手势控制Android智能电视将在中国首发

西方关于中国(及其消费电子市场)最常见的一个误解是：本地厂商只能生产功能不太给力的二流电视，以便提供中国消费者负担得起的较低价格。 从许多方面来看，这种“看法”是错误的。 首先，据美国Hillcrest Labs周三(5月23日)公布的消息，中国领先消费品牌TCL本月将在中国开始推出安卓智能电视。这种电视将装载Hillcrest获得专利的动作软件Freespace。令人意外的是，TCL的手势控制智能电视将最先在中国上市，今年稍晚在其它市场推出。 其次，在索尼或其它厂商的Google TV尚未在美国、欧洲和日本流行之际，TCL积极开拓中国智能电视市场。TCL展现出无人能及的速度，正在率先推出具有先进功能的智能电视。获得这种速度的关键是可授权软件与现成的智能电视SoC。TCL通过与Hillcrest合作获得了所需软件，并利用了台湾最大消费芯片厂商开发的一款安卓电视SoC。该台湾厂商可能是联发科技，或者可能是MStar。 在今年稍早举行的拉斯维加斯消费电子展期间，联发科技在一个凭请柬才能进入的酒店会议室展示了其动作控制安卓电视SoC。但当人有询问TCL的一款产品设计时，联发科技拒绝评论。通过使用Hillcrest的动作软件，TCL正在把动作、手势和鼠标控制引入安卓智能电视。 第三，永远不要低估日益壮大的中国中产阶层的影响力。据主要针对八个国家(巴西，中国，印度，俄罗斯，法国，德国，日本和美国)消费电子技术使用与支出情况的2011年埃森哲调查报告，中国消费者属于最热衷于购买3D电视和智能手机等最新消费技术之列。 第四，据DisplaySearch公司的最新市场调研报告，截止到2012年第一季度，TCL已成为进入全球液晶电视市场份额前五名的第一家中国电视厂商。认识到这点很重要。TCL排名快速上升，不是简单地通过生产常规的普通电视实现的。 据TCL介绍，该公司是通过持续改善产品组合和提高高端产品比例来实现飞跃的。2012年4月，TCL的LED背光液晶电视占其总体液晶电视销量的72%。智能/互联网电视和3D电视在中国市场的销量分别达到339279台和145064台，分别占中国市场总体液晶电视出货量的45.9%和19.6%。

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本文下一页：动作感应软件的秘密 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载

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{pagination} 智能电视的差异化主要体现在软件上面，而不是硬件。在这方面，Hillcrest所提供的帮助正是TCL所需要的，其软件使得TCL的动作控制智能电视变得更加易用、快速而且具有很高的质量性能。

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TCL的LCD事业部总经理Warren Wang表示，把Hillcrest的软件加到TCL的旗舰型智能电视和安卓智能电视产品线之中，帮助TCL“在中国市场中的创新，建立了新标准”。据Hillcrest，Hillcrest的Freespace动作控制软件技术已经用于LG电视之中，以及LG即将推出的Google TV智能电视的遥控器之中。 Hillcrest 的Freespace自然动作产品线的核心是Freespace Motion Engine嵌入软件。Hillcrest表示，该软件可以提供授权，集成到客户的硬件之中，也可以作为预先编程的Freespace Sensor Module的组成部分或一款Hillcrest参考设计产品来购买。 Freespace MotionEngine软件通过多家MEMS供应商的加速计、陀螺仪和磁传感器来执行，这些供应商包括InvenSense、意法半导体和飞思卡尔。Hillcrest的模块化软件解决方案可以运行于嵌入式控制器或主处理器。对于遥控器和游戏控制器，这使得MotionEngine可以运行于控制器、USB dongle甚至直接运行于电视或STB SoC。 MotionEngine处理的动作数据利用一个基于标准的API传送，并兼容USB、蓝牙、ZigBee RF4CE和其它多种可配置外设、操作模式及协议。据Hillcrest ，Hillcrest预先把MotionEngine与许多主要RF供应商的产品集成在一起，如博通和德州仪器。 据Hillcrest，Movea是Hillcrest最直接的竞争对手。Hillcrest 表示，让Hillcrest的Freespace Motion Engine独具优势的是其上市时间。Hillcrest在MEMS传感器方面有八年多的经验，而且其软件采取模块化方式，因此能够抢先推出上述软件。 Hillcrest的软件还通过采用该公司的传感器融合、标准算法和软件，可提供较高精度性能，以及高质量动作设备。Hillcrest表示，该公司“强大的传感器验证程序和动态算法，可弥补传感器老化和环境因素的影响”。 此外，Hillcrest的Freespace MotionEngine基于不需要“视线”操作的惯性传感器。据Hillcrest，传统的红外器件或动作感应器件使用摄像头或光学传感器，需要“视线”操作，与这些解决方案相比，Freespace Motion Engine可实现更加轻松的使用模式。 编译：Luffy Liu 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：TCL to launch motion-controlled Android TV first in China, by Junko Yoshida

