REVENUE RECOGNITION - Disaggregated Revenue (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 110,979	$ 35,013	$ 57,086
Contract with customer, asset, current	9,000
Contract with customer, asset, noncurrent	7,200
Increase (decrease) in contract with customer, asset	11,200
Royalty and license
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue	110,557	34,089	56,030
Fixed fee license revenue
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue	83,573	12,575	30,389
Per-unit royalty revenue
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue	26,984	21,514	25,641
Development, services, and other
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 422	$ 924	$ 1,056

Amount, after allowance for credit loss, of right to consideration in exchange for good or service transferred to customer when right is conditioned on something other than passage of time, classified as current.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82913815&loc=SL49130531-203044

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 3
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82913815&loc=SL49130533-203044

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ContractWithCustomerAssetNetCurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ContractWithCustomerAssetNetNoncurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisaggregationOfRevenueLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of increase (decrease) in right to consideration in exchange for good or service transferred to customer when right is conditioned on something other than passage of time.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3602-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncreaseDecreaseInContractWithCustomerAsset
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount, excluding tax collected from customer, of revenue from satisfaction of performance obligation by transferring promised good or service to customer. Tax collected from customer is tax assessed by governmental authority that is both imposed on and concurrent with specific revenue-producing transaction, including, but not limited to, sales, use, value added and excise.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130543-203045

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130539-203045

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130545-203045

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_ProductOrServiceAxis=immr_FixedFeeLicenseandPerUnitRoyaltiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ProductOrServiceAxis=immr_FixedFeeLicenseMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ProductOrServiceAxis=immr_PerUnitRoyaltiesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ProductOrServiceAxis=immr_DevelopmentServicesandOtherMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: