Cellular giant signs GestureTek

Vito Pilieci, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, May 17, 2007

Ottawa firm's software makes a camera phone into a game controller

An Ottawa company has signed a deal with one of the world's largest cellphone service providers to bring a new breed of video game to millions of people all over Japan. GestureTek Inc. said yesterday it has licensed its motion sensing technology to NTT DoCoMo -- a company with more than 50 million subscribers. The new technology will appear on two new phones from Sharp Electronics and Panasonic in Japan within the coming weeks. Over the course of the summer, four more phones from other manufacturers will also use the technology.

GestureTek's technology uses the camera on a cellular phone to track movement in a manner that allows people to play video games. "DoCoMo is marketing them as intuitive phones," said Francis MacDougall, chief technology officer and cofounder of GestureTek. "We start up the camera and look from one frame to the next and can tell how far the camera has been moved. We can use that motion vector as a joystick." For example, to play a golf game using the GestureTek system, you would swing your cellphone like a golf club. The camera in the phone will capture the motion, which is then translated into movement in the game, making the video game character swing his club. While the phones using GestureTek's technology won't be available for another few weeks, DoCoMo has already created more than 68 games that will operate on the Ottawa company's technology. DoCoMo has also invested an undisclosed amount in the Ottawa firm and agreed to pay the company royalty payments, based on the number of phones it sells that use GestureTek technology, as part of the deal. Since it is privately held, GestureTek does not reveal its finances publicly, but Mr. MacDougall said the company is profitable. Mr. MacDougall helped to co-found GestureTek about 20 years ago. The company employs 55 across North America, including 21 in Ottawa, the R&D hub.

GestureTek's first products were video games that made their way into museums such as the Museum of Science and Technology and the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The games used cameras to capture a person's movements, which were projected onto a nearby television. The screen showed the player as a goalie stopping pucks in front of a hockey net. The company later devised a method to bring its camera gaming technology into the home. In 2005, the company signed a deal with Sony Corp. to produce its popular EyeToy camera for the Playstation 2 video-game console. The camera tracks a person's movements, which are mimicked by the video-game character. Sony has sold more than 4.5 million EyeToy cameras around the world. GestureTek then teamed with Microsoft Corp. last year to create a similar device for its Xbox 360 video game console called the Xbox Live Vision camera.

GestureTek's technology proved popular. The company was approached by Hasbro Inc.'s Playskool division last year to create a camera video-game system that would capture a child's movement and place that child onscreen with cartoon personalities such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. The child then plays along with the character onscreen. GestureTek is working to provide its technology to Windows mobile devices and hopes to offer the software in North America by the end of the summer. Mr. MacDougall also said the company is in talks with Research In Motion Ltd. to include GestureTek's technology on the new consumer-oriented BlackBerry Pearl device. The company's success is putting stress on its staff levels. Mr. MacDougall said GestureTek plans to add as many as eight more people to its Ottawa operations, a 30-per-cent increase, in coming months

About GestureTek Mobile
GestureTek Mobile is a world leader in gesture-based user interface for mobile devices and the inventor of the patented, award-winning EyeMobile Engine.  EyeMobile Engine is the world’s first software-only solution that uses the existing camera on a cell phone or mobile Internet device to provide people with the ability to interact with their device using gestures. By shaking, rocking or rolling the phone (or making hand motions in front of the phone) users can answer a call, play mobile games, scroll menus, navigate maps, view images and documents, browse the web, enter text messages and do anything else they would normally do on their mobile device, without pressing buttons.  Licensees of GestureTek’s patents or technologies include Sony for the EyeToy, Microsoft for the XBOX 360 and Hasbro for the ION Educational Gaming System.  GestureTek Mobile’s award wins include the 2008 Mobile Innovation Global Award, the LAPTOP Magazine ‘Best of CTIA’ Award and the NATPE++ Award for the Hottest Mobile Application.  Games powered by the EyeMobile Engine have been recognized by the BREW Game Developer Awards, the International Mobile Gaming Awards and the IGN Editors Choice Awards.  GestureTek Mobile developed the first gesture-recognition software to be embedded in NTT DoCoMo phones in Japan and provided the software for the first gesture-controlled mapping application on a cellphone.  EyeMobile supports many handsets on the JAVA, BREW, SYMBIAN, WINDOWS MOBILE and DOJA platforms. Applications are available for over the air download on the Verizon network.  Full developer tools are available on the Qualcomm website.   A catalogue of turnkey games and applications for multiple platforms are available from the GestureTek mobile site. GestureTek Mobile is a business unit of GestureTek Inc., pioneer, patent-holder and world-leader in computer vision control for presentation and entertainment systems.