Feb 25 2014
Audience, Inc., the leader in advanced voice and audio processing for mobile devices, today announced the introduction of its first multisensory processors, the MQ100 and the eS703 and eS705 with Always-on MotionQ technology.
Audience MotionQ technology enables Always-on, contextually aware applications such as activity monitoring and indoor navigation as well as interpreting smartphone gesture information such as tapping, while consuming less than 5mW, significantly less than other motion processing architectures.
Audience Always-on MotionQ Technology Delivers Low-Power Multisensory Processing for Mobile Devices
"Premium smartphones need to be Always-on, so they can understand and act upon voice commands and continuously track motion, enabling apps like health and fitness tracking," said Peter Santos, president and CEO of Audience. "Our new MotionQ technology, combined with VoiceQ, will enable broad contextual awareness on mobile devices at extremely low power, providing truly natural user experiences."
Audience's deep experience in neuroscience uniquely positions it for this new segment. In the same way that Audience Always-on VoiceQ technology, launched at CES 2014, enables your voice to wake devices and issue simple commands, MotionQ technology draws on cues from the gyroscope, magnetometer, accelerometer and pressure sensors to provide contextual information. This information can then be used to power applications spanning fitness, navigation and activity recognition, as well as the ability to detect typical smartphone gestures such as taps, shakes, swipes and more. Further, voice, motion and environmental information can be combined in Audience multisensory processors to provide even higher levels of natural user experience. More than a decade of research and development into cognitive computing enables Audience to deliver this level of functionality at ultra-low power, extending battery life when using these new applications.
About the MQ100 Processor
The Audience MQ100 is a stand-alone motion processor designed to manage and fuse information from a device's various sensors, in extremely low power. To keep a device in Always-on mode, current motion processing implementations call for individual sensors to constantly communicate with high-powered application processors (AP) for always-on capabilities, resulting in power consumption of between 60-200 mW. With power consumption of less than 5mW, the MQ100 offers device manufacturers the ability to enable these exciting use cases without sacrificing precious battery life.
Audience Advanced Voice Processors with MotionQ
Select products from Audience's flagship multisensory processor family also feature MotionQ capabilities. The new eS703 and eS705 connects to the motion sensors in the device, enabling motion-assisted voice processing where inertial sensor data is used to enhance the mobile voice experience. The sensor data is buffered on-chip, intelligently transferring the data to the host for further use by the operating system and mobile apps. The eS703 features Audience fourth generation voice and Audio processor with integrated MotionQ technology, while the company's new flagship product, the eS705 is a fully featured Always-on device with MotionQ and VoiceQ technology.
The MQ100, eS703 and eS705 will integrate seamlessly with motion and environmental sensor fusion software from leading providers, to supply a solution that includes the motion processing algorithms and host software enabling customers with a fast time-to-market.