The entire system, including the sensor chip and middleware, will cost manufacturers $20 to $30 to add to PCs or TVs when shipped in volume, Berenson said. Most high-end TVs will have enough computational power to run the software, and have USB 2.0 ports where the sensor device can be plugged in, he said.

PrimeSense showed a few applications for the technology here. At one point during a "Minority Report" style demonstration the system froze for a moment, but it recovered fairly quickly and appeared to work smoothly after that.

When using the "touch-screen" effect to manipulate documents, the outlines of two grey hands appear on the screen corresponding to the user's hands in mid-air. Touching a document turns the palms red, and the document can then be moved about the screen or rotated using two hands. Possible uses including sorting through digital photos on a PC, or playing a card game on a TV screen.

The sensor on top of the TV also includes a camera and a microphone, and PrimeSense showed how a person's image can be superimposed over a background on the screen, much like a weatherman on TV.

It wasn't clear how the capability might be used, and partner companies will have to come up with some of their own applications for the technology. One possibility is for a type of videoconferencing between two Internet-connected TVs, so that two people could discuss a Web page by appearing to stand in front of it on the screen point to images and links on the page.