can be applied to a wide range of applications by combining with various logic of processing the position information.
• Anomaly Detection model :
Realize the real time visual inspection on edge device by AI. Easily complete the AI training on edge devices even the format of the inspection target changes.
• AI Image Processing model :
Operates in real time on edge devices to reduce the noise and improve the image quality of noisy images.

About Maxcell Frontier

Head office: YBP North Square III, 134 Godo-cho, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 240-0005
Representative: Hiroyuki Ota, President
Established: April 2020
URL: https://www.frontier.maxell.co.jp

About LeapMind

LeapMind Inc. was founded in 2012 with the corporate mission "To create innovative devices with machine learning and make them available everywhere." Total investment in LeapMind to date has reached 4.99 billion yen (as of May 2021). The company's strength is in extremely low bit quantization for compact deep learning solutions. It has a proven track record of achievement with over 150 companies, many of which are centered in manufacturing, including the automobile industry. It is also developing its Efficiera semiconductor IP, based on its experience in the development of both software and hardware
Head office: Shibuya Dogenzaka Sky Building 3F, 28-1 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0044
Representative: Soichi Matsuda, CEO
Established: December 2012
URL: https://leapmind.io/en/