PrimeSense is to release a next generation embedded 3D sensor, Capri, in what the company said is the world’s smallest 3D sensor. Built with a set of algorithms like multi-modal 3D sensing techniques the 3D-sensing system-on-chip, or SoC debuted at CES-2013.
The working theory is straightforward. Taking advantage of a CMOS image sensor on mobile or consumer devices, the Capri SoC execute parallel computational algorithms to analyze and decode the received infrared patterns to produce a VGA size depth image.
With a USB 2.0 interface used to pass all data to the host, the SoC has minimal CPU requirements as all depth acquisition algorithms run on the SoCs themselves.
When it is built in mobile, or consumer electronics devices, it enables them to observe scenes in the 3D dimension through a CMOS camera, and then translate the observations into image stream of depth and color to identify human gestures, classify objects and locate walls or floor.
As it comes in a small form factor, it can be easily embedded in a wide range of consumer electronics devices like PC, tablets, laptops, mobile phones, TVs, consumer robotics.
Samples for development and integration for leading OEMs will be available by mid-2013.
