Haier Selects SoftKinetic to Bring Full-Body Interaction to Smart TVs

3D Camera Tracking on Haier TV Sets Demonstrated at IFA Berlin

SoftKinetic logoBERLIN – August 30, 2012 – Haier, the leading solution provider of brown goods, and SoftKinetic™, the leading developer of end-to-end gesture recognition solutions, have today announced a new partnership to bring 3D cameras to smart TVs for the first time. At IFA Berlin this week, Haier will demonstrate motion-controlled games on smart TVs using SoftKinetic technology.

The first smart TV with full-body recognition and tracking will hit the market in Q2 of 2013 in China, and later that year in Europe. The TV will be powered by technology from SoftKinetic, including the DepthSense™ camera, iisu™ middleware, and a content lineup of games and applications.

“The next frontier for gesture recognition is the living room, and Haier is looking forward to bringing to market the first smart TVs with full-body tracking combined with 3D Stereoscopic rendering for a uniquely immersive interaction,” remarked Christophe Chancenest, sales and marketing director, for Haier Brown Goods Products. “Thanks to the combination of SoftKinetic and Haier technologies, we can create innovative television experiences for consumers and families around the world.”

“We are very pleased to partner with Haier to bring gesture recognition to the smart TV market,” said Michel Tombroff, chief executive officer of SoftKinetic. “As one of the premier electronics manufacturers in the world, Haier is uniquely able to bring full-body motion tracking to living rooms everywhere and we are excited to provide the technology to make it possible.”

The new Haier TV will come with unique games, applications, video conference services, and augmented reality experiences, all leveraging SoftKinetic’s DepthSense camera and iisu middleware. This exciting content line up will be available via Haier’s application store.

SoftKinetic offers hardware, middleware, and applications that can be built once and deployed on multiple devices. With a highly optimized CPU footprint, SoftKinetic’s solutions are perfect for embedded platforms, as well as personal computers, consoles, set-top boxes, and smart TVs. Combined with world-class support, SoftKinetic is the leader in gesture recognition offerings.

For more information please visit www.softkinetic.com.

About SoftKinetic S.A.
SoftKinetic’s vision is to give everyone the freedom to control, explore and enjoy the entire digital world through the most natural and intuitive user interfaces and machine interactions. SoftKinetic is the leading provider of gesture-based platforms for the consumer electronics and professional markets. The company offers a complete family of 3D imaging and gesture recognition solutions, including patented 3D CMOS time-of-flight sensors and cameras (DepthSense™ family of products, formerly known as Optrima product family), multi-platform and multi-camera 3D gesture recognition middleware and tools (iisu™ family of products) as well as games and applications from SoftKinetic Studios.

With over 8 years of R&D on both hardware and software, SoftKinetic solutions have already been successfully used in the field of interactive digital entertainment, consumer electronics, health care and other professional markets (such as digital signage and medical systems). SoftKinetic, iisu, DepthSense and The Interface Is You are trade names or registered trademarks of SoftKinetic. For more information on SoftKinetic please visit www.softkinetic.com. For videos of SoftKinetic-related products visit SoftKinetic’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/SoftKinetic.

About Haier
Haier Group is the world’s leading solution provider to a whole set of home appliances and the distributor through the integration of virtual and physical networks. Founded in Qingdao in 1984, Haier adheres to the innovation system of centering on customers’ needs to drive the sustainable and healthy development.

Haier will demonstrate the new SmartTV experience at its booth at IFA, August 31 to September 5, 2012, in the Messe Berlin, Hall 3.2 booth 134. For more information please visit www.haier.com.


Media Contact
Andrew Karl, TriplePoint for SoftKinetic
akarl@triplepointpr.com
(415) 955-8500