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 Overview
“The Integrated Canesta Keyboard is based on a controller and two optical components that project the image of a keyboard onto any flat surface and use a light source to track the movement of fingers on that image.”
- Electronic Perception Technology - made up of three components.
- Pattern Projector - is used to project light onto a flat surface, forming a standard QWERTY keyboard layout or a custom layout of your choosing.
- an IR light source - bathes the keyboard in an infrared light.
- sensory module - picks up finger movements over the keys.
- The information picked up is formed into a 3D image with motion and translated into standard keyboard input data.
Canesta's advantage is the fact that as far as the user is concerned there's no new hardware to buy or install. But PDA manufacturers are under pressure to add a raft of new features to their devices, all of which require extra components that take up valuable space and add to the always sensitive bill of materials.
Partners
October 28, 2002 -- Canesta Inc, has disclosed that NEC Corporation is evaluating Canesta’s electronic perception technology for applications in NEC’s broad product line
several cellular device manufacturers are working with Canesta with the intent of rolling out projection keyboard-equipped cell phones before next spring.
Canesta's advantage is the fact that as far as the user is concerned there's no new hardware to buy or install. But PDA manufacturers are under pressure to add a raft of new features to their devices, all of which require extra components that take up valuable space and add to the always sensitive bill of materials.
How Close to Production
Launched at DEMOmobile 2002
available in the first half of 2003
Canesta has not yet announced the availability of specific chips, and stated that it will make further disclosures later this year. OEMs have, to date, been working with chip prototypes that emulate electronic perception chips.
“The company claims that one Web tablet and one high-end PDA/phone maker have designed the projectable keyboard into products that should ship next summer.”
“And the company has already started work on a smaller version of its components in hopes of design wins in more mainstream PDAs and phones.” (see technology)
From ee-times article
A handful" of PDA companies have signed contracts to purchase the chipset, Spare said. After Canesta brings the chipset into production in early 2003, PDA and/or mobile phone manufacturers will require another six to nine months to refine their designs, he said.
Technology
uses low-cost semiconductor-based sensors.
The resolution of the chip also was not disclosed, although van Burden said that the sensor chip would recognize images up to about 30 centimeters away from the camera, in a field of view about the size of an airplane's seatback tray table. The chip can process up to 50 frames per second of information, he said. Future versions of the chip will improve the resolution of the device and the distance at which it can distinguish objects, van Burden said.
Ideally, the chipset will reduce a PDA's battery life by about ten percent, a target Spare said the company hasn't quite met. However, Taiwan chip foundry UMC is fabricating the chipset on 0.25-micron silicon, leaving plenty of room for a power-reducing process shrink. The pattern projector uses the most power, requiring about 60 mW to operate and project the image. The company built in power-saving modes into the chipset, set to wake up the device at the wave of a finger.
The chipset simply outputs RS232 serial keystrokes, and does not require a specific CPU, Spare said.
Tricky Placement: Size and proper orientation of the three Canesta components is likely to be the biggest hurdle for handheld system makers looking to use the technology.
The 0.25-micron sensor chip at the heart of the solution includes a barrel lens that senses the light bouncing off a finger. The chip and lens together measure 8 x 8 x 8 mm. The infrared light source is in a separate 6.4-mm diameter x 12-mm module. And the pattern projector measures 9 x 9 x 12 mm. All three devices need to point outward from the system in a similar orientation — a tricky placement and integration challenge for a PDA and one currently not feasible for the next-generation of relatively thin 2.5G cellphones.
The company is already working on a so-called LP-2 version of the components that would shrink the controller module to 6 x 6 x 6 mm and shave size off the optical components as well.
"The next rev shrinks significantly in size and power. The challenge with the light source and pattern projector are optical in nature," said van Beurden.
Machine Vision: According to van Burden, the EPT chip includes finely tuned timing circuits that can be used to measure each individual pixel's worth of reflected light, calculating the distance of the object away from the camera. The reflected waves can be used to reconstruct the image of the object, complete with what van Burden called a "depth map" to extend the two-dimensional image into the third dimension.
