#WIRELESS: "iPhone-6 Revealed in Apple Patent Filings"

Apple has revealed details that will debut in iPhone-6 next year, including a flexible display which raises the outline of letters for tactile feel when keyboards are present on screen, voice activated authentication so iPhone-6 works only with you as user, and gesture-based recognition to assist with image processing algorithms. The patents, in and other themselves, only reveal Apple's ongoing development of next-generation technologies, but the images used to illustrate reveal that the iPhone--with its familiar "home" button--is the target for these technologies: R. Colin Johnson

Two separate flexible display drawings in Apple's patent filing when re-oriented side-by-side look like a clam-shell rather than two separate concept designs.

Raised letters for on-screen keyboards reveal that the surface of the diaplay will no longer be glass, but a deformable polymer.
Here is what Apples patent applications say: Electronic devices may be provided that contain flexible displays and internal components. An internal component may be positioned under the flexible display. The internal component may be an output device such as a speaker that transmits sound through the flexible display or an actuator that deforms the display in a way that is sensed by a user. The internal component may also be a microphone or pressure sensor that receives sound or pressure information through the flexible display. Structural components may be used to permanently or temporarily deform the flexible display to provide tactile feedback to a user of the device. Electronic devices may be provided with concave displays or convex displays formed from one or more flexible layers including a flexible display layer. Portions of the flexible display may be used as speaker membranes for display-based speaker structures.

Voice authentication insures that the user is really the owner.
Here is what Apples patent applications say: A device can be configured to receive speech input from a user. The speech input can include a command for accessing a restricted feature of the device. The speech input can be compared to a voiceprint (e.g., text-independent voiceprint) of the user's voice to authenticate the user to the device. Responsive to successful authentication of the user to the device, the user is allowed access to the restricted feature without the user having to perform additional authentication steps or speaking the command again. If the user is not successfully authenticated to the device, additional authentication steps can be request by the device (e.g., request a password).

Using hand gestures above the screen, users can filter and touch-up images.
Here is what Apples patent applications say: This disclosure pertains to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable medium for mapping particular user interactions, e.g., gestures, to the input parameters of various image filters, while simultaneously setting auto exposure, auto focus, auto white balance, and/or other image processing technique input parameters based on the appropriate underlying image sensor data in a way that provides a seamless, dynamic, and intuitive experience for both the user and the client application software developer. Such techniques may handle the processing of image filters applying location-based distortions as well as those image filters that do not apply location-based distortions to the captured image data. Additionally, techniques are provided for increasing the performance and efficiency of various image processing systems when employed in conjunction with image filters that do not require all of an image sensor's captured image data to produce their desired image filtering effects.

Further Reading

#MEMS: "Ultrabook Convertables Tap Gyroscopes"

Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) sensors automatically switch screen orientation from portrait to landscape, as well as to track orientation for augmented reality and indoor navigation applications, but mostly for smartphones and tablets today. The convertible Ultrabook, however, also requires MEMS accelerometers,gyroscopes, altimeters and compasses, since convertible Ultrabooks combine a laptop with a detachable screen that acts like a touch tablet. As a result the MEMS chip market is expected to jump sharply: R. Colin Johnson

Here is what IHS says about MEMS in Ultrabooks: Intel Corp.’s initiative to promote new features like indoor navigation and augmented reality in ultrabooks will spur dramatic growth in the sales of motion sensors for the next-generation notebook PCs, with revenue rising by a factor of 14 during the next four years.
Global sales of motion sensors—including accelerometers, gyroscopes and compasses—used in ultrabooks will expand to $117.3 million by 2016, up from just $8.3 million in 2012, as shown in the figure attached. This equates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 93.9 percent for 2012 through 2016, according to the IHS iSuppli MEMS & Sensors Service at information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS).
“At its Intel Developer Forum (IDF) this month, Intel confirmed that new ultrabooks will support similar features now found in smartphones and media tablets, such as gaming, indoor navigation and augmented reality—all requiring the use of motion sensors,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and senior principal analyst for MEMS and sensors at IHS. “This will open up an entirely new market for motion sensors, specifically for accelerometers, gyroscopes and compasses.”

