A peek into the future

VARIED: The Canon Expo showcases the company's lineup of imaging products and solutions as well as future-oriented technologies and concepts.

SHANGHAI: The Canon Expo 2011 was held in Asia for the first time to showcase the company's lineup of imaging products and solutions, as well as future-oriented technologies and concepts.

The event which takes place every five years was held in Shanghai, China, which is the last stop for the roadshow that toured New York, Paris and Tokyo.

International superstar Jackie Chan, Canon's image ambassador, kicked off the event in which the company showcased cutting-edge technologies, some of which are expected to make it to homes and businesses in the near future.

Here they are.

Beyond HD

One highlight of the show was the Multipurpose Camera which shoots at what Canon calls "4K resolution" or up to four times the resolution of full HD (1080p).

What makes it unique and special from existing cameras is that it shoots images and videos at the same 4K resolution.

This camera also features a newly developed CMOS sensor that enables shooting at high frame-rates in excess of 60fps (frames per second), as well as a newly developed compact wide-angle lens with better zoom capabilities.

USER FRIENDLY: The Multipurpose Camera has a large grip and a 4in screen for allowing users to shoot still images and video from low or high angles, and around obstacles.

In terms of design, it has a large grip and a 4in screen for users when they shoot still images and video from low or high angles, and from around obstacles.

For sharing files in the home and over the Internet, Canon has invented the Cross Media Station. Family members who wish to share photos and video clips wirelessly only have to place their devices on top of the CMS - no drivers or software installation is required.

The CMS, which currently only works with Canon products, will also charge the devices wirelessly using a technology called magnetic resonance. It can charge up to three devices simultaneously.

It will also be able to wirelessly output to any printer that supports the PictBridge standard, and will work with any device that supports the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compatibility protocols.

For instance, when a Canon camera is placed on the CMS, it will automatically recognise the camera and start recharging it. At the same time, the station will also download photos and videos from the camera, and users will be able to browse them on a HDTV.

Megapixel race

For enjoying content that goes beyond HD, Canon is working on 4K displays that have 4x the resolution of 1080p displays on the market now.

The technology that makes this possible is called surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) which uses nanoscopic-scale emitters to fire up coloured phospors to produce an image.

The nanoscopic-scale emitters are basically a very tiny version of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) - like the ones used in the old non-flatscreen TVs – and are arranged in a matrix to form the basic RGB (red, green, blue) subpixels.

SUPER CLEAR: For enjoying content that go beyond HD, Canon is working on displays that have 4x the resolution of 1080p HDTVs.

SEDs have all the advantages of a CRTs such as a wide colour gamut, good viewing angles, very fast frame rates and reliability. But unlike CRTs they are as compact as LCDs and use very little power.

However, Canon has ceased developing the technology for the consumer market at the moment and is focusing its efforts on making them for industrial use. The displays are expected to be used by professionals for image quality management for CGI (computer-generated imagery) and video production for broadcasting, as well as for medical devices.

Consumers will also get to enjoy 4K movies in theatres. Canon has combined four HD projectors to form a 4K image. It used four units of its WUX4000 projectors with WUXGA resolution (1,920 x 1,200-pixels), arranged in a two-by-two configuration to form the 4K image. Because each projector has a slightly higher resolution than full HD (1,920 x 1,080-pixels), a blending process is applied to stitch the four images to form a large seamless one.

Virtual reality

Another technology in the works in Canon's labs is called Mixed Reality (MR) which as the name suggests, seamlessly intergrates the virtual world with the real one in real-time.

PRIVATE PLAY: Visitors toying with with MR devices. Only they can see the virtual objects they are manipulating in real time.

This technology, which Canon has been working on since 1997 with other partners, requires the user to wear a head-mounted display which uses precise location technology to syncronise the virtual and real images.

In addition to its application in manufacturing, MR will be widely used in many other areas such as healthcare, education and entertainment, the company said.

Source: Tech Central