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peter.clarke
It is interesting to note that in 2009 EyeSight was rubbing shoulders with ...
Mike2525
eyeSight has been around since 2005 so it's not a new iteration of technology ...
Ceva, Mitsui back gesture interface startup
Peter Clarke
11/22/2011 12:41 PM EST
LONDON – DSP intellectual property licensor Ceva Inc., together with Mitsui & Co. Global Investment Ltd., has participated in a $4.2 million investment in EyeSight Mobile Technologies Ltd. a provider of gesture recognition interface technology.
EyeSight (Herzilia, Israel), founded in 2005, has developed hand-gesture recognition software for any camera-enabled device and the technology is suitable for smartphones, tablet computers, e-readers, portable games consoles, digital picture frames and picoprojectors amongst other devices. Ceva (Mountain View, Calif.) announced that it was partnering with EyeSight in November 2010 and that EyeSight's gesture recognition technology would be hosted on the MM2000 portable multimedia platform from Ceva, which in turn is based on the Ceva-X1622 16-bit DSP core and an application-specific DSP accelerator subsystem, the Ceva-XS1200A.
Under the minority equity investment agreement, EyeSight will now offer its touch-free interface technologies, including gesture recognition and finger tracking software, to users of the MM3000 image signal processing (ISP) and video platform.
"This equity investment in EyeSight is aimed at expanding the addressable markets for our Ceva-MM3000 platform to include the burgeoning embedded vision and scene analysis arenas," said Gideon Wertheizer, CEO of Ceva, in a statement.
Related links and articles:
www.eyesight-tech.com
News articles:
Ceva signs for gesture-recognition
Nokia's new 'wave' and EyeSight are no empty gestures
Ceva claims top spot for cell phone DSP
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DrQuine
11/22/2011 3:20 PM EST
This is an interesting story ... but lacks the context to explain the significance. There are competing technologies out there which are currently in use. It seems like a risky prospect to be investing in a new iteration of a technology when the competitor is already deployed. How do they compare?
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Mike2525
11/23/2011 10:19 AM EST
eyeSight has been around since 2005 so it's not a new iteration of technology and this is not their first round of funding. In fact, it's in use by several companies already: http://www.pcworld.com/article/243294/new_tech_lets_you_look_like_a_jedi_while_unlocking_your_phone.html
It's a good move by both companies (CEVA and eyeSight). Offering eyeSight for the CEVA-MM3000 can not only improve real-time performance, but also lower the cost of deployment of this technology because it would not require any separate hardware or chip to be added. Plus, eyeSight technology is all software-based, which means it can be easily adopted and upgraded to support further UIs in the future without a requirement to change the hardware architecture. It also requires a standard camera – no need for multiple or special cameras – reducing the BOM.
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peter.clarke
11/23/2011 10:34 AM EST
It is interesting to note that in 2009 EyeSight was rubbing shoulders with Nokia, one year ago the technology was on the Ceva MM2000 platform ...and now Ceva is pushing some money EyeSight's way so they can have another tilt at the market on MM3000.
It rather suggests that Ceva thinks the technology is promising and likes having it around but that it is "ahead" of market acceptance. Possibly this is "keep-alive" money in the hope that an EyeSight design win will come good in 2012.
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