The drop test
Until now, the only type of motion sensors used in notebooks were accelerometers, which are employed for the free-fall function that protects the hard disk drive (HDD) by parking the read/write head if the computer is dropped. This market is bound to shrink due to the adoption of solid state drives (SSDs), which eliminate the need for HDDs in notebooks.
However, the advent of ultrabooks makes use of accelerometers relevant again in notebook PCs, used for functions such as auto screen rotation. Ultrabooks also will open up a new market for compasses and gyroscopes, which detect direction and motion. These devices are commonly used for gaming and for navigation in media tablets and smartphones, whose features and functionality ultrabooks are seeking to emulate.

Convertible Ultrabooks coming
Intel began strongly promoting the use of motion sensors and even pressure sensors in ultrabooks last year. However, the company had not clearly stated that these sensors would be used in convertible and detachable ultrabooks. Prior to IDF, IHS stated that it would not make sense to add a gyroscope or compass to a conventional ultrabook because the format would not be appropriate.
At the time, IHS believed that it would only make sense to use motion sensors for convertible ultrabooks—those that could be converted into a monolithic tablet and detached from the base. At IDF, Intel confirmed this is where MEMS sensors will be used: in convertible—or detached—ultrabooks.

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#MARKETS: "Google Nav Preludes Boeing, NextNav, and Glopos"

Google is quickly cobbling together a location-based service infrastructure that combines WiFi, GPS and dead reckoning with cellular triangulation a last resort, but such patchwork solutions are yeilding to ubiquitous radio-frequency solutions from Boeing, NextNav and Glopos which pinpoint locations with a single proprietary technique, thus catapulting location-based services into the next-generation: R. Colin Johnson

NextNav owns, operates and manages every element of its dedicated positioning network built on licensed spectrum.

Here is what ABI Research says about the next-generation of location-based services: ​Google has been named the leading alternative location vendor in the latest Competitive Assessment released by ABI Research. The report looks to the future, considering companies best placed to provide a high-accuracy, ubiquitous location solution on which a range of applications and services can be supported. Google’s value chain support, relative market share, and combination of wide-area (GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular) and future precision indoor technologies, illustrates how it’s bringing together all the necessary elements to remain a success in this space. Qualcomm is ranked 2nd with the Nokia/Microsoft alliance ranked 3rd.

ABI Research’s “vendor matrix” is a key component of the overall assessment. Alternative location vendors were compared across 15 criteria, falling under the broader categories of “innovation” and “implementation.”

On implementation, Qualcomm tops the list scoring highly for its hybrid approach, value-chain support, privacy, and partnerships. Its iZat platform offers a range of location technologies across a number of device markets. Google is ranked second with Skyhook Wireless ranked third. Skyhook Wireless has established itself as a viable Google-alternative for Wi-Fi location and location analytics, and a strong score for markets supported as it expands into femtocells, eBooks, and gaming. However, its lower innovation score reflects the need to move into indoor technologies and results in a lower overall ranking.

On innovation, Google is ranked 1st thanks to its work on precision indoor technologies, developer support, and low implementation costs. Qualcomm and Nokia/Microsoft are joint second, with Apple third due to its lack of current indoor location technologies. Nokia/Microsoft’s surprising overall ranking is largely based on its long-term innovation and potential rather than its current offerings. The partnership has many of the elements necessary for a strong alternative location ecosystem in place. Nokia’s In-Location Alliance should bring about a new wave of indoor location technologies, in particular its low cost, high accuracy Bluetooth solution.

“With Wi-Fi and cellular alternative location now standard technologies in the cellular space, the hunt is on to meet future mandate and indoor requirements. Boeing, NextNav, and Glopos represent some of the most interesting ubiquitous, indoor and outdoor solution providers covered in this report,” says senior analyst Patrick Connolly.

