Sarnoff to Commercialize Mini Spy-Camera Technology
By Eric Auchard
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sarnoff Corp., the research lab responsible for video inventions dating back to color television, on Tuesday will unveil a miniature digital camera for use in mobile phones, security and auto applications.
The Princeton, N.J.-based research laboratory said its low-power, 1.2 inch by 1 inch BLINC digital camera will allow mobile phone users to send and receive film-quality photo and video images along with their calls.
Sarnoff, a privately held unit of SRI International, created the technology as a part of a U.S. government contract to build a miniaturized surveillance camera for use in covert spy operations, a scientist involved in the project said.
The contract required a camera that would allow its users to carry the device around for weeks before turning it on. The device needed to be able have its exposure adjusted quickly and respond to sudden changes in light.
Mobile phone makers around the globe are expected to upgrade to broadcast-quality video networks over the next several years, enabling a new era of mass-market video making.
MaCaffrey said the camera technology will also have wide application in the surveillance industry. Such devices could be used by automakers to create smarter airbag devices that have been mandated to be built in U.S. cars produced in 2005. Carmakers are looking to use as many as ten miniature cameras per automobile in cars built by 2006 or 2007, he added.
Sarnoff will unveil the new technology at the Society of Photo-optical and Instrumentation Engineers Aerosense Conference in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday.
The scientist said the camera technology offers some of the most advanced dynamic range features available in a camera of any size, let alone one as miniaturized as the BLINC.
Dynamic range is the capacity to capture all details in a scene from bright sunlight to deep shadows. Its Active Pixel Sensor technology delivers more than 100 times the dynamic range of typical cameras, Sarnoff said.
BLINC turns itself on to capture images in under one-tenth of a second, far faster than the two seconds existing technology requires to set exposure and capture an image.
It provides both still image and 30 frame-per-second video capture that broadcast-quality video requires. It pumps out 640 pixel by 480 pixel, 16-bit color video, the quality of basic personal computer screens, Sarnoff said.
It can capture usable images under any lighting situation without the power demands and slow response time of the mechanical iris required by other technologies, the lab said.
The technology uses about 600 milliwatts of power, or about one-fifth that of competing technologies, McCaffrey said.
Asked when products would be commercially available using the technology McCaffrey answered somewhat mysteriously that, ''There could be a product out there now that uses it.'' He declined to comment further saying that Sarnoff's customers prefer to brand the technology as their own and will announce it when they are ready to do so.
Sarnoff developed the color television in the 1930s and liquid crystal displays. It has helped pioneer a range of technologies used in video cameras and other image devices.
