Rising consumer interest in handheld 3D devices driving member interest in defining and understanding technical detail around transmitting and processing 3D signals on mobile devices

The 3D@Home Consortium announced today the addition of Steering Team 6: Mobile 3D (ST6) to its activities. ST6 was created in response to challenges in meeting the demand of creating and delivering 3D content for wireless and mobile devices. Its objective is to assist the handheld 3D device industry in bringing high-quality 3D to consumers. The market for 3D-capable mobile devices is expected to surpass 148 million by 2015, according to In-Stat, a leading market research company.

There are distinct considerations throughout the 3D eco-system for mobile 3D adaptation such as content development and management, distribution systems, application services and integration layers. Initial activities of the steering team will focus on creating a list of how, when and where 3D mobile devices will be used. This activity will help identify what is needed to reach the ultimate goal of connecting the various 3D eco-system segments and accelerating development of 3D for mobile products. The team will also educate the wireless industry (carriers and OEMs) about 3D, explore bandwidth impact, investigate which technologies OEMs support on their devices and create recommendations for 3D application developers.

The first formal meeting of the team will take place at a workshop with a date and time soon to be announced. Kay Johansson, CTO of MobiTV, a leading provider of live and on-demand television and related media content on wireless and mobile devices, will act as chair of the steering team. Other ST6 members will come from 3D@Home member companies which include, BluFocus®, France Telecom, Intel®, Samsung, Sony, Technicolor, Turner Broadcasting, THX®, among others.

“Delivering great 3D on mobile devices presents a host of opportunities and challenges and I am eager to lead this steering team in the effort,” notes Johansson. “We believe that 3D@Home provides the structure that we need as an industry to address the issues in device architecture, compression, encoding and decoding schemes, as well as understand how to create excellent 3D, whether live action television or graphic intensive applications.”

“Mobile 3D needs an industry forum for technical and infrastructure-related discussions around the expected uses and performance of 3D mobile devices,” adds Rick Dean, chair of 3D@Home and senior vice president of THX. “3D@Home has members from all parts of the ‘3co-system’ and is best suited to add a steering team to address these issues around the applications of 3D and more.”

The team will interact closely with 3D@Home’s existing teams, including,

* ST1 and the factors that need to be considered when creating content for mobile devices;
* ST2 when discussing optimal transmission, encoding and compressing and decoding 3D signals;
* ST4 when looking at autostereo displays that are being used for mobile devices;
* ST5 when discussing the user experience and the physiological factors around viewing 3D video and stills on portable devices.
* ST3 is 3D@Home’s communications and education committee which will serve to keep professional and consumer users of mobile 3D aware and up to date on 3D mobile factors.

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