This Competitive Assessment provides a rating of the leading GPS IC vendors. A total of 15 companies were analyzed scrutinized against several criteria in addition to a market share analysis. These findings are part of ABI Research’s Location Technologies Research Service.
Further Reading

#MARKETS: "Internet Tide Raises All Boats--Even Cable"

The demise of cable and satellite TV may have been myth--at least on a global basis--as recent trends indicate that the rising tide of Internet TV watching in the U.S. is being accompanied by more pay TV watching worldwide: R. Colin Johnson

Here is what ABI Research says about IP-TV's affect on Pay-TV: Despite Growing Shift to Internet TV Services, the global pay-TV market continues to grow. Despite a decline in the North America pay-TV market in 2012, ABI Research forecasts that global pay TV subscribers will reach 858.1 million at the end of 2012, a 5% year-on-year increment from 2011. The key growth will be driven by the Asian-Pacific market which is expected to add more than 27 million subscribers in 2012.

Cable TV operators in United States have been facing a continuous decline in pay-TV subscribers. In the first two quarters of 2012, Cable TV operators lost nearly 0.8 million subscribers, although their broadband subscriber base has continued to grow. IPTV, which has less penetration than cable or satellite in the US market, gained around 0.6 million subscribers during the same period.

ABI Research’s new market data product, “Pay-TV Subscribers” is updated quarterly and profiles global pay-TV subscription information. Detailed market trends and market forecast information for key regions and countries around the world are provided where available. These findings are part of ABI Research’s Pay TV Research Service, which includes Market Data, Insights, and Competitive Assessments.
Further Reading

#CHIPS: "How Xeon Phi Stacks Up to GPUs"

The big question in parallel processing today is whether the Xeon Phi's 50+ x86 cores can stack up to the hundreds of thread processors on Tesla GPUs. The jury is still out, since the Xeon Phi will not be shipping until this fall, but early energy efficiency tests cited by Intel at the recent Hot Chips conference, indicate that Top500 results favor Xeon Phi (see figure below): R. Colin Johnson

Here is what Go-Parallel says about Xeon Phi versus GPU: Xeon Phi lead architect George Chrysos presented comparisons between using Xeon Phi co-processors instead of graphics-processor units (GPUs) at the recent Hot Chips conference. According to the Top500 Super Computer Sites ranking, Intel’s many-integrated core (MIC) architecture not only outperformed the two top GPU-based supercomputers on the most recent Top500 list, but was also “greener” by virtue of providing more performance-per-Watt.
Further Reading

#ROBOTICS: "Visual Servo Simplifies Robot Control"

A novel new technique that simplifies remote control of robots was recently demonstrated by the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Called an uncalibrated visual servo, the new method implements a vision-guided control system that responds to human commands more directly and intuitively than today: R. Colin Johnson

Matt Marshall, a Ph.D. student in the Georgia Tech School of Mechanical Engineering, uses a joystick controller based on visual servoing to command the motions of a robotic arm (with a 3-D camera attached) to grasp a cup. Shown left to right are Michael Matthews, a research engineer; Gary McMurray, a GTRI division chief; Ai-Ping Hu, a GTRI research engineer, and Marshall. (Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek)

Here is what Georgia Tech says about visual servos: Using a novel method of integrating video technology and familiar control devices, a research team from the Georgia Institute of Technology is developing a technique to simplify remote control of robotic devices.

The researchers’ aim is to enhance a human operator’s ability to perform precise tasks using a multi-jointed robotic device such as an articulated mechanical arm. The new approach has been shown to be easier and faster than older methods, especially when the robot is controlled by an operator who is watching it in a video monitor.

Known as Uncalibrated Visual Servoing for Intuitive Human Guidance of Robots, the new method uses a special implementation of an existing vision-guided control method called visual servoing (VS). By applying visual-servoing technology in innovative ways, the researchers have constructed a robotic system that responds to human commands more directly and intuitively than older techniques.

Watch a YouTube video of uncalibrated visual servoing.
“Our approach exploits 3-D video technology to let an operator guide a robotic device in ways that are more natural and time-saving, yet are still very precise,” said Ai-Ping Hu, a senior research engineer with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). “This capability could have numerous applications – especially in situations where directly observing the robot’s operation is hazardous or not possible – including bomb disposal, handling of hazardous materials and search-and-rescue missions.”

