Qualcomm to Integrate Gesture Technology in to Snapdragon Chips

Qualcomm has announced that it has aquired various intellectual properties from the GestureTek company. GestureTek has been implementing gesture based technology for 25 years and by Qualcomm acquiring certain interlectual properties, it will allow them to add this technology to the Snapdragon line of processors which are generally used in many smartphones, tablets and other entertainment devices.

It isn’t known just yet how long it will be before GestureTek technology gets put to use in smartphones, but we suspect in the next year or so we’ll see smartphones using the new generation of snapdragon processors, hopefully with the OS that uses it being able to put the new gesture controls to work.

Press Release

Qualcomm Acquires Gesture Recognition Assets from GestureTek

SAN DIEGO – July 25, 2011 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that it has acquired certain assets from GestureTek, a developer of gesture recognition technology. A leader in the gesture recognition field, GestureTek has more than 25 years of experience implementing gesture-based technologies in mobile devices, entertainment facilities, healthcare systems, retail locations, and public and private venues. The acquisition gives Qualcomm ownership of certain intellectual property assets related to gesture recognition, as well as key engineering resources. GestureTek is retaining other assets in continuation of its gesture-controlled public display and digital signage business.

“Applications processors are enabling a range of new ways for consumers to interface with their home entertainment and mobile devices,” said Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president and group president, Qualcomm. “Our acquisition of key technology and assets from GestureTek will strengthen Qualcomm’s smartphone product portfolio and enable our customers to launch products with new and compelling user experiences.”

Gesture recognition technology will be integrated into Qualcomm’s current and next-generation Snapdragon™ processors, giving OEMs the capability to produce smartphones, tablets and home entertainment devices with user interfaces based on natural human gestures.

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