JULY 10--Actuality Systems Inc. (Burlington, MA) has been granted key patents on its spatial 3-D technology in both the USA and in Taiwan. The patents (No. 6,554,430/Taiwan Letters Patent No. 162199) broadly describe a volumetric three-dimensional display system and specifically cover unique optics for Actuality's Perspecta Display. The patents teach the use of a novel rotating projection lens that ensures high-fidelity spatial 3-D imagery that can be used for a variety of scientific applications.
"The key to getting high image quality is making sure that each two-dimensional slice of the composite 3-D image is in crisp focus," said Gregg Favalora, company founder and chief technical officer. "With this technology, we've achieved exceptional clarity by using an image-projection system with a rotating lens. The design allows us to tightly fold the system's optical path, providing a spatial 3-D visualization product that is compact enough to use on a desktop or in confined spaces. This particularly addresses the needs of users in medical and military applications."
The Perspect Spatial 3D System consists of a 360° Perspecta Display with powerful Perspecta platform software, a driver for the OpenGL interface, and the firm's proprietary Spatial Rendering Kernel. An easy-to-use software developer kit is available to members of the firm's Developer Program. The system enables users to render high-resolution spatial images that can be viewed from any angle as the user moves around the display. The display itself illuminates a record 100 million volume pixels, or "voxels" within a 20-inch transparent dome.
Typical applications for Perspecta include real-time interventional medical guidance (such as biopsy or catheter localization), surgical planning, the fusion, registration, and visualization of CT, MRI, 3-D ultrasound, and PET scans; battlespace visualization; air-traffic control; 3-D game development; and homeland-security applications such as visualizing the contents of freight or passenger luggage.
