Saturday 12 October 2013

New ultrasonic chip promises better gesture controls in phones, tabs

Currently, gesture technologies depend on cameras and proximity sensors; the former depends on light while the later works in short distances

Norwegian start-up Elliptic Labs has developed an ultrasonic chip for mobile phones and tablets. According to a report of BBC, Elliptic Labs is also in talks with Asian handset manufacturers to get the chip embedded in the device.

The chip uses ultrasonic sound waves to trigger an action. For instance, when someone hovers his hand over the chip, the chip calculates the motion of the disturbance and the intended gesture and accordingly results in the related action.

Current gesture recognition systems rely on cameras, which are handicapped in low lights, or the proximity sensors that have a short range. But with the ultrasonic chip, both the shortcomings are addressed effectively as sound waves can travel longer distance and are unaffected by lightning conditions. Therefore users could move their hands over the displays from a distance to operate their devices.

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