Sensory Recognition Is the Next Big Advance in Consumer Electronics

The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show featured 2,700 global technology companies vying for attention. Post-CES analyses focused primarily on 3D TV and gaming, tablet computers and in-automobile entertainment centers. I'm forecasting that the highlight of the 2012 CES Show will be sensory recognition, much of which was on display at CES this year but was hardly noted. You're already familiar with Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox and Nintendo's Wii. Comparing these technologies to next year's sensory recognition programs will be like comparing first generation color-TV to today's high definition sets.

Audio and visual recognition is being built-in to most current generations of in-home gaming systems and it will become progressively more sophisticated. Your gaming system – and your TV -- will learn your facial and body features, ID you personally, identify where you are in the room, track your eyes and movements, listen for your verbal commands, and create a 3-dimensional avatar that represents you. Games and TVs have the capability to identify, remember and be responsive to multiple people simultaneously. This technology is not on the horizon – it is here now and was on display at CES.

In last week's JackMyersThinkTank, I reported on PrimeSense, which provides the technology that is a backbone of Microsoft's Kinect. There are several other developments, outlined below, that indicate a robust marketplace for sensory recognition software. I envision a one screen synchronous, integrated TV + Internet system. Turn on your TV and up will pop your favorite apps, free and paid. (The battle for your TV home screen real estate is just beginning, pitting cable and satellite companies against consumer electronics manufacturers against software developers.) With its front camera (for gaming and for Skype), the TV will conduct a facial and body recognition process and deliver your personalized app screens or offer options when there are multiple viewers in the room. With the slightest movement of your wrist and fingers, you'll scroll through your apps, point to open an app, “touch” the air in front of you to bring up the TV and online controls. You can easily “air-type” using the on-screen keyboard, and multitasking with multiple screens will be the norm. Audio recognition built into the TV will identify the programming you're viewing and offer you the option to open officially sanctioned online content or take you to audio-synchronized apps of your choice. You'll be able to communicate directly through the TV via Skype and/or your cable system phone service and, of course, give audio commands to the TV. You'll have full DVR, social engagement, check-in, commerce and other applications, all available seamlessly from your couch with just the flick of a wrist. And you'll constantly receive opt-in messages entitling sponsors and app-underwriters to information on your behavior, in return for which you'll receive viewing credits, incentives and prizes. For research, the implications are enormous, as data will be available on an opt-in basis informing actual consumer behavior utilizing viewer actions, eye-scan insights, multi-media usage and actions taken. With online purchasing and synchronous website integration seamlessly connected to commercial exposure, the future for marketers is a dramatically different world than the passive one they know now.

There are several other companies that are actively developing gesture control features, including one from Panasonic plus Toshiba and San Francisco based Omek, which also presented at CES. PrimeSense enjoys a significant lead in the category now as the only available consumer device, but many of the biggest CE and camera companies are coming into the market and projecting moderate price points.

This is a fascinating and compelling expansion of the TV as we know it. When the really big players (think Japan and Korea and China) come in, the landscape and market dynamics alter. Standards will emerge. Two basic approaches, "structured light" and "time of flight" are being developed offering greater data frame rates and better capabilities for a range of environmental/lighting conditions. Omek, is offering a middleware layer that supports all the major consumer cameras, and this layer is being built into TVs, STBs, and game consoles (as well as digital interactive signs, medical systems, and other devices) specifically to allow these hardware companies the ability to migrate to newer technologies.

The first major Chinese device launch will involve both a camera and middleware so the software community is also moving towards more open middleware standards. Microsoft bought several companies in this space and many believe that Kinect 2 will be based on multiple technologies in addition to PrimeSense.

Aviad Maizels, CEO of PrimeSense, inferred in a conversation that his company is in discussions with chip makers such as Intel to embed the PrimeSense software and standard, which would give the company a significant competitive advantage. Intel is actively developing infrared sensing devices and cameras that help computers detect the space around them, letting people interact with cameras, TVs, mobile devices and computers in new ways. (http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/11/intel-labs-seattle-open-house.html). Google Android's translation software enables you to communicate with those who speak other languages and your mobile phone interprets for you. Software that is in the phone and tablet today will be in the TV tomorrow.

At CES, I also saw a fun robot dinosaur, the PLEOrb (www.pleoworld.com), that retails for $4,800 and that has voice recognition, senses motion, senses temperatures, has time of day awareness, has touch sensors andhas the sense of smell built in. Someday, in addition to sight, hearing and touch, we can reliably imagine that our TVs will have the sense of smell and not only double as our smoke and heat detectors but know when we've brought popcorn or pizza into the room and serve us up appropriate commercials. At next year's CES, look for consumer electronics manufacturers to be featuring sensory recognition software built in to your TV, your computer, your mobile phone, your gaming devices, your automobile and throughout your homes. Sensory recognition is the next major advance in consumer electronics.

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