NEWARK, N.J., Nov. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberExtruder.com, Inc., a software company specializing in the field of computer vision, has been granted patents from both the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The patents, entitled "Apparatus and Method for generating a three-dimensional representation from a two-dimensional image," protect the company's process for automatically creating a 3D model of a person's head from just a single 2D image.
"The granting of these patents validates all of our hard work and the innovation that was necessary to achieve this milestone," said Jack Ives, Co-inventor and Chief Operating Officer of CyberExtruder. "Our industry partners now have a greater comfort level that the software they develop which incorporates this technology is, by extension, protected and can't be usurped."
CyberExtruder's automated system renders the unique 3D shape of any individual from just a single photograph. The company's initial patents stake out CyberExtruder's claims to key enabling discoveries in computer vision and image understanding. The company is filing several follow-on patents.
The technology covered by the patents is used in the biometric security and animation and entertainment industries. In biometric security applications CyberExtruder's system enhances facial recognition matching scores (particularly in surveillance applications) and mitigates the effects of facial expressions, a key degrader of facial recognition systems. A pilot program administered by the US Army with an eye towards developing a better lie detector demonstrated that the company's system can also be used in automating expression recognition.
In 2007, CyberExtruder made significant headway in the animation and entertainment space with their entrance into the virtual world Second Life. "When Philip Rosedale, then CEO of Linden Lab, suggested that we could provide the tools that SL residents were screaming for, it just made sense to set up shop," said Ives. "A year and a half later, we're still the only company that provides an automated way for residents to create photo realistic avatars."
The popularity of virtual worlds such as Second Life and collaborative spaces like Qwaq Forums have generated demand for software tools that can quickly and easily make photorealistic avatars. "The most commonly seen 2D to 3D techniques are manual processes that require an operator to locate facial landmarks or alternatively, the facial photograph is simply stretched a across a generic face shape," said Ives. "In either case, these techniques fail to meet the real world demands of biometric integrators, animation professionals or even the serious role playing gamer."
In addition to providing this system to the biometric and entertainment industries, the company is also leverage innovations in rapid prototyping technology to create hard goods, like cameos, personalized action figures and even individualized candy molds, which will be marketed directly to consumers via the internet. For more information on CyberExtruder, visit www.cyberextruder.com.
Web site: http://www.cyberextruder.com/