OmniVision, maker of cameraphone chips, acquires CDM, specialty optics company
OmniVision Technologies, which makes many of the chips that power cameraphones, has acquired CDM Optics, a small company that develops "Wavefront Coding" technologies to enhance images in real-time (the system sounds like a proprietary version of unsharp masking combined with specialized lenses). OmniVision plans to incorporate the technology into cameraphone chips within 12 to 18 months. They'd better get moving; by next year, the average cameraphone will probably be 10 megapixels, but will still take lousy pictures due to poor optics, bad autofocus systems and useless flashes. Anything that can help will be more than welcome.
[Thanks, Brian]
