FYI... press release

Michael D. Doyle (mddoyle@netcom.com)
Tue, 30 Aug 1994 23:15:10 -0700


The technology described below may present an alternative strategy for
delivering certain types of VR applications through the Web.

>PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE
>
>| | EMBEDDED PROGRAM OBJECTS IN DISTRIBUTED HYPERMEDIA SYSTEMS
>| |
>| | Researchers at the U. of California have created software for embedding
>| | interactive program objects within hypermedia documents. Previously,
>| | object linking and embedding (OLE) has been employed on single machines or
>| | local area networks using MS Windows -TM-. This UC software is the
>| | first instance where program objects have been embedded in documents
>| | over an open and distributed hypermedia environment such as the
>| | World Wide Web on the Internet.
>| | The researchers' first application, already ported to an X Window
>| | environment, enhances NCSA Mosaic -TM- -a client program for the WWW- so
>| | that the user can interactively control the display of a 3D medical image
>| | -generated from a gigabyte-sized data set- on a window within a Mosaic
>| | document. The user can rotate the object at will, zoom in or out, do
>| | oblique sectioning, highlight hidden parts, alter the color mapping and
>| | image contrast, all under real-time control. These capabilities represent
>| | a substantial improvement over current image display applications in
>| | Mosaic, which are limited to display of static images and non-interactive
>| | playback modes.
>| | It is anticipated that many additional applications which require
>| | advanced real-time large-scale data processing could be developed from
>| | this technology. Numerous commercial opportunities for software sales -to
>| | both clients and servers- and database subscription services could arise
>| | from products based on the UC embedded program objects. A small sampling of
>| | appropriate applications might include:
>| |
>| | - internet accesible on-line databases, software libraries, and software
>| | demos which involve large-scale data processing
>| | - 'smart' documents for personal forms, financial or consumer
>| | transactions, credit reports, confidential communications, etc.
>| | - real-time high-level information exchanges, such as multiuser CAD
>| | - virtual reality applications
>| | - multi-users 'groupware' programs
>| |
>| | Inquiries to.. Martha Luehrmann
>| | UC Office of Technology Transfer
>| | 510-748-6611
>| | martha@ott.ucop.edu
>| | Reference: UC Case 94-108
>
>
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* Michael D. Doyle, Ph.D. email: miked@visembryo.ucsf.edu *
* Director, Health Informatics Lab phone: (510)522-5275 *
* Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine fax: (510)522-4439 *
* University of California, San Francisco pager: (415)719-4557 *
* 5 Remmel Court http://visembryo.ucsf.edu/ *
* Alameda, CA 94502 alternate email: mddoyle@netcom.com *
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