THREE-DIMENSIONAL DISPLAYS FOR CELL MICROSCOPY FROM A NUMBEROF TWO-DIMENSIONAL DISPLAYS: TRANSFORMING DEPTH INTO TIME

THE WORLD IS THREE DIMENSIONAL (3D), BUT DATA DISPLAYS ARE ONLY TWO DIMENSIONAL (2D). PXL PROPOSES A NOVEL SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM. THE 3D DATA VOLUME IS SECTIONED INTO A NUMBER (20-100) OF 2D IMAGES. CONSECUTIVE 2D IMAGES ARE THEN DISPLAYED SEQUENTIALLY IN A CONTINUOUS LOOP. THE 3D VIEW IS ACHIEVED BY PSYCHOPHYSICAL INTEGRATION OF THE DATA BY THE VIEWER - DEPTH IS TRANSFORMED INTO TIME. THE METHOD SHOULD BE PARTICULARLY GOOD FOR COMPLEX SUBJECTS LIKE THICK BIOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. THESE DATA ARE OFTEN ALREADY SECTIONED - EITHER PHYSICALLY, AS IN TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, OR OPTICALLY, AS IN SCANNING CONFOCAL MISCROSCOPY. COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE PROGRAMS COMBINE THESE SECTIONS INTO A SINGLE VIEW. HOWEVER, SUCH "3D" IMAGES ARE ACTUALLY A SINGLE, COMPLEX 2D SURFACE, RELYING ON SHADING ORPERSPECTIVE TO GIVE A SENSE OF DEPTH. PXL'S PATENT-PENDING APPROACH OFFERS TRUE 3D INFORMATION DISPLAY, WITHOUT RADICAL NEW DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY. PHASE I WILL ESTABLISH FEASIBILITY, USING NON-TRIVIAL SYNTHETIC DATA TO TEST UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS (NUMBER OF SLICES, TIME INTERVAL BETWEEN SLICES, ORDER OF PRESENTATION ETC.) 3D GEOMETRY IS PERCEIVED. PHASE II WILL DEAL WITH REAL MICROSCOPIC SECTIONS. THE FINAL PROGRAM WILL RUN ON EXISTING WORK STATIONS AND THE NEXT GENERATION OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS.