Samsung Licences Tessera’s FotoNation FaceTracker Solution

Samsung Electronics has licensed the FotoNation FaceTracker solution from Tessera, which offers excellent tracking and face detection abilities.

These capabilities will empower cameras to automatically choose settings that will result in capturing high-quality pictures. The solution utilizes advanced face-oriented technology that detects around 10 faces within the viewfinder of the camera in just 0.1 s. The solution also enables cameras to automatically adjust exposure, focus, and color settings, resulting in the optimization of portraits even while subjects are off-center, backlit, or under/over exposed.

Chinhyun Kim, Samsung Electronics’ vice president, System LSI SOC development, informed that high-performance low-power Samsung media processors are already offering enhanced quality and user-friendly image processing capabilities for its customers. Kim elaborated that image-enhancing solutions such as the FotoNation FaceTracker facilitates automatic generation of improved quality portrait photographs, resulting in further improvement of the image capturing experience of the end user.

Mike Bereziuk, Tessera’s executive vice president, Imaging & Optics said that Tessera is thrilled that global leader like Samsung has selected FaceTools technology of Tessera for empowering their users to achieve best quality still and video images, without requiring user expertise. Bereziuk revealed that Tessera’s transformational imaging technologies enable consumer electronics companies to provide a large range of enhanced features at a time when there is a convergence of video camera, mobile phones, and still camera markets.

Samsung has also licensed Tessera’s FotoNation BlinkCheck and FotoNation SmileCheck modules, which empower manufacturers to offer even better experiences to users by pointing out when faces are blinking or smiling, and even synchronize a shutter whenever a human subject smiles. This technology, along with the FotoNation FaceTracker solution will help Samsung to provide improved image quality for a range of picture and video capturing applications.

Samsung had paid an initial fee to Tessera under the license agreement during 2009’s fourth quarter. FotoNation FaceTracker technology is a design-in intellectual property. Due to this fact the time duration between signing the licensing agreement for FotoNation FaceTracker technology and the receipt of initial royalty payments by Tessera as per the agreement is around 12 - 15 months.