Entirely new product categories seem scarce as America's largest gadget show convenes here this week. But there is plenty of action in making today's products smarter.

gadget：小玩意，小工具，小配件　　　　　　convene：集合，召集，聚集

The push exploits more-sophisticated computer chips and software that are rapidly arriving in television sets, smartphones, videogame consoles, home appliances and other devices. Technology companies vow to help gadgets more effectively exchange information and track users' movements, gestures, voices and even intentions.

In some cases, the benefit might be replacing a complicated TV remote control or the act of swiping fingers across a display screen. But a hot buzz phrase at this year's Consumer Electronics Show is 'context awareness' -- enabling products like smartphones or set-top boxes to pick up clues to users' desires and respond without the need for commands.

swiping：猛击，偷窃　　　　set-top boxes：机顶盒

'We are at the inflection point where we are starting to see the beginnings of these possibilities,' says Mark Papermaster, senior vice president and chief technology officer at chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Semiconductor makers expect to play a central role in developing such capabilities. They are among the most active participants at the trade show, which kicked off with press events Sunday and is expected to draw some 150,000 industry professionals Tuesday through Friday.

The first CES keynote, for example, will be hosted Monday night by Paul Jacobs, chief executive of Qualcomm Inc., the largest supplier of chips for smartphones. He assumes a slot that for years was held by Microsoft Corp., first by co-founder Bill Gates and more recently by Steve Ballmer, the software company's chief executive.

keynote：基调，主旨　　　　

Mr. Jacobs used last year's CES show to announce a Qualcomm-funded $10 million prize to spur development of a mobile medical computing device, styled after the tricorders on 'Star Trek.' This year he has promised to bring an array of inventors and inventions to the stage, many pointing to the possibilities enabled when mobile devices exchange data with devices such as sensors in the home, on a user's body or in cars.

Qualcomm describes the smarter devices as offering a 'digital sixth sense.' AMD's Mr. Papermaster calls the trend 'surround' computing, while Intel Corp. INTC -0.75% describes techniques like interpreting facial gestures with PCs as 'perceptual computing.'

perceptual：知觉的，感知的　　　　

Whatever the trend is called, there is evidence that consumers want devices to do more. A survey in September by the consulting firm Accenture ACN +0.55% found that consumer intentions to buy single-function devices such as Blu-ray players in the next year have declined or remained flat. But interest in multifunction devices increased sharply. The percentage of users planning to buy smartphones in the next year, for example, rose to 41% from 27% in the previous year, Accenture says.

Building blocks for many improvements have already arrived. Smartphones now contain as many as 18 specialized sensors, including accelerometers that help detect movement; magnetometers, which help determine the direction a device is facing; and gyroscopes, which help determine a phone's orientation in space.

accelerometers：加速器，感应器　　　　gyroscopes：陀螺仪

Most of these devices currently aren't activated unless a user does something, like calling up a particular app. The context-awareness concept, by contrast, assumes such sensors switch on automatically and exchange data with other devices in a handset─such as cameras, microphones and chips for finding location using GPS managing cellular and Wi-Fi communications.

The interactions are becoming so complex that companies have developed special chips called sensor hubs to coordinate them. Atmel Corp., ATML -2.14% for example, provides one for Microsoft's new Surface tablet. 'It's been a real hit,' says Steven Laub, Atmel's CEO.

Movea, which is based in Grenoble, France, says it has developed algorithms that rely on multiple sensors to make judgments such as whether a smartphone is on a table or in a user's purse, whether the user is on a bike, in a car, in an elevator or dancing.

David Rothenberg, Movea's director of marketing and partner alliances, describes the potential benefits for a visitor to a foreign city. The traveler, finished with a meeting, looks into the camera of a smartphone, which recognizes him. Using a stored itinerary, the phone suggests directions to the train station.

itinerary：旅程

Instead of showing a map, Mr. Rothenberg says, a smarter smartphone annotates the actual scene the user views through the display, pointing which way to turn at each intersection. Once inside the station, the on-display commands point to the right train track, when the user's train is leaving and─if he misses the train─at which track to catch the next train, Mr. Rothenberg says.

annotate：注释，评注，注解　　　　

France Télécom SA's FTE.FR +0.47% Orange unit recently said it would deploy TV set-top boxes that use Movea technology that can be controlled by hand gestures. Omek Interactive Ltd., which is based in Israel, also has developed algorithms for gesture recognition that exploit new 3-D cameras arriving in some devices, such as the Kinect accessory that comes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console.

Janine Kutliroff, Omek's CEO, says its technology could allow an engineer designing a product to use hand motions rather than a mouse to rotate on-screen 3-D models. 'It's taking you to a much more natural experience,' Ms. Kutliroff says.

Qualcomm and Broadcom Corp., BRCM -0.55% meanwhile, are using CES to promote technologies for exchanging data between devices like tablets and HDTVs, and determining location at malls and other indoor locations where GPS signals don't help.

One reason is to give stores a new way to attract passersby. 'If I'm near a meat counter, my smartphone might receive a message showing what's on special,' says Michael Hurlston, a Broadcom senior vice president.

Tom Rogers, chief executive of TiVo Inc., TIVO -0.24% sees technologies such as voice and gesture recognition mainly as novelties─less important than the ability of set-top boxes such as TiVo's to help users navigate through myriad new content options. 'CES for the last couple of years was into a lot of flash and sizzle and not enough focus on the core video-consumption experience,' he says.

myriad：无数的，五花八门的　　　　

Others point out that many scenarios involving exchanging data between devices won't become popular without strict precautions that protect users' privacy. 'None of this works if you don't feel your data is safe,' AMD's Mr. Papermaster says.

scenarios：情节，场景