Khronos proposes open industry standard for cameras, sensors and touchscreen input

High-level semantic input, low-level device management

It used to be about buttons, keyboards, mice and joysticks, but now hardware can be driven by inputs ranging from touchscreens, to cameras, accelerometers and gyros, and other haptic devices. 

That's why the Khronos Groups has announced an initiative that will look to standardise the way high-level semantic inputs as well as low-level device management capabilities are handled.

Standard aims

Khronos, which is a non-profit consortium consisting of the likes of Google, Apple, Nvidia, Intel et al and controls standards such as OpenGL, has created what it describes as a StreamInput working group that will look to put out a public release within a year.

Chaired by TransGaming Inc, Khronos is aiming for the group to serve up a cross-platform API that will support a general-purpose framework for consistently handling new generation sensors and traditional input devices, and provide sensor synchronisation for multi-sensor applications such as augmented reality.

The idea is, by standardising how such inputs are accessed, the number of apps and their portability will be vastly increased. 

AR on the up

It's a particularly salient aim given the current interest in augmented reality titles, most of which make significant use of such features.

"Input devices now range from simple keyboards, through 9-axis motion positional sensors, to depth ranging cameras with sophisticated image processing," saiid Khronos president and NVIDIA veep of mobile content, Neil Trevett.

"A robust input API is essential to drive the market adoption of advanced sensors by enabling input fusion innovation under a common API that provides portability to application developers.

"This initiative will also enable advanced applications such as augmented reality that need to process and synchronise multiple sensors for a truly seamless end-user experience."

[source: Khronos]

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