Tessera's OptiML Zoom gets cameraphones 3x closer without moving parts

Oh sure, those with no shame whatsoever can snag a totally sketchy LV 2008 with an attachable zoom lens, but those of us with a shred of dignity are waiting on something better. Enter Tessera Technologies, which is today announcing that its OptiML Zoom solution is available for licensing. Said innovation brings a unique lens design and specialized algorithms to replace "traditional mechanical zoom capabilities," giving equipped cameraphones 3x optical zoom capabilities in a "compact camera module without moving parts." Hailed as the industry's first non-mechanical optical zoom solution, it promises to not degrade images the way digital zoom does, and while it's eager to see handset OEMs pick up the tech and integrate it into forthcoming mobiles, we've yet to hear of any big players jumping on board.

[Via PhoneScoop]

[FlamingGhost @ Apr 28th 2008 5:24PM]

Hmmm.. real nice lack of details you've got for us here?

Any information on how this works?

[kyle allen @ Apr 28th 2008 6:56PM]

i figured it out, its really simple actually, the lense on the camera is curved, so the image would be distorted, but the algorithms interpret it to look normal and can interpret it to look like its zoomed.

[Ari @ Apr 28th 2008 5:00PM]

I'm calling bogus, unless it uses some sort of liquid lens.

[Low Ranked @ Apr 28th 2008 5:06PM]

"a unique lens design and specialized algorithms"


It technically could use a magnifying lense, and the algorithm would actually be shrinking the image you see at 1x and 2x and show what it regularly captures at 3x.

Did I just crack their 'specialized algorithms'?

[Fenway Beer Man @ Apr 28th 2008 5:24PM]

how hard is it to read the article before you post?

[Low Ranked @ Apr 28th 2008 5:45PM]

I think he wanted to be the first to post.

[Konstantin @ Apr 28th 2008 5:35PM]

Very Interesting. Could be nice to have a little extra zoom.

[Jereremy @ Apr 28th 2008 5:11PM]

Wow, my uncle helped design that!
And that company is awesome because all it does is buy, develop and lease patents. A very clever business indeed.

[Low Ranked @ Apr 28th 2008 5:15PM]

I couldn't help but notice, but did you spell your name wrong?

[Jereremy @ Apr 28th 2008 5:18PM]

Lol yes, but I meant to.
I was going for the mind-f*** approach.

[Low Ranked @ Apr 28th 2008 5:21PM]

I'll admit, saying Jereremy outloud is definitely a mindfuck.

[Fenway Beer Man @ Apr 28th 2008 5:23PM]

how hard is it to read the article before you post?

[Fenway Beer Man @ Apr 28th 2008 5:25PM]

ignore this post, wrong place

[F3 @ Apr 28th 2008 5:32PM]

Oh the irony.

[Fenway Beer Man @ Apr 28th 2008 5:43PM]

actually, not a bit ironic.

[computer.dude.28 @ Apr 28th 2008 5:29PM]

I still don't understand why on my crappy samsung phone, digital zoom only works in 640x480 and not @ 1.3 megapixel. I have to change modes just to zoom. why can't it just crop my 1.3 down and show what the current res is in the corner or something!

[Low Ranked @ Apr 28th 2008 5:47PM]

Ask Samsung, not us.

[austin @ Apr 28th 2008 5:49PM]

quit whining. just take the damn picture and crop it yourself. same effect.

[Kurian @ Apr 29th 2008 4:41AM]

LOL you bought a Samsung phone. LOL.

[RIMM Jobs @ Apr 28th 2008 5:33PM]

This will be great for upskirting.

[kyle allen @ Apr 28th 2008 6:57PM]

my fist will be great for perv punching

[RIMM Jobs @ Apr 28th 2008 8:07PM]

Sounds like I'm cruisin' for a knuckle sandwich! Who let tough guy w/ no sense of humor in?

[Paulmichael @ Apr 28th 2008 10:45PM]

Maybe he's afraid of rim jobs.

[Ben @ Apr 28th 2008 5:42PM]

The key words, from the article:

"The technology incorporates an innovative lens design that increases the resolution in the center of the image without narrowing the field of view. The result is true optical magnification without loss of detail."


So, it's a sort of progressive lens.

However, seems like that would distort your image in the center when you want to capture a full frame. So that's where the software processing is needed. Seems like that would decrease quality, but cell phone sensors are so bad anyway that it is probably not noticeable.

[fanthem @ Apr 28th 2008 7:23PM]

Does it also take pictures of walruses?

[dreamscape86 @ Apr 28th 2008 10:09PM]

Puffins only. Walruses will be introduced in version 2.0.

[peptidefarmer @ Apr 29th 2008 6:30PM]

Not now, arctic puffin!