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• 苹果iTV能否再续“I系”辉煌？Rxtesmc

{pagination} TCL to launch motion-controlled Android TV first in China Junko Yoshida TOKYO – One of the most common western misconceptions about China (and its CE market) is that the role of local vendors is to build cut-rate TV sets with fewer bells and whistles, then pass along lower prices that Chinese consumers can afford. That “understanding” is turning out to be wrong on many levels. First, according to an announcement from Hillcrest Labs (Rockville, Md.) Wednesday (May 23), leading Chinese consumer brand TCL will start shipping Android-based smart TVs this month in China. The TVs will feature Hillcrest’s patented motion software, Freespace. The surprise here is that China gets first dibs on TCL’s gesture-controlled smart TVs. They will become available in other markets later this year. Second, at a time when Google TVs by Sony or others have yet to catch on either in the U.S., Europe or Japan, TCL is eagerly positioning itself to mine the Chinese smart TV market. TCL is demonstrating its second-to-none speed in becoming a leading vendor of smart TVs with advanced features. The keys to that speed are licensable software and readily available smart TV SoCs. TCL pulled it off first by partnering with Hillcrest, and second, leveraging an Android TV SoC developed by one of the biggest Taiwanese consumer chip companies -- either MediaTek or MStar. MediaTek showed off its motion-controlled Android TV SoC at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year in an invitation-only hotel ball room in Las Vegas. Asked about a design with TCL, MediaTek, however, declined to comment. By using Hillcrest’s motion software, TCL is bringing motion, gesture and cursor control to Android-powered Smart TVs. Third, never underestimate the growing affluence of the middle class in China. According to a 2011 Accenture survey focused on usage and spending on consumer electronics technologies in eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Russia, France, Germany, Japan and the United States), Chinese consumers were among the most enthusiastic purchasers of the latest consumer technologies including 3-D TV and smart phones. Fourth, it’s important to recognize that as of the first quarter in 2012, TCL has become the first Chinese TV company to be ranked in the top five in global LCD TV market share, according to the latest market research report by DisplaySearch. The Chinese company didn’t make this rapid ascent simply by making no-frills TV sets. TCL has made its great leap forward by continuing to improve its product mix and proportion of high-end products, according to the company. In April 2012, TCL’s sales volume of LED-backlight LCD TVs as a percentage of total LCD TV sales volume was 72%. The sales volume of smart & internet TV and 3D TV in the Chinese market reached 339,279 sets and 145,064 sets, representing 45.9% and 19.6% of total LCD TV shipments in China. Hillcrest’s software Differentiation among smart TVs comes more from software rather than hardware. In this light, Hillcrest has offered just the right kind of help TCL needed to make its motion-controlled smart TVs easy, quick and at high quality performance. Adding Hillcrest’s software to TCL’s flagship smart TV and android smart TV product line helps TCL set “a new standard for innovation in the Chinese market,” said Warren, Wang, General Manager of TCL’s LCD Business Unit at TCL. After all, Hillcrest’s Freespace motion control software technology is already used in LG’s TVs and LG’s remote for its upcoming smart TV with Google TV, according to Hillcrest. At the core of Hillcrest’s Freespace natural-motion product line sits the Freespace Motion Engine embedded software. It is designed to be licensed for integration into a customer’s hardware, or it can be purchased as part of a pre-programmed Freespace Sensor Module, or a Hillcrest reference design product, said Hillcrest. Freespace MotionEngine software is implemented with accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetic sensors from a variety of the MEMS suppliers including InvenSense, ST Microelectronics and Freescale. Hillcrest’s modular software solution can run on an embedded microcontroller or host processor. For remote controls and game controllers, this enables the MotionEngine to run on the controller, on a USB dongle, or directly on a TV or STB SoC. Motion data processed by the MotionEngine is delivered using a standards-based API and is compatible with USB, Bluetooth, ZigBee RF4CE, and a number of other configurable peripherals, operating modes and protocols. Hillcrest has pre-integrated the MotionEngine with many of the leading RF suppliers, such as Broadcom and Texas Instruments, according to Hillcrest. Movea is the most direct competitor to Hillcrest, according to Hillcrest. What sets Hillcrest’s Freespace Motion Engine apart is time-to-market, said the company, due to Hillcrest’s more than eight years of expertise in working with MEMS sensors, and its software’s modularity. Hillcrest’s software also offers high-precision motion performance by using the company’s sensor fusion, and calibration algorithm and software; and high quality motion device. Hillcrest’s “intense sensor qualification program and dynamic algorithms compensate for sensor aging and the impacts of environmental factors,” the company said. Further, Hillcrest’s Freespace MotionEngine is based on inertial sensors that do not require “line-of-sight” to operate. This allows for a more relaxed usage model when compared to conventional infrared devices and motion-sensing devices that use cameras or optical sensors that require "line-of-sight" to operate, according to Hillcrest.