Khronos fashions StreamInput standard for touch

Khronos today established a standard that would provide a common platform for touch and motion controls. StreamInput would be a royalty-free programming interface for not just touchscreens but haptic (vibration) feedback, motion sensors like the PlayStation Move or Wii remotes, and even depth camera systems like Microsoft's Kinect. Augmented reality apps, games, and others with advanced controls could keep every device in sync and use extensions to easily add new methods as they come about.

TransGaming, best known for its Cider technology for porting Windows apps to the Mac, has volunteered to head up the initial group. Companies like NVIDIA and Softkinetic have also shown early support.

StreamInput is expected to be released to the public within a year and will start working this month. A full partner list hasn't emerged.

Whether or not a company like Apple will get involved is unknown, although it has regularly supported Khronos standards and was the primary architect of OpenCL for speeding up general purpose computing. Its position as the primary home of touchscreen gaming also makes it the most likely to be affected by the existence of StreamInput.

By Electronista Staff

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