Holographic HMI gets 2nd U.S. patent

-- Control Engineering, 6/15/2006

R. Douglas McPheters, President of HoloTouch, Inc. announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently issued US Patent 7,054,045 to HoloTouch, Inc. HoloTouch technology is already the subject of U.S. Patent 6,377,238, UK Patent No. 2292711 and Canadian Patent 2,160,245, with additional patent applications pending in the European Union and other major industrialized countries. The patents arise out of the discoveries of McPheters, John Breitenbach, and John F.W. Perry.

According to McPheters, the latest patent "greatly enhances our intellectual property portfolio by protecting our ability to provide increasingly compact touchless, holographic human-machine interfaces (HMIs); to provide touchless, holographic HMIs that have the functional equivalent of touch screens; to offer interactive heads-up HMIs in automotive, aviation and other cockpits; and laying the foundation for virtual holographic HMIs which are larger than the electronics they control."

McPheters says the company's generic evaluation kit, BeamOne, available with USB and serial port as well as relay output, has been purchased by a number of leading OEMs.

BeamOne projects a 1 sq. in. floating holographic images of its "keys" several inches in front of the hardware. A standard PC sees BeamOne as a keyboard. This keyboard is programmable and comes with all necessary software and the infrared sensors needed to detect an operator's interaction with its floating holographic images. For detailed specifications and further information about this evaluation kit and its USB, serial port and relay output capabilities visit www.holodemo/store.html.

—Renee Robbins, editorial director, Control Engineering,
renee.robbins@reedbusiness.com