Canesta Continues to Extend Patent Portfolio for Electronic Perception Technology
SAN JOSE, Calif.--April 17, 2003--Canesta, Inc, today announced that it has been granted three additional patents for its breakthrough electronic perception technology. This technology enables machines and computers to "see" and react to objects in three-dimensions and real time. The patents describe new techniques that will both lower the cost and increase the accuracy of electronic perception technology for widespread applications, particularly in the security and automotive markets.
"Electronic perception technology is fundamentally changing the relationship between computers and machines and the environment around them," said Nazim Kareemi, Canesta president and CEO. "In addition to actively building our first-generation products, we continue to invest heavily in a broad technology portfolio that can be used in a diverse range of applications calling for low-cost electronic perception."
Canesta's electronic perception technology was first applied in a "projection keyboard" that enables a "smart phone," PDA (personal digital assistant), or other mobile device to project a full-size keyboard with rays of light onto an adjacent flat surface. The user types on the projected keyboard as if it were physically there, and a Canesta chip built into the device translates the finger movements into keystrokes. This application, which is expected to reach the market in several OEM products later this year, will make data-intensive mobile applications far more effective.
The next generation of applications of Canesta's electronic perception technology, for which the new patents form part of the underpinnings, are targeted at the security and automotive markets. Canesta will work with key partners with specific market expertise to develop these applications.
For security applications, the real-time "contour maps" generated by Canesta's low-cost technology will greatly simplify intruder detection and facial recognition, and make such applications widely available, even to ordinary consumers.
For example, intruder detection devices built with the technology will be able to "recognize" a moving object based on the details of its three-dimensional image, enabling the device to differentiate, say, between an animal or human intruder and recognize illicit activity. This could significantly cut down on the number of false alarms generated by security systems. The number of false alarms is so high -- as much as 95% of all alarms -- that many municipalities will not directly respond to an alarm. Moreover, many consumers don't even turn their systems on, as the systems are routinely set off by "kids going to the bathroom." Canesta's 3-D electronic perception could discriminate between routine family movements and an intruder entering a window.
The 3-D advantage in facial recognition applications is similarly important. Since Canesta electronic perception technology permits the true contours of the face to actually be "perceived," such systems will match faces with people far more precisely and will allow greater flexibility in the subject's pose as well as ambient lighting conditions. Moreover, the low cost of the technology will permit its incorporation in home applications, where tiny, door-mounted sensors could recognize members of the household and automatically unlock and open doors.
In the automotive arena, one of the earliest applications of electronic perception technology will be occupant sensing for advanced airbag deployment. To avoid serious injuries to children or other low body mass individuals, the government has mandated that automakers develop the technology to modulate the deployment of an airbag depending upon the physical characteristics and position of the seat occupant. By using Canesta's technology, future airbag deployment will be commensurate with the occupant's size and seating position, and is likely to be much safer.
"With the increasing concerns about advanced security and personal safety, our technology has generated a lot of interest in the market," said Kareemi. In 2003, according to Security Distributing and Marketing Magazine security is a $22.4 billion market worldwide. Of that, iIndustry experts estimate between $2 and $3 billion will be spent on electronic sensors alone. Just-auto.com reports that occupant sensing is a $12 billion worldwide market.
"Our unmatched technology foundation, combined with market leadership as the inventors of this technology, should enable our OEM customers to achieve real competitive advantages with novel and timely products in these, and hundreds of other application areas," he said.
About Electronic Perception Technology
Canesta's technology is basically made up of two principal components. The first are 3-D electronic perception sensor chips, and the second is image processing software -- jointly developed by Canesta based on its proprietary expertise and its market-specific partners -- embedded in these chips. In a manner similar to RADAR, where the range to a remote object is calculated through various methods, Canesta's chips develop "distance maps" to points in the image of a nearby object, and hand this information to an on-chip processor running the imaging software. That software further refines the 3-D representation of the image before sending it off chip for application-specific processing. The chips do this repeatedly, generating over 50 frames of 3-D information per second.
Since Canesta's software starts with a three-dimensional, "contour-map" view of the world, provided directly by the hardware, it has a fundamental advantage over classical image processing software that struggles to construct three-dimensional representations using complex mathematics, and using images from multiple cameras or points of view. This significant reduction in complexity makes it possible to embed the application-independent processing software directly into the chips themselves so they may be used in the most modestly-priced, and even pocket-sized, electronic devices.
Canesta's New Patents
U.S. Patent #6,512,838 entitled "Methods for Enhancing Performance and Data Acquired from Three-Dimensional Image Systems" describes complex, on-chip processing and error-correction algorithms that will aid in driving down the cost of electronic perception applications. The full text of this patent, including an abstract, may be found at http://www.roeder-johnson.com/RJDocs/CA-Patent-6512838.html.
U.S. Patent #6,515,740 entitled "Methods for CMOS-Compatible Three-Dimensional Image-Sensing Quantum Efficiency Modulation" extends the previously-announced Canesta EPT patent, by permitting the calculation of the "time of flight" of a photon of light in the frequency domain, in addition to the time domain. The full text of this patent, including an abstract, may be found at http://www.roeder-johnson.com/RJDocs/CA-Patent-6515740.html. The companion patent, entitled "CMOS-compatible three-dimensional image sensor IC" may be found at http://www.roeder-johnson.com/RJDocs/CA-Patent-6323942.html.
U.S. Patent #6,522,395 named "Noise Reduction Techniques Suitable for Three-Dimensional Information Acquirable from CMOS-compatible Image Sensor IC's" enhances the performance of various electronic perception technology approaches through range-extension, increased resolution, and noise reduction. This is particularly important in security applications, where an object or person needs to be identified accurately and without question, regardless of the distance or interference that might be present in the ambient environment. See http://www.roeder-johnson.com/RJDocs/CA-Patent-6522395.html.
Canesta has also made more than forty other patent applications.
About Canesta
Canesta is the inventor of a revolutionary, low-cost electronic perception technology that enables ordinary electronic devices to perceive and react to nearby objects or individuals in real time.
When sight-enabled with Canesta's unique electronic perception chips and software, consumer, automotive, industrial, military, and medical products will gain functionality and ease of use not possible in an era when electronics were blind.
Canesta was founded in April 1999, and is located in San Jose, Calif. The company has filed or has been granted in excess of forty patents. Investment to date exceeds $20 million, from Carlyle Venture Partners, Apax Partners (formerly Patricof & Co Ventures, Inc.), JP Morgan Partners (formerly Chase Capital Partners), TechFund Capital, and Thales Corporate Ventures (formerly Thomson-CSF Ventures.) Canesta has over 40 employees.
Editors' Note: All trademarks and registered trademarks are those of their respective companies.
Additional background information is available at www.roeder-johnson.com.
For press or Web-quality graphics, contact Paul Michelson at paul@roeder-johnson.com.