EPT, in fact, does not use visible light at all. Instead, a beam of infrared light—similar to that emitted by the autofocus mechanism of a camera—"paints" the object. The EPT sensor receives the light and reconstructs the image using built-in software. The EPT system consists of the infrared light source and a slightly modified conventional CMOS imaging chip, similar to those used in digital cameras. Canesta has built in the software inside the imaging chip, eliminating the need for a separate microcontroller.
Total maximum power consumption for the three modules currently stands at 105 mW.
Development
The company has integrated the module with Windows 2000/XP, Microsoft Pocket PC and Palm operating systems. It supplies source code for drivers for all three environments.
Development Kit: http://www.canesta.com/devtools.htm
The controller chip communicates with a host via either an RS-232 or USB slave interface.
IP
has filed or been granted in excess of 20 patents
Although the government has approved Canesta's first patent, van Burden was reluctant to disclose certain technical details of the EPT system, including the power required to illuminate the image with the infrared light or the wavelength of the light itself. The light can be cycled on and off, he added.
Canesta has several U.S. patents on its 'electronic perception technology,' from which it's visionary projection keyboard' is derived.
Canesta claims that its designs, for which it has been granted patents, are the world's first technology that can produce real-time, three-dimensional "depth maps" of the nearby environment utilizing a tiny CMOS sensor chip.
Patents found
6,323,942: CMOS-compatible three-dimensional image sensor IC – Nov 2001
20020176067 Method and system to enhance dynamic range conversion useable with CMOS three-dimensional imaging
20020140633 Method and system to present immersion virtual simulations using three-dimensional measurement
20020084430 Methods for CMOS-compatible three-dimensional image sensing using quantum efficiency modulation
20020060669 Method for enhancing performance in a system utilizing an array of sensors that sense at least two-dimensions
20020021287 Quasi-three-dimensional method and apparatus to detect and localize interaction of user-object and virtual transfer device
20010048519 CMOS-Compatible three-dimensional image sensing using reduced peak energy
Usability
Canesta's usability tests show typists capable of entering 65-to-80 words per minute at a 2.5-to-3 percent error rate on a traditional keyboard are able to type 45-to-50 wpm at a 5 percent error rate on the company's projectable keys. That's twice the 25 wpm rate and similar to the accuracy level of users entering text on small "thumb" keyboards used on many PDAs today, said Joep van Beurden, the vice president of sales and marketing at Canesta (San Jose, Calif.).
"We're working on expanding the projected keyboard by 15 percent to get to a full 90-mm key size," he added.
The Canesta Usability Lab conducts usability research on mobile and wireless device users and their interaction with their mobile and wireless devices. The Lab has also established working relationships with a number of independent usability and ergonomics experts and organizations to provide additional insights into the mobile input problem and how to best address this challenge with electronic perception technology and the Canesta Keyboard. Research methodologies include the use of qualitative studies such as focus groups and one-on-one interviews, as well as quantitative studies and surveys used to gather statistically significant data on performance, attitudes, and other important variables. In addition to its own primary research, the Canesta Usability Lab also collects relevant secondary research to further its understanding of the mobile input problem and apply it to improving the mobile user input experience through the Canesta Keyboard.
Cost
The set will sell for $30 to $35 in million-unit volumes; the company would not quote prices in thousands.
Possible Applications
Separately the company has been exploring other applications for its 3-D sensing technology. Canesta has worked with automotive electronics companies to develop a specification for use of their technology with air bags. The Canesta chip set would determine the size and position of a person in a car seat and report that info back to a subsystem which would determine whether or how hard to fire an air bag in case of an accident.
However, the company sees this as a fundamental technology which can be applied to a variety of applications. "Any devices which we can give sight to will enhance the quality of life," van Burden said.
These include: projection notepads that track any pen, pencil or pen-like object; gestural interfaces for devices with inconvenient or ultra-small form-factors or locations (ie-wearable computers); and user identification and authentication through facial recognition. The company also perceives its technology as enabling a wide number of sight-enabled applications in consumer games, premise security, automobiles, military-aerospace, and medical apps.
Rumor
“Well people, that MacMan is right about the investing, but what he did not tell you was it wasn't Apple that invested in it, Steve Jobs invested in it. My wife is an Investment Lawer and I had her look it up, that was all she was allowed to tell me.”
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