3-D sensor powers gesture control systems

Emerging consumer electronics applications have prompted Canesta Inc., a manufacturer of smart 3-D sensor chips,  to develop a new version of its 3-D image processing chip based on its CMOS image processing technology for automotive applications. The new chip is intended to add new features to consumer products, ranging from gesture control for TVs to chroma-key image mixing that eliminates the need for a green background screen.

Canesta's 3-D sensor is a standard CMOS chip that uses infrared light pulses to calculate the distance to objects that reflect light onto the pixels of an image sensor array. Unlike competing technologies such as ultrasonic, which only sense the distance to the nearest object, Canesta’s sensor calculates the transit time of IR light traveling from the object to each pixel to create a depth map that OEMs can use in their recognition algorithms.

The company is also working on other applications for its chips, leveraging their ability to sense depth in a scene. For instance, video cameras with a built-in 3-D sensor could perform automatic chroma-key image mixing. Today, TV weather forecasters stand in front of a green screen that software senses, allowing it to paint a weather map behind the forecaster. Canesta's chip would eliminate the green screen.