<s>
A	O
vision	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
unit	I-General_Concept
(	O
VPU	O
)	O
is	O
(	O
as	O
of	O
2023	O
)	O
an	O
emerging	O
class	O
of	O
microprocessor	B-Architecture
;	O
it	O
is	O
a	O
specific	O
type	O
of	O
AI	B-General_Concept
accelerator	I-General_Concept
,	O
designed	O
to	O
accelerate	B-General_Concept
machine	B-General_Concept
vision	I-General_Concept
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Vision	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
units	I-General_Concept
are	O
distinct	O
from	O
video	B-Architecture
processing	I-Architecture
units	I-Architecture
(	O
which	O
are	O
specialised	O
for	O
video	B-Application
encoding	I-Application
and	I-Application
decoding	I-Application
)	O
in	O
their	O
suitability	O
for	O
running	O
machine	B-General_Concept
vision	I-General_Concept
algorithms	I-General_Concept
such	O
as	O
CNN	B-Architecture
(	O
convolutional	B-Architecture
neural	I-Architecture
networks	I-Architecture
)	O
,	O
SIFT	O
(	O
Scale-invariant	B-Algorithm
feature	I-Algorithm
transform	I-Algorithm
)	O
and	O
similar	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
may	O
include	O
direct	B-Application
interfaces	I-Application
to	O
take	O
data	O
from	O
cameras	B-Device
(	O
bypassing	O
any	O
off	O
chip	O
buffers	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
have	O
a	O
greater	O
emphasis	O
on	O
on-chip	O
dataflow	B-Application
between	O
many	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
execution	I-Operating_System
units	I-Operating_System
with	O
scratchpad	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
,	O
like	O
a	O
manycore	B-General_Concept
DSP	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
,	O
like	O
video	B-Architecture
processing	I-Architecture
units	I-Architecture
,	O
they	O
may	O
have	O
a	O
focus	O
on	O
low	O
precision	O
fixed	O
point	O
arithmetic	O
for	O
image	B-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
are	O
distinct	O
from	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
,	O
which	O
contain	O
specialised	O
hardware	O
for	O
rasterization	O
and	O
texture	O
mapping	O
(	O
for	O
3D	O
graphics	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
whose	O
memory	B-General_Concept
architecture	I-General_Concept
is	O
optimised	O
for	O
manipulating	O
bitmap	O
images	O
in	O
off-chip	O
memory	O
(	O
reading	O
textures	O
,	O
and	O
modifying	O
frame	B-Algorithm
buffers	I-Algorithm
,	O
with	O
random	B-General_Concept
access	I-General_Concept
patterns	I-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VPUs	O
are	O
optimized	O
for	O
performance	O
per	O
watt	O
,	O
while	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
mainly	O
focus	O
on	O
absolute	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Target	O
markets	O
are	O
robotics	O
,	O
the	B-Operating_System
internet	I-Operating_System
of	I-Operating_System
things	I-Operating_System
,	O
new	O
classes	O
of	O
digital	B-Device
cameras	I-Device
for	O
virtual	B-Application
reality	I-Application
and	O
augmented	B-General_Concept
reality	I-General_Concept
,	O
smart	B-General_Concept
cameras	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
integrating	O
machine	B-General_Concept
vision	I-General_Concept
acceleration	O
into	O
smartphones	B-Application
and	O
other	O
mobile	B-Application
devices	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
which	O
is	O
the	O
third-generation	O
vision	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
unit	I-General_Concept
in	O
the	O
Myriad	O
VPU	O
line	O
from	O
Intel	O
Corporation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-General_Concept
HoloLens	I-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
includes	O
an	O
accelerator	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
a	O
Holographic	O
Processing	O
Unit	O
(	O
complementary	O
to	O
its	O
CPU	B-Device
and	O
GPU	B-Architecture
)	O
,	O
aimed	O
at	O
interpreting	O
camera	O
inputs	O
,	O
to	O
accelerate	B-General_Concept
environment	O
tracking	O
&	O
vision	O
for	O
augmented	B-General_Concept
reality	I-General_Concept
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eyeriss	O
,	O
a	O
design	O
from	O
MIT	O
intended	O
for	O
running	O
convolutional	B-Architecture
neural	I-Architecture
networks	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
NeuFlow	O
,	O
a	O
design	O
by	O
Yann	O
LeCun	O
(	O
implemented	O
in	O
FPGA	B-Architecture
)	O
for	O
accelerating	O
convolutions	B-Language
,	O
using	O
a	O
dataflow	B-Application
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
processors	O
are	O
not	O
described	O
as	O
VPUs	O
,	O
but	O
are	O
equally	O
applicable	O
to	O
machine	B-General_Concept
vision	I-General_Concept
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
may	O
form	O
a	O
broader	O
category	O
of	O
AI	B-General_Concept
accelerators	I-General_Concept
(	O
to	O
which	O
VPUs	O
may	O
also	O
belong	O
)	O
,	O
however	O
as	O
of	O
2016	O
there	O
is	O
no	O
consensus	O
on	O
the	O
name	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Qualcomm	B-General_Concept
Zeroth	I-General_Concept
Neural	I-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
unit	I-General_Concept
,	O
another	O
entry	O
in	O
the	O
emerging	O
class	O
of	O
sensor/AI	O
oriented	O
chips	O
.	O
</s>
