3D Image Sensor Chip Provides Touchless Gesture Control
May 30, 2013
Sensor chips enable tracking of finger movements and hand gestures to complement touch screen and mouse or stylus user interfaces.
The family of 3D Image Sensor chips from Infineon Technologies, designed in cooperation with pmdtechnologies for implementation of touchless gesture recognition, combine a 3D image sensing pixel array with the digital conversion and control functionality needed to design compact and accurate monocular systems for gesture recognition in computers and consumer electronics devices. The sensor chips enable tracking of finger movements and hand gestures to complement touch screen and mouse or stylus user interfaces. 3D cameras based on the sensor chips can achieve unmatched levels of miniaturization with a high level of integration, including the photosensitive pixel array, sophisticated control logic, digital interfaces with ADCs, and digital outputs. The chip family includes pmd’s ToF pixel matrix and patented Suppression of Background Illumination, and currently includes the IRS1010C (160x120 pixels), and the IRS1020C (352x288 pixels). Both are dynamically configurable via I²C interface, allowing adjustment in real time to changing lighting and operating conditions. The chips are delivered as bare die for integration with camera lens and IR illumination source in a camera module. Samples of 3D Image Sensors are now available for development of 3D camera systems. Volume production is planned for mid-2014.
