( BW)(SYNTHONICS-INC)(SNNT) Synthonics Expands
Intellectual Property War Chest; Receives Third Patent for
Creation of 3-D Digital Replicas
Business Editors
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 1998--
Developer of "Rapid Virtual Reality" Tools Lays Claim to Core
Technology Behind Viewing 3-D Images on High-Definition TV
Synthonics Inc., developer of the advanced three-dimensional (3-D) digital
replication technology, "Rapid Virtual Reality" (RVR), has been awarded a
new patent that includes processes that will be used to transmit 3-D color
images across television airwaves.
The award is the third Synthonics claim approved by the U.S. Patent
Office in less than a year, arriving just in time for the advent of high-definition
television.
"With the shipment of the first HDTV receivers this year, consumers will
finally have a powerful enough instrument in their homes to show clear,
full-color, lifelike 3-D images," said Mike Budd, president and chief executive
officer, Synthonics Technologies.
"We hope to interest broadcasters in using our technologies in daily
programming to create and transmit high-quality, full-depth images that
duplicate three-dimensional objects and environments in viewers' homes. We
can now do this very inexpensively, without experiencing the loss of definition
that plagued early 3-D experiments on standard TVs."
Synthonics' patented technologies can also be used to add a third
dimension to distance learning and other educational applications that rely on
television transmissions, according to Budd. Anyone taking a course from far
off institutions can see and interact with objects that are a part of the lesson,
just as if those students were in class.
"Instructors in another time zone or even on another continent will now be
able to effectively 'sit' down with students and 'hand' them objects to study
and materials to view, all in real-time," Budd said.
Synthonics, a wholly-owned software development subsidiary of
Synthonics Technologies Inc. (OTC/BB:SNNT), has filed 17 U.S. and six
international patent applications over the last three years covering various
aspects of the subsidiary's 3-D digital replication and image transmission
technologies.
RVR is a proprietary method for creating affordable, accurate and realistic
3-D replicas of real objects for interactive computer graphics applications.
This most recent patent approval encompasses the broadcast portion of
Synthonics' application entitled, "Methods and Apparatus for Creation and
Transmission of 3-Dimensional Images." The award protects the company's
rights to the means by which accurate, full-depth images created by
combining the output of synchronized twin color cameras can be sent over
the airwaves without loss of quality.
The 3-D broadcast patent award works in conjunction with Synthonics'
first award, granted last summer, which outlines the core technologies behind
creating highly accurate 3-D color images while minimizing eyestrain and
color fading -- two known deterrents to using 3-D color images in the past.
Related applications of RVR technology are being used to develop
multimedia CD-ROMs for the Smithsonian Institution and its new affiliate
museum at Centro Alameda in San Antonio. Synthonics has created
collections of 3-D digital replicas of fragile and priceless artifacts that can be
thoroughly examined by scholars and other visitors for the first time.
"With RVR images, anyone can handle, control and examine full-depth
replicas of the nation's most treasured mementos and historical artifacts as a
part of public exhibits or at home on their own PCs," Budd said. "We expect
this hands-on, accelerated approach to learning to revolutionize education in
the next decade."
Synthonics' RVR technologies are also at the heart of PC-based software
for dental and medical diagnosis and treatment planning now being developed
by another Synthonics subsidiary.
About Synthonics
Synthonics licenses its tools for custom 3-D content creation and also
offers an in-house capability to create 3-D content for its customers.
With headquarters in Westlake Village, Synthonics Technologies develops
advanced 3-D virtual reality imaging technologies for use in PC and Internet
applications. For information, call 818/707-6000, e-mail
synthonics@synthonics.com, or visit the Web site:
synthonics.com.
--30--MT/la* TJM/la
CONTACT: The Bohle Co.
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KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA TEXAS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED
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