LG Electronics, Analogix Semiconductor, Tencent, and Dell have combined to establish a group, ICVR, LLC, to develop VR source interfaces for mobile devices, PCs and other consumer electronics. The aim is to use the DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB Type-C which will mean that the display device can be separated from the CPU and processing centre.
“The ICVR connectivity standard allows interoperability between devices from different manufacturers of VR solutions and will give consumers confidence that their VR headsets will work with any ICVR compliant smartphones or PCs. That is, a VR source device from one manufacturer will work with a VR or AR headset from another manufacturer,” said Ramchan Woo, vice president, new product development at LG Electronics. “This will drive an increased level of investment in VR products by hardware manufacturers, developers, and content creators, bringing more applications and an improved VR user experience to consumers.”
“VR solutions available in the market today are all proprietary so they don’t interoperate with each other. DisplayPort over USB-C carries the power, data, and high-definition video/audio needed to drive a high-quality VR headset in a single, thin and light, standard cable,” said Dr. Ning Zhu, Chief Technology Officer for Analogix.
The ICVR specification will be available for adopters who join ICVR, LLC in Q3 2017. Organizations interested in learning more about ICVR and how to become an adopter should send an email to: [email protected].
Analyst Comment
We’ve had a number of articles on standards in VR & AR recently. The DisplayPort alt-mode over USB Type-C is a very appropriate candidate for a hardware interface using wires. Of course, there are those that think that the headset should be completely self-contained. Personally, I have found immersive VR headsets too heavy to be comfortable for sustained use, so prefer to see the processing fitted to a belt or in a pocket. When it comes to AR, the systems can be very small (see our article on Vuzix at SID, next week) and they can get light enough to be fully integrated, but they have a very narrow field of view and are not immersive.
ICVR LLC is a subsidiary of Analogix. (BR)