A paper on this technology was presented at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation held in St. Paul, Minn.

For decades articulated robots have been used by industry to perform precision tasks such as welding vehicle seams or assembling electronics, Hu explained. The user develops a software program that enables the device to cycle through the required series of motions, using feedback from sensors built into the robot.

But such programming can be complex and time-consuming. The robot must typically be maneuvered joint by joint through the numerous actions required to complete a task. Moreover, such technology works only in a structured and unchanging environment, such as a factory assembly line, where spatial relationships are constant.

In recent years, new techniques have enabled human operators to freely guide remote robots through unstructured and unfamiliar environments, to perform such challenging tasks as bomb disposal, Hu said. Operators have controlled the device in one of two ways: by “line of sight” – direct user observation – or by means of conventional, two-dimensional camera that is mounted on the robot to send back an image of both the robot and its target.

But humans guiding robots via either method face some of the same complexities that challenge those who program industrial robots, he added. Manipulating a remote robot into place is generally slow and laborious.

That’s especially true when the operator must depend on the imprecise images provided by 2-D video feedback. Manipulating separate controls for each of the robot’s multiple joint axes, users have only limited visual information to help them and must maneuver to the target by trial and error.

“Essentially, the user is trying to visualize and reconstruct a 3-D scenario from flat 2-D camera images,” Hu said. “The process can become particularly confusing when operators are facing in a different direction from the robot and must mentally reorient themselves to try to distinguish right from left. It’s somewhat similar to backing up a vehicle with an attached trailer – you have to turn the steering wheel to the left to get the trailer to move right, which is decidedly non-intuitive.”

To simplify user control, the Georgia Tech team turned to visual servoing (a term synonymous with visual activation). Visual servoing has been studied for years as a way to use video cameras to help robots re-orient themselves within a structured environment such as an assembly line.

Traditional visual servoing is calibrated, meaning that position information generated by a video camera can be transformed into data meaningful to the robot. Using these data, the robot can adjust itself to stay in a correct spatial relationship with target objects.

“Say a conveyor line is accidently moved a few millimeters,” Hu said. “A robot with a calibrated visual servoing capability can automatically detect the movement using the video image and a fixed reference point, and then readjust to compensate.”

But visual servoing offers additional possibilities. The research team – which includes Hu, associate professor Harvey Lipkin of the School of Mechanical Engineering, graduate student Matthew Marshall, GTRI research engineer Michael Matthews and GTRI principal research engineer Gary McMurray — has adapted visual-servoing technology in ways that facilitate human control of remote robots.

The new technique takes advantage of both calibrated and uncalibrated techniques. A calibrated 3-D “time of flight” camera is mounted on the robot – typically at the end of a robotic arm, in a gripping device called an end-effector. This approach is sometimes called an eye-in-hand system, because of the camera’s location in the robot’s “hand.”

The camera utilizes an active sensor that detects depth data, allowing it to send back 3-D coordinates that pinpoint the end-effector’s spatial location. At the same time, the eye-in-hand camera also supplies a standard, uncalibrated 2-D grayscale video image to the operator’s monitor.

The result is that the operator, without seeing the robot, now has a robot’s-eye view of the target. Watching this image in a monitor, an operator can visually guide the robot using a gamepad, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of a first-person 3-D video game.

In addition, visual-servoing technology now automatically actuates all the joints needed to complete whatever action the user indicates on the gamepad – rather than the user having to manipulate those joints one by one. In the background, the Georgia Tech system performs the complex computation needed to coordinate the monitor image, the 3-D camera information, the robot’s spatial position and the user’s gamepad commands.

“The guidance process is now very intuitive – pressing ‘left’ on the gamepad will actuate all the requisite robot joints to effect a leftward displacement,” Hu said. “What’s more, the robot could be upside down and the controls will still respond in the same intuitive way – left is still left and right is still right.”

