RealSense for Commercial Projects

[Jason_C_6]

Hi, I'm interested in using the Intel RealSense in a commercial solution.

The order page states:

The Camera is intended solely for use by developers with the Intel® RealSense SDK for Windows solely for the purposes of developing applications using Intel RealSense technology. The Camera may not be used for any other purpose, and may not be dismantled or in any way reverse engineered.

​I'm not able to find any commercial/consumer version of the Intel RealSense SR300. This topic however, states:

The RealSense Developer Kit cameras can be used by any person or company, yes.  You do not need a licence from Intel.  You can also use the camera for commercial projects and this is encouraged by Intel.

I'd like to confirm the above answer please.

Bonus Questions:

• Would it be possible to store about 500 faces for the purpose of facial recognition?
• If so, what format is each face stored in and can I store this in an SQL database?

[MartyG]

I believe that the order page is stating that if the camera is used in a project then the hardware should be used in the state that it was originally supplied in.  In other words, not opening up the case and modifying the parts to make a hybrid product.  Creating your own camera algorithm to provide a software function that the SDK does not have in its default form should be fine though.

I would also imagine that as Intel is the sole supplier of the cameras, the commercial resale of them (e.g bundling them in a package alongside your own product, like how videogame stores add a selection of games to the games consoles that they sell) is also not allowed.  

Whilst Intel do encourage commercial use of RealSense, it is not entirely clear what the rules of doing so are.  For instance, the R200 camera is available as a case-less PCB board that can be put into an integrated device such as smartphone or tablet, yet there is no public information on how companies can inquire about using those camera PCBs in their products or obtain stock of the part.

As an example of commercial use of RealSense, a Chinese company's warehouse used it to measure boxes.

"Intel announced its partnership with JD, a Chinese online retail giant.  Intel showed how its RealSense technology can help improve the Chinese company's warehouse management. In a demo using a tablet equipped with RealSense depth camera, the company showed how the technology can easily measure box sizes required for products in various shapes. The demo also showed how it can easily determine the space that is needed for storage or shipment."

Edit: it is entirely possible that the *developer kit* cameras have a 'no commercial use' clause and it is the PCB-part versions of RealSense that are permitted for commercial use, as Intel is actively encouraging manufacturers to incorporate RealSense into their products.  Nobody seems to be sure what the rules of commercial use are though, perhaps not even Intel themselves!  

Even if there are certain conditions to be met in order to qualify to be supplied with RealSense camera parts for commercial use, there should really at least be an information web-page that spells out clearly what the rules are and provide a means of contact for further inquiries.

[Peter_O_Hanlon]

Unless things have changed in the last couple of months or so, there's a limit of 32 faces per facial recognition database (a binary format file - you could save this as a BLOB to a database). It's possible to swap databases around though, so you can cycle through them if you need to.

[Jason_C_6]

Thanks for the replies.

About the bonus questions, do you know what the approximate size of each face file is? Also, I assume if I have 500 faces, I can recurse through multiple databases until I find a match but this will take significantly longer - is there any approximation on the speed (assuming this is running locally)?