CognoVision Solutions Inc. was a

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

-based provider of real-time

audience measurement Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Sometim ...

and retail intelligence solutions. The company created Anonymous Video Analytics (AVA) software that uses small video cameras and real-time Computer vision algorithms to detect faces and people for measuring viewership of Digital signage or estimating traffic flow patterns in a retail store. On November 15, 2010, it was announced that Intel Corporation, the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, had acquired CognoVision - the acquisition closed in September 2010. Intel Corporation announced August 8, 2011 that Anonymous Video Analytics from Cognovision would be the underlying technology powering their Intel AIM Suite service.

History

CognoVision was founded in 2006. The company was privately financed and was acquired by Intel Corporation in 2010. The company was started by Haroon F. Mirza (CEO), Dr. Shahzad Malik (CTO), and Faizal Javer (President & COO). The founders all met while students at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 2000. Each founder independently relocated to Toronto - Malik completed his Ph.D. at

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

, Javer was expanding a mattress manufacturing business from Western Canada to Ontario, and Mirza was working at

Cadbury Adams Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

Privacy

CognoVision's technology respects privacy by never recording images or video footage, and relying on

pattern detection Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data. It has applications in statistical data analysis, signal processing, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, computer graphics ...

algorithms that only look for general characteristics of a human face rather than features which can uniquely identify an individual. Once the AVA program has determined pixel patterns of a human face, the software categorizes how long the display is viewed, the approximate gender and approximate age of the viewer. However, the technology is often incorrectly compared to the retina scanners, like those in the film Minority Report, that privacy groups are pushing for legislation to prevent more intrusive

biometric Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...

recognition technologies from becoming mainstream.

Milestones

* May 2006 - CognoVision founded * Apr 2007 - CognoVision ranked as semi-finalist in TiEQuest 2007 Business Venture Competition * June 2007 - CognoVision ranked 2nd in

MaRS Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

Upstart Contest * Feb 2008 - CognoVision launched its solutions at the Digital Signage Expo 2008 * Oct 2008 - CognoVision-powered nCAP wins Artisan Complete a 2008 DIGI Award for Best Product with Audience Measurement * Mar 2009 - CognoVision wins rAVe DS 2009 Champ Award: Most innovative DS software product: CognoVision's AIM System * Nov 2009 - CognoVision wins 2009 DIGI Award for Best New Audience Measurement Package * Nov 2009 - CognoVision named to the CIX Top 20 Innovative Companies of 2009 * Dec 2009 - Canadian Innovation Exchange names CognoVision as Canada's 2009 Digital Media and Innovation Leader * Mar 2010 - CognoVision wins rAVe DS 2010 Champ Award: Best DS Software Add-on App * Apr 2010 - Branham300 names CognoVision to Top 20 ICT Up & Coming CompaniesBranham300 2010 List.
Branham300 Top 25 Canadian ICT Up and Comers
" Apr 6, 2010. * Sep 2010 - CognoVision acquired by Intel Corporation

References

External links

Intel Digital Signage homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cognovision Companies established in 2006 Companies based in Toronto Audience measurement Intel acquisitions