Updates about NextWindow and Stantum; Upcoming Emerging Displays Technologies Conference

Here is a brief update about two companies that I follow:

NextWindow Granted Key Optical Touch Screen Patents (pdf)
Pleasanton, CA – June 1, 2009 – "NextWindow, the leader in optical touch screens for all-in-one PCs and large-format displays, has been awarded two key technology patents, one in the US and another in China. The newly granted patents which refer to optical touch systems incorporating light emitters, reflectors and detection methods, help cement NextWindow’s leadership positions in the important Chinese manufacturing and US sales markets"

"The US patent, number 7,538,759, issued by the United States Patent & Trademark Office on May 26, 2009, is titled, “Touch Panel Display System with Illumination and Detection Provided from a Single Edge.” NextWindow previously was granted this patent in Australia , and a request for patent is pending in Canada , Europe, Hong Kong and Japan ..."

You can follow NextWindow on Twitter

Stantum Granted Key Patents on Its Multi-Touch Technology

BORDEAUX, France, June 1, 2009 – "Stantum, a pioneer developer of multi-touch solutions and systems since 2002, announced today that both the European Patent Office and the China Patent & Trademark Office have granted patents (EP1719047 and CN100447723C, respectively) to Stantum on its multi-touch technology."

"In 2004, under its former name, JazzMutant, Stantum became the first company ever to develop and bring to market a multi-touch electronic device – the award-winning Lemur remote controller for creative professionals. The recently granted European and Chinese patents extend the original patent filed in France in February 2004."

"The patents describe a method and a system for controlling electronic devices by manipulating graphic objects on a transparent multi-contact touch panel. Beyond the process enabling the detection and tracking of an unlimited number of simultaneous contact points on a touch screen, the patents disclose various multi-touch interaction techniques, such as applying specific behavior to graphic objects according to finger gestures...."

Stantum's Quarterly Newsletter

Here is an industry-related 1-day conference that looks interesting!

2009 Emerging Display Technologies Conference: Innovation for the Next Wave of Growth

"Emerging display technologies offer alternative performance, cost, design, and business models to mainstream display technologies. From touch screens, flexible displays, OLED displays, e-paper displays, and pocket projectors to 3D displays, this 1-day conference will explore how new display technologies can bring innovative form factors, attractive visual performance, power saving, and potentially drive growth in the near future."

Thursday, September 3, 2009 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM

San Jose Marriott

301 S. Market Street

San Jose, California 95113

USA

408-280-1300

3DV Systems Motion Sensing Camera and Microsoft's Xbox 360

A while ago there was an article in Reuters that discussed how Microsoft was planning to buy 3DV Systems, a company that develops virtual reality imaging technology for digital cameras, called ZCams. The ZCams would be used as an accessory to the XBox 360 system.

It is true, according to a recent article in Business Week:

Microsoft Moves onto Nintendo's Motion Turf: "The software giant's Xbox 360 gaming console will have a camera system that lets users bring body movements and voice commands into play"

Information about the camera from the 3DV website:

"The new"ZCam^TM (previously Z-Sense), 3DV's most recently completed prototype camera, is based on DeepC^TM and is the company's smallest and most cost-effective 3D camera. At the size of a standard webcam and at affordable cost, it provides very accurate depth information at high speed (60 frames per second) and high depth resolution (1-2 cm). At the same time, it provides synchronized and synthesized quality color (RGB) video (at 1.3 M-Pixel). With these specifications, the new ZCam^TM (previously Z-Sense) is ideal for PC-based gaming and for background replacement in web-conferencing. Game developers, web-conferencing service providers and gaming enthusiasts interested in the new ZCam^TM (previously Z-Sense) are invited to contact us."

3DV System's Video Gallery

Video of 3DV Systems at CES 2008

Sony Play Station EyeToy: Therapy for Burn Patients

Here is an excerpt from a recent article about the work of Dr. Joseph Haik, a plastic surgeon and burn specialist who has pioneered a therapy that utilizes Sony's Play Station EyeToy:

"The EyeToy is a digital camera, similar to a webcam, whose technology uses computer vision and gesture recognition to process images, enabling players to interact with games using motion and color detection."

