Immersion Leads Creation of Standards for Haptics

Immersion Corp. (NASDAQ: IMMR), the leading developer and provider of technology for haptics, today announced it has reached significant milestones in its initiative to launch new industry technical standards for haptics. The company's separate proposals for the ATSC 3.0, MPEG ISOBMFF, MPEG-DASH, and MPEG-I standards, have all been accepted for consideration in their respective standards bodies, the Advanced Television Systems Committee, Inc. (ATSC) and the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG).

The haptic ecosystem lacks standards that enable rich and sophisticated user experiences. Immersion, in collaboration with other industry leaders working in haptics, seeks to solve this problem by bringing haptics to multimedia content standards. The proposals are aimed at driving improved interoperability and efficiencies across the ecosystem, from haptic content creation to playback on end-user devices.

In addition, Immersion has established a new open Haptics Industry Forum to facilitate the sharing of ideas and information to help solve industry-wide challenges. The Haptics Industry Forum has over 25 participants from 14 technology companies and academia. Interested parties may join at hapticsindustryforum.org.

Immersion is a member of both ATSC and MPEG, two influential standards development organizations that define media creation, delivery, and playback formats across the consumer electronics ecosystem. "Our role in these organizations is to advocate for an approach that will fit the needs of haptic industry members and the ecosystem, and enable us to drive greater use of haptics in multimedia content," said Dr. Yeshwant Muthusamy, Senior Director, Standards at Immersion.

In June 2020, the ATSC Board approved Immersion's new work item proposal for specifying a Recommended Practice for Haptics in ATSC 3.0, a next-generation terrestrial broadcast system designed for improved television viewing experiences. The Haptics Recommended Practice will specify the protocols and procedures needed to incorporate haptics into broadcast content consumed on devices such as a smartphone or tablet. Immersion's proposal is designed to deliver an optimal user experience based on the content, device type, and the viewer's personal preferences.