Thursday, September 18, 2014

ams sensors is worth taking a longer look at

http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/ceo-interview-ams-laney-on-driving-a-sensor-driven-business.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222922284&vID=44


and yeah we go WAAY back with these guys.....


when AMS acquired TAOS and that the deal did not represent some kind of reverse takeover. Nonetheless TAOS, which had been a foundry customer of AMS, added significant sales to AMS and under Laney the vision has become to make AMS into a sensor solutions company.


with 75 to 80 percent of sales in the sensorand sensor interface category, said Laney. "The Applied Sensoracquisition [developer of chemical sensors] 


There's a fine line between tracking the market and bringing out a disruptive part. At TAOS we created the market for display management. We thought it was going to be in laptop computers but, in fact, it went quickly with the introduction of smartphones. Now we are looking to add gesture recognition, proximity detection. We have to continually re-invent ourselves."



Nice move on their part....

will read this again


RGBC cells; key to gesture sensing

One example is its gesture sensor solution. Coming built an IR LED, IR proximity detector, and a color sensor of RGB clear, RGBC cells, the gesture sensor solution can read the movements of users’ hands over a smart phone screen, allowing users to flip through screen images one by one with just a swipe of their hands.

“As everybody knows touch screen is very popular, now we can move images juts by waving our hands. Gesture is a new and upcoming application for a smart phone. By waving a hand over the gesture sensor, you can change pictures. Gesture is a next generation of moving screens. Rather than contacting a screen, you simply wave your finger over to move the images. We believe gesture will find its way into many smart phone and tablet applications in the future,” stressed senior vice president Eric Janson.

Key to the gesture solution is a RGBC cell called as color sensor that helps IR LED to exactly detect and measure the movements of users’ hands

"We have RGB clear cells. We have a layer of them put in geometric patterns. When hands move over them, the different color detection cells trigger and detect movements. Making those color filters accurately in the silicon is a key to having a good color sensor. Getting those layers so that they trigger points correctly for gesture also is very important elements. If you only use IR bounce down, then a lot of things trigger points. It is very difficult to detect the movements that way. You can detect presence, not movements. So, you need layers of elements that progressively see the signals. You have an entry signature and exit signature. That’s how we do the movement detections,” explained Eric Janson.

According to him, the IR LED and color sensors work together to sample and reference multiple picture elements to detect four directions- south, east, west and north – as well as angles to exactly read movements of hands.

On top of these key technology building blocks –photo diodes and RGBC color sensor, the company has a hall sensor that detects rotary movements.

Its IR LED technology is also being used in another application for a digital coupon. Built in a smart phone, the IR LED can talk with a bar code scanner at a retailer shop, or a shopping mall to allow smart phone users to redeem a digital discount coupon by jus scanning it through a bar code reader when they go shopping. 

As better audio quality is another compelling UI feature for smart phones, ams AG is supplying an acoustic noise cancellation sensor that steer clear of noises in smart phones’ headsets or headphones.

As sensor technologies are rapidly evolving, they will combine together to explore new yet untapped applications, further fueling demand. That’s where the future of ams AG lies in. “ We need big volume to drive costs down. As costs go down, there can be many more applications, “ emphasized Eric Janson.

So there are 2 areas of overlap....

IRdA ( Mobeam) and gesuture recognition.

here is the Mobeam item to read

Mobeam, ams team up on mobile coupon scanning solution

Feb. 25, 2013

Today ams AG and Mobeam announced a strategic partnership meant to accelerate the enablement of smartphones to transmit barcodes readable by all POS laser scanners. The partnership will provide an integrated solution that consists of ams light sensors and Mobeam light-based beaming technology.
The partnership will allow handset makers to fully support mobile commerce applications that use barcodes with coupons, loyalty cards, gift cards and tickets. The solution is being demonstrated at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
For retailers, the ams-Mobeam partnership could mean the pending demise of paper coupons that require manual sorting and months of waiting for reimbursement. To date "mobile couponing" has been problematic because the vast majority of in-store laser scanners cannot scan the 1D barcodes displayed on mobile phones.
The problem stems from the fact that smartphones use emissive displays from which a common POS barcode reader cannot capture barcode data. To solve this problem, the partnership integrates Mobeam's technology with ams' digital light sensor optical module. The ams TMD3990 module uses the same type of proximity IR LED that is already used in smartphones today to disable the touch-screen display.
"The combination of Mobeam technology and ams sensors will give smartphone makers a single, accurate and powerful integrated solution to participate in the growing mobile couponing and mobile commerce markets," said ams CEO John Heugle. "Our customers look to us to help them create value and differentiation in their products and markets they serve, and we believe this relationship with Mobeam does just that."
Full production of the TMD3990, which combines color light sensing, proximity detection and IR LED barcode transmit function, is scheduled for the third quarter of this year.
"We are incredibly excited to join forces with ams to help move the entire industry towards true mobile commerce," said Chris Sellers, Mobeam CEO. "This partnership with ams will make it easier to integrate our cost-effective Mobeam technology in smartphones." 

QUIK can you add your nane to the next such news item?  Thanks in advance.



Austriamicrosystems Jumps as 2012 Sales Forecast Raised

Austriamicrosystems AG (AMS) rose to the highest price in more than four years in Zurich after the Austrian chipmaker raised its sales forecast a second time this year as consumers buy more smartphones and tablet computers.
The stock gained as much as 11 percent to 68.75 Swiss francs, the highest intraday level since Aug. 10, 2007, and was trading up 8.2 percent as of 11:16 a.m. The stock has jumped 75 percent this year, valuing the company at 927 million francs ($1.02 billion).
Austriamicrosystems expects 2012 sales to increase more than 30 percent, the Unterpremstaetten-based manufacturer said in a statement late yesterday. First-quarter net income more than doubled to 19.2 million euros ($25 million) from 7.4 million euros a year earlier, while sales rose 64 percent to 90.7 million euros. The company increased the revenue forecast previously on Feb. 29, when it predicted full-year growth exceeding 25 percent.
“We see attractive growth potential,” Michael Foeth, an analyst at Bank Vontobel, wrote in a note to investors, adding that Austriamicrosystems’ profit was 60 percent higher than his estimate. He has a buy recommendation on the stock. “All lights on green.”

Also can you issue some news items with such phrases....The company increased the revenue forecast previously





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