"With our method, patients look into the EyeToy and see their images projected on TV," Haik says. "The game recognizes their gestures and shows them to themselves on screen, helping them adjust to what they look like post-burn. That can help combat depression, improve self-image, and encourage patients to move on when other occupational therapies fail," he explains."

"A very important aspect of healing is coming to terms with scars on the face, hands and other exposed body parts. Depression and other symptoms associated with severe burns can make a full recovery more painful and difficult than it may need to be. That's why the EyeToy can be so useful in helping patients to take the first step in accepting a new self-image, Haik says."

SensoramaLab - Interactive Systems for Rehabilitation Applications

The SensoramaLab at Aalborg University Esbjerg is involved in a variety of research activities focusing on interactive systems, including virtual reality, for use in rehabilitation.

Pictures from the SensoramaLab website:








International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation

ArtAbilitation

RENCI at UNC-Chapel Hill: Serious Gaming and Simulation, Unity 3D Platform

VIDEO
Running the Unity 3D Game Engine in a Global Immersion 4-Projector Dome System at the RENCI@UNC Engagement Center



For more information:
Serious Gaming and Simulation at RENCI@UNC

"The application of game technology to teaching, training, and research has been a topic of interest at RENCI@UNC. More specifically, the adaptation of game engines and 3D environments to the specialized visualization environments at the engagement center is a promising area for experimentation and collaboration...We very recently obtained copies of Unity, and have been working through some of the basics. One of the first activities was to create specialized code to show Unity-built 3D environments in our Global Immersion dome system. This was successfully accomplished with a good bit of code-hacking to render the proper camera views and viewports for the four channel dome system. There are some known issues with the Windows stand-alone viewer that we were able to work around. We did some imaginative manipulation of the Unity Plug-in using a browser embedded within a WPF application that allows arbitrary screen resolutions, as well as spanning across multiple displays. Look for a post later with some technical details."
FYI
Here are some pictures from RENCI:

Ball's Plight, an iPhone and iPod Touch Game App by PriPri Games (plug for a former classmate) -and more games-related info....

Priyesh Dixit, a game developer has a free game app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. "Ball's Plight", can be downloaded from the iTunes Store. Here is the description:

"You are Ball, an alien with telekinetic powers and no limbs. An evil scientist has captured you and is forcing you to play his little game so he can unlock the secrets of your powers. You must survive in order to escape!"

"At its core, Ball's Plight is a classic game of ball and paddle. Touch the ball to the paddle to increase your score, reach the goal score to advance to the next level while earning points."


Priyesh was one of my classmates in Dr. Michael Youngblood's Artificial Intelligence for Game Design Class at UNC-Charlotte during the fall of 2006. He went on to work with Dr. Youngblood and Hunter Hale, a Ph.D. student, on the Common Games Understanding and Learning Toolkit (CGUL).

The mission of the CGUL project:

"To identify, develop, collect, and integrate a suite of tools and techniques for improving the understanding of interaction and behavior in all FPS/3PS games, incorporating knowledge as game artifacts, and learning how to advance game artificial intelligence through these mechanisms." (CJUL downloads)

About Priyesh:

Priyesh is a programmer at TimeGate Studios in Surgar Land, TX. He has a MS in Computer Science with a certificate in Game Design and Development.

Priyesh twitters as "madgamer7", if you'd like to follow him.


RELATED:


The Playground: UNC-Charlotte's Game Design and Development Program


UNC-Charlotte's Game Intelligence Group, lead by Dr. Michael Youngblood




UNC-Charlotte's Game2Learn Group, lead by Dr. Tiffany Barnes

Publication:
D.Hunter Hale, G. Micheal Youngblood, & Priyesh N. Dixit Automatically-generated Convex Region Decomposition for Real-time Spatial Agent Navigation in Virtual Worlds (pdf) Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
(Voted Most Infuential Game AI Publication of 2008)

Game:
Incursion, an Xbox game created by UNC-Charlotte Game Lab students,is available for download from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace website.