[iPAQ rw6828, XDA Atom ROM Development] bombayboom:
Dear Friends,

A company that supplies motion-sensing technology for video games is bringing that technology to cell phones.

Earlier this week, GestureTek announced that NTT DoCoMo in Japan would be embedding the EyeMobile gesture recognition technology into two new FOMA 904i series handsets.

The new DoCoMo phones, which are being released in Japan this month, will initially use the motion-sensing technology for games. Later in the year, the phones will be able to use gesture-sensing for map browsing. Eventually, the technology will also be used for motion-controlled menu scrolling, picture browsing and mobile Internet surfing, company executives said.

Motion-sensing technology has recently come into vogue with the huge success of Nintendo's Wii game console, which enables people to hit tennis volleys like they're Venus Williams. The Wii uses tiny embedded devices called accelerometers that detect motion. Some handset makers, such as Nokia, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and even newcomer Apple, are using accelerometer technology to provide some kind of motion-sensing capability in a handful of handset models.

This approach requires handset manufactures to design these tiny devices into handsets, adding cost and power consumption to each device. GestureTek's technology takes a different approach. It's completely software-based and uses already embedded cameras in handsets to track movements.

"The software processes one image and compares it to the next to see how objects have moved in relation to each other to determine motion," said Francis MacDougall, founder and chief technology officer of GestureTek. "DoCoMo loved the technology because it didn't require them to redesign the handset. It was just a software upgrade."

The software supports three main types of motion, dubbed shake, rock and roll. Shake can be used for actions such as rolling dice and shuffling MP3 decks. Rock interprets right, left, up and down gestures to generate traditional cursor-style user input commands. Roll offers joystick control by responding to tilting motions used in navigating games, maps or Web pages.

But some experts say GestureTek's motion-sensing technology is less sensitive than using accelerometers and gyroscopes. Those devices track movements three-dimensionally, while GestureTek's EyeMobile software only tracks movements in two dimensions. Still, GestureTek's technology is less expensive and a lot faster to implement than adding components that increase the cost of the device and require new product designs.

"Accelerometers and gyroscopes will likely give more bang for the buck over the long term," said Marlene Bourne, president and principal analyst for Bourne Research. "But GestureTek's technology can get motion-sensing applications to market a lot faster."

GestureTek, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is over 20 years old. The company got its start developing camera-based motion-sensing technology for museum installations. It then moved on to providing technology for digital signage, retail displays and devices such as the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony PlayStation 2 EyeToy.

The deal with DoCoMo is the first time the company has licensed its technology to be embedded in mobile phones. The company has licensed its software to third-party BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) developers to create games for Verizon Wireless subscribers. But in that case, the software is downloaded as part of the game and is not used for more advanced motion-sensing navigation applications.

The EyeMobile Engine is a software-only solution that uses the existing camera on mobile phones to enable innovative mobile device interfaces and applications through real-time motion control.

An intuitive alternative to conventional mobile phone interfaces, EyeMobile allows you to do anything you would normally do with the device, such as...

	Answer calls

	Make a menu selection

	Scrolling, pan, and zooming

Control games with hand motion

Instead of using small and cumbersome device buttons, EyeMobile enables you to use real-life motion for game control:

	Driving

	Flying

	Throwing

	Shooting

	Fly-casting

EyeMobile Engine API for Developers

A convenient environment for authoring EyeMobile-enabled applications for OTA and pre-embedded delivery to mobile devices, the EyeMobile Engine application programming interface (API) provides application developers with the means to integrate motion control with applications much the same way as with current analog controls such as keys and buttons.

The EyeMobile Engine SDK for OEMs

Provides mobile device manufacturers with an ideal development environment for embedding EyeMobile Engine features.

Shake, Rock & Roll

Shake, Rock, and Roll are the EyeMobile Engine's three levels of tracking. Shake provides the amount of “shake” as a single value that the programmer can use as an input for such actions as shuffling MP3 play lists, throwing dice, etc. Rock is a gesture recognition system built on top of the Roll engine; Roll provides joystick-style input control.

Shake

The EyeMobile Shake extension provides developers with a “force of motion” control interface. Applications can then be controlled by how vigorously the user shakes the mobile device. Whenever a frenetic user-action is appropriate, the EyeMobile Shake extension may be implemented.

Rock & Roll

The EyeMobile RocknRoll extension provides the ability to control an application either by rocking the mobile device (i.e. flicking forward and back or side to side) or rolling it (i.e. tilting it from side to side or up and down). The RocknRoll extension presents the opportunity to control applications based upon rock, roll, or a combination of the two. With Rock, you can use the flick of a wrist to answer a call or simulate a throw. Use Roll to turn the pages of a document or for steering and navigation. Combine Rock and Roll to simulate mouse or joystick control.

Platforms

	BREW

	SYMBIAN

	LINUX

EAGER TO KNOW.....

ANY IDEA ABOVE IS POSSIBLE WITH OUR ATOM DEVICE (ATLEAST IN NEAR FUTURE) ...................????????