To judge system usability, the Georgia Tech research team recently conducted trials to test whether the visual-servoing approach enabled faster task-completion times. Using a gamepad that controls an articulated-arm robot with six degrees of freedom, subjects performed four tests: they used visual-servoing guidance as well as conventional joint-based guidance, in both line-of-sight and camera-view modes.

In the line-of-sight test, volunteer participants using visual-servoing guidance averaged task-completion times that were 15 percent faster than when they used joint-based guidance. However, in camera-view mode, participants using visual-servoing guidance averaged 227 percent faster results than with the joint-based technique.

Hu noted that the visual-servoing system used in this test scenario was only one of numerous possible applications of the technology. The research team’s plans include testing a mobile platform with a VS-guided robotic arm mounted on it. Also underway is a proof-of-concept effort that incorporates visual-servoing control into a low-cost, consumer-level robot.

“Our ultimate goal is to develop a generic, uncalibrated control framework that is able to use image data to guide many different kinds of robots,” he said.
Further Reading

#COGNIZERS: "Brain Regions Compete for Control of You"

If you are like me, your will-power is constantly being tested by fatty goods--as if a little angel on one shoulder is saying "yes" while a devil on the other is saying "no"--and now neuroscientists have found that its true. Different brain regions compete for control of our will-power, especially during trying times, such as when going on a diet: R. Colin Johnson

Brain-in-a-Jar at the Science Museum, London, by Gaetan Lee. Tilt corrected by Kaldari. Source: Wikipedia

Here is what the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) says about the brain and will-power: Almost everyone knows the feeling: you see a delicious piece of chocolate cake on the table, but as you grab your fork, you think twice. The cake is too fattening and unhealthy, you tell yourself. Maybe you should skip dessert.

In order to make the healthy choice, we often have to engage in this kind of internal struggle. Now, scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have identified the neural processes at work during such self-regulation—and what determines whether you eat the cake.

"We seem to have independent systems capable of guiding our decisions, and in situations like this one, these systems may compete for control of what we do," says Cendri Hutcherson, a Caltech postdoctoral scholar who is the lead author on a new paper about these competing brain systems, which will be published in the September 26 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

"In many cases, these systems guide behavior in the same direction, so there's no conflict between them," she adds. "But in other cases, like the all-too-common inner fight to resist the temptation of eating the chocolate cake, they can guide behavior toward different outcomes. Furthermore, the outcome of the decision seems to depend on which of the two systems takes control of behavior."

A large body of evidence shows that people make decisions by assigning different values to the various options, says Antonio Rangel, a professor of economics and neuroscience and the senior author of the paper. To make their decisions, people select the choice with the highest value. "An important and controversial open question—which this study was designed to address—is whether there is a single value signal in the brain, or if there are instead multiple value signals with different properties that compete for the control of behavior."

According to the single-value hypothesis, Rangel explains, the ability to say no to the chocolate cake depends on just one system that compares values like healthiness and taste. But the multiple-value hypothesis suggests that there are different systems that process different values. The ability to turn down the cake therefore depends on whether the brain can activate the appropriate system—the one that evaluates healthiness. If you do not want the cake, it means you place a higher value on health than on taste and your brain acts accordingly.

In the study, the researchers asked 26 volunteers to refrain from eating for four hours prior to being tested. During the experiment, a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine was used to measure the brain activity of the hungry participants while they decided how much they were willing to pay for different snacks, which were shown on a computer screen. The items, including foods like chips and vegetables, varied in taste and healthiness. The subjects were explicitly asked to make their choices in one of three conditions: while attempting to suppress their desire to eat the food, while attempting to increase their desire to eat the food, or while acting normally. The volunteers could do whatever they wanted to control themselves—for example, focusing on the taste (say, to increase their desire to eat something delicious but unhealthy) or the healthiness of the item (to reduce that urge).

After a four-second period, the participants placed real bids for the right to buy the items that reflected the value they placed on the food.

The researchers found that activity in two different brain areas correlated with how much the participants said they wanted an item, as indicated by their bids. The two regions were the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), which sits behind the temples, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), which is in the middle of the forehead just above the eyes.

