Volumetric three-dimensional (3D) display technology has wide medical applications, such as in computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and ultrasound (US) [1-12]. In neuroscience, data generated by brain research are diverse, vast, and complex because of the high level of interconnectedness of the data, and their high dimensionality. Tools for neuroscience data visualization, such as multiscale 3D imaging capabilities, [13-31] can provide a framework for neuroscience data analysis. This is especially important in realizing a digital collaborative environment in medical personnel training, teleconferencing, and treatments, as it provides visualization of complex spatiotemporal brain response patterns;3D virtual representation of the brain's physiological and anatomical data is also essential to advance medical diagnostics and treatment [14-21, 32-44], for purposes such as presurgical planning, imaging during surgery, diagnosis of mental disorders, and drug development. It is an effective tool for brain physiological data acquisition, processing, and volumetric rendering. For example, a 3D mesh for the brain volume can be first created from an MRI scan and used to provide the reference coordinate system along with the anatomical information for mapping areas of brain activity as a regular grid of 3D graphical objects using the EEG and fMRI results. The properties such as color and size of these objects would co-vary with the selected properties of the activity, and this representation would be superimposed onto a volumetric rendering of the subject9s MRI data to form the anatomical background of the scene. The user can navigate in this virtual brain and visualize it as a whole or some of its parts. This allows the user to experience a sense of presence in the scene (""""""""being there"""""""") and to observe the dynamics of brain's activity in its original spatiotemporal relations. A new visualization tool capable of real-time fusing and displaying brain activity information (EEG, fMRI, etc.) is thus needed. To address the needs, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Full-parallax, Enhanced-Depth, full-Color, 3-Dimensional (FED-COLOR-3D) visualization system based on an integral imaging principle and novel use of liquid crystal optical devices to achieve an automultiscopic (autostereoscopic + multiperspective + multiuser) 3D visualization system. It provides bare-eyed observers with full color and 3D images that have full parallax. In Phase I, we will collaborate with Dr. Irina Gorodnitsky from the Cognitive Science Department of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of FED-COLOR-3D's in a practical medical environment to assist in pre-surgical evaluation and planning, leading to the development, testing and evaluation of the FED- COLOR-3D system in a range of selected medical applications during Phase II. Successful completion of this project will advance the technical capabilities of current 3D systems for 3D real-time virtual representation of the brain's physiological and anatomical data.
The proposed Full-parallax, Enhanced-Depth, full-COLOR, 3-Dimensional (FED-COLOR-3D) visualization system represents significant technical improvements based on an integral imaging principle and novel use of liquid crystal optical devices to achieve an automultiscopic (autostereoscopic + multiperspective + multiuser) 3D visualization system. The FED-COLOR-3D will be used for 3D real-time virtual display of the brain's physiological and anatomical data to provide bare-eyed observers with full-color 3D images with both horizontal and vertical parallaxes. The FED-COLOR-3D system will provide a framework for neuroscience data analysis, sharing and visualizing neuroscientific images, and a 3D virtual representation of the brain's physiological and anatomical data for visualization in presurgical planning, real-time imaging during surgery, 3D visualization for diagnosis of mental disorders, and visualization of complex spatiotemporal brain response patterns for teleconferencing and medical training.
