Technology advances
Pegasus Imaging Corp. (Tampa, FL) has developed a software-only implementation of lossless JPEG to achieve a 30-frame/s decompression speed for processing 512 ¥ 512-pixel medical images. . . . FlashPoint Technology Inc. (San Jose, CA) has licensed its Digita technology to Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY), Minolta Information Systems (Mahwah, NJ), and Sharp Digital Information Products (Huntington Beach, CA). . . . By using Digita, these companies will be able to develop a standard platform that supports interoperability among digital cameras, printers, and other digital imaging products. . . . The US Food and Drug Administration has granted Computer Motion Inc. (Santa Barbara, CA) 510(k) market clearance for its Automated Endoscopic System for Optimal Positioning, Model 3000 with Voice Control. This system uses a voice-controlled robotic arm capable of positioning and maneuvering a specially designed optical tube (endoscope). The tube, when connected to a medical video camera and light source, is passed into a human to allow video monitoring of minimally invasive heart surgery procedures. . . . Ricoh Consumer Products Group (Sparks, NV) is integrating a 1.3-million-square pixel charge-coupled device capable of producing resolutions of 1280 ¥ 980 pixels per image (SXGA) or 640 ¥ 480 pixels per image (VGA) into its new sub-$1000 RDC-4300 digital cameras.