Significantly, the two areas played very different roles in the self-regulation process. When volunteers told themselves not to want the food, the dlPFC seemed to take control; there was a stronger correlation between the signals in this area and behavior, while the signals in the vmPFC appeared to have no influence on behavior. When the volunteers encouraged themselves to want the food, however, the role of each brain region flipped. The vmPFC took control while the signals in the dlPFC appeared to have no effect.

The researchers also found that the brain's ability to switch control between these two areas was not instantaneous. It took a couple of seconds before the brain was able to fully ignore the conflicting region. For example, when a volunteer tried to suppress a craving, the vmPFC initially appeared to drive behavior. Only after a couple of seconds—while the participant tried to rein in his or her appetite—did the correlation between bids and vmPFC activity disappear and the dlPFC seem to take over.

"This research suggests a reason why it feels so difficult to control your behavior," Hutcherson says. "You've got these really fast signals that say, go for the tempting food. But only after you start to go for it are you able to catch yourself and say, no, I don't want this."

Previous work in Rangel's lab showed that when dieters made similar food choices, their decisions were controlled only by the vmPFC. The researchers speculate that because dieters are more accustomed to self-control, their brains do not show the neural struggle seen in the new study. If that is the case, then it may be possible that people can improve their self-control with more practice.

In addition to Hutcherson and Rangel, the other authors on the Journal of Neuroscience paper are Hilke Plassmann from the École Normale Supérieure in France and James Gross of Stanford. The title of the paper is "Cognitive regulation during decision making shifts behavioral control between ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal value systems." This research was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Further Reading

#3D: "Stereoscopic Displays Aim for Billions"

A quarter of a billion 3D displays will be shipped yearly by 2019, according to DisplaySearch which claims that 3D-TVs are driving user acceptance of stereo imagery: R. Colin Johnson

Here is what DisplaySearch says about 3D: The 3D display market is set to grow from 50.8 million units and $13.2 billion in revenue in 2011 to 226 million units and $67 billion in revenue in 2019 worldwide, according to the NPD DisplaySearch 3D Display Technology and Market Forecast Report. 3D TVs contribute heavily to this projection and create the largest revenue stream with anticipated growth from 25 million units in 2011 to approximately 180 million units in 2019.

The 3D display market will grow to over a quarter of a billion units by 2019. Source: NPD DisplaySearch 2012 3D Display Technology and Market Forecast Report

As 3D TV shipments increase, so will household penetration of the devices. NPD DisplaySearch forecasts 3D-ready TV penetration to increase from 10% to more than 50% by 2019 worldwide, but actual usage of 3D may not move as quickly.

“Our research shows that even though consumers own these 3D-ready TV devices, they haven’t viewed a significant amount of content on them,” noted Colegrove. “Before broader adoption can be expected, there is still a need for more 3D content and a smoother set-up process for 3D TV.”

Evolving Auto-Stereoscopic (Glasses-Free) Technologies

The success of portable game devices with 3D displays, such as the Nintendo 3DS, has shown that auto-stereoscopic 3D (in which the 3D effect is created by the display and does not require glasses to see) is ready for use in commercial products. Moving forward, NPD DisplaySearch forecasts an increased penetration of auto-stereoscopic 3D in mobile phones and DSC/camcorders over the next few years.

Glasses will be necessary for many 3D applications such as TVs and monitors for many years to come due to the limitations and high price of auto-stereoscopic technologies for large displays. However, NPD DisplaySearch expects to see auto-stereoscopic 3D tablet PCs in the market in 2013 (LG Electronics previously produced an anaglyph 3D tablet that required red/blue glasses). In addition, auto-stereoscopic 3D has begun to be used in public displays as a method of gaining attention.

The NPD DisplaySearch 3D Display Technology and Market Forecast Report includes a comprehensive analysis of stereoscopic 3D display technologies and market forecasts through 2019. The report profiles more than 180 3D display-related companies, with a breakdown by technology for the 3D display and the supply chain. 3D image creation and processing, human factors, content delivery and standardization are also discussed in the report.
Further Reading