网络电视遥控器也要搭“运动感测”快车

Motion-sensing remotes: A ‘must’ for Web TVs and set-tops?

By Junko Yoshida

What does it take to design a new remote control for the next generation of digital TVs and set-top boxes? This is a question that every system designer must think through, under the assumption that televisions and set-tops of tomorrow are destined to run new web-based services and Google-like search functions.

Certainly, nobody wants to subject consumers – armed only with a traditional “clicker” that only moved up, down, left and right – to the pain of navigating through a multimedia quagmire that includes the Web-based apps running on TV.

Movea believes that the answer to this dilemma lies in motion sensing and motion control.

Grenoble, France-based Movea, a CEA-Leti spin-off, is launching this week a new platform called MotionIC, designed to let OEMs and service providers quickly integrate two to nine axes of motion processing and control in their new products. The platform, consisting of chips, firmware, software APIs and development kits, allows OEMs to use any sensor configuration -- including a magnetometer for orientation, an accelerometer for force and acceleration, and a gyroscope for rotation.

Movea joins a slew of companies, such as Hillcrest Labs and InvenSense, offering system vendors hardware, software and intellectual property essential to motion-sensing solutions.

The idea of using accelerometer and optical sensor technology in a remote control unit is not new. Nintendo’s Wii Remote, nicknamed Wiimote, relies on motion-sensing capabilities and popularized this man-machine interface. Accelerometers are now widely integrated inside mobile phones and digital cameras, allowing the device to know when it is tilted on its side. Apple’s iPhone, in particular, has opened the opportunity for many developers to devise inventive applications that take advantage of the handset’s orientation-sensing features.

Adding fuel to the growing motion-sensing trend is Sony’s new PlayStation Move, scheduled for launch at the end of this month.

Sony’s new game console comes with Sony’s PlayStation Eye camera, and a Bluetooth-enabled wand that looks like the Nintendo Wiimote. Fancier than Wiimote, Move’s controller -- equipped with a glowing tip -- serves as a visual marker for the Eye camera, so that the lit beacons send one’s hand location to the game console via Bluetooth and through camera. Microsoft is also planning to launch Kinect, a similar motion-sensing controller with camera, later this year.

Movea, convinced that motion sensing and motion control is the new battleground for next-generation consumer devices, is betting big on the premise.

Clearly, they see that today’s button-intensive remote controls will prove ungainly and frustrating in a more search and Web-intensive TV. One answer is to offer consumers simple hand movements and gestures to navigate media content.

There are also system vendors working on a remote control unit, which “looks just like a Blackberry,” according to Dave Rothenberg, Movea’s worldwide marketing manager. The unit allows motion-controlled navigation, while the small keyboard on the remote control unit allows consumers to type commands to the Digital TV.

Missing link

Many OEMs are already pondering how to feed a variety of raw data – sensor information – to their new systems. Meanwhile, developers are already at work on motion applications for consumer electronics, mobile, sports, gaming and health/wellness devices. At Movea, “we think we are the missing link. By offering sensors, software and IPs, we think we can bridge the two worlds,” said Movea’s Rothenberg based in Milpitas, Calif.

The company is offering four gyroscope-driven remote control reference designs, called SmartMtion. They range from turnkey, ready-to-use solutions, through to customizable offerings where gestures and buttons can be assigned to activate important features in the set-top box user interface.

Movea, which is not a chip vendor and claims to be “sensor-agnostic,” has strategic alliances with STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments as its chip suppliers, noted Rothenberg. Movea has also lined up companies such as SMK, 4MOD Technology and Sunrex Technology to help build remote controls. “The key here,” said Rothenberg, “is that our gyroscope-driven reference designs can give customers dual-source flexibility for critical components.”

Meanwhile, Movea, already armed with its strong motion sensing R&D results at CEA-Leti, got even a bigger boost when it acquired Gyration, a motion products company, in 2007. Gyration, with the experience of shipping more than 3 million units of its Gyration mouse, offered Movea not only real-world production/shipment experience, but also in-depth gyroscope IPs. Together, Movea today claims to have 250 patents in 65 families, best positioned to helping its customers reduce IP risk and costs, according to Rothenberg.

Who competes with Movea?

One of the competitors is Hillcrest Labs. Hillcrest recently disclosed that LG Electronics is using its patented in-air pointing and motion control technology for LG’s first 3D-ready, Internet-connected HDTVs, currently shipping in the Korean market. The two companies have entered into a worldwide license agreement, according to Hillcrest.

Hillcrest has also reportedly licensed its patents on motion control technology to Sony’s video-game division, but neither Sony nor Hillcrest is commenting on the terms of the deal. It should be also noted that Hillcrest sued Nintendo in 2008 for infringing its motion control patents with Nintendo’s Wii. Last summer, the two companies settled their disputes. Nintendo reportedly received a license to Hillcrest patenst as part of the deal.

A fabless company, InvenSense also competes in the field, offering MEMS-based motion processing solutions that allow a motion-based user interface for consumer electronics devices. InvenSense’ dual-axis MEMS gyroscope is said to be used in Nintendo’s Wii MotionPlus.