4:40 PM -- The day is close by when couch potatoes won't even have to get up to search for a missing remote.
Later this year, we should expect to see consumer electronics that can be controlled by hand gestures -- sort of like a Wii, but without the Wii remote. And while this may be big news for gearheads who crave new gadgets, it's actually major news for JDSU, which is supplying the infrared light source for the Prime Sense equipment, which will enable gesture control of electronics.
JDSU also is providing the optical coating for filters that prevent other light sources from affecting the gesture control device.
According to JDSU's Andre Wong, the Prime Sense device will emit an infrared light, invisible to the human eye, and then extract information from the way that light reflects off a human body.
There are obvious applications for gaming and control of the television, but human gestures could also replace keyboards and other control devices, Wong says.
To see how this works, check it out at jdsu.tv.
For JDSU, which has been making high-reliability light sources for a decade or more, this could be a major new market. Any device that gets widely distributed in the consumer realm would mean major new sales for the company.
"This expands business beyond our core to a market that could be very large," Wong says. "Our products would be moving into the living rooms and into mobile phones as well."
— Carol Wilson, Chief Editor, Events, Light Reading
