psHolix based in Switzerland has created an AI driven 3D holographic technology solution for the mass market without glasses that is 2D backward compatible. The company owns 58 patents.
psHolix exhibits immersive viewing for consumers to create even more shared experiences. psHolix technology was invented by Dr. Rolf-Dieter Naske, a German computer scientist. He filed his Ph.D. thesis in the area of Artificial Intelligence about hand writer recognition in the year 1984. His inventions led to several patents in the area of 2D to 3D conversion and 58 patents in the auto-stereoscopic display technology. In 1998 he developed the first head-mounted display-based computer systems for gaming.
psHolix demo products are ready in: 8K display, laptop, tablet, mobile phones and VR headsets. In addition, software technology has been built for: virtual reality (VR) Headset Software and autonomous car software.
In September 2019 psHolix won a KIDS (Korean Information Display Society) Award at IMID (International Meeting on Information Display) 2019 in Korea.
Interview with Dr. Naske, founder of psHolix
AV: Tell me about your background in research in AI and Autostereoscopy and how it led to the creation of psHolix?
Dr. Naske: I started my business career as a research engineer in the German Federal Bureau of Crime. We were doing face recognition, speaker recognition and hand writer recognition at that time already using all the Artificial Intelligence techniques, which are so famous today. I did my Ph.D. in the area of hand writer recognition, which was then used to identify the writer of forged checks. After I got my Ph.D. I went in 1984 to a company in Munich, called “Digital Equipment”. That company was the only key competitor to IBM. Digital Equipment invented the PC at that time. It was called MicroVAX. In 1984 they already had a 64bit CPU and a 64bit Operating System. I started in that company as a project manager and trainer for Structured Software Development, which was a completely new discipline.
In 1994 I founded a new company with some of my former colleagues from Digital Equipment. The business of that company was Virtual Reality using Head-mounted Displays. We did simulations for Airbus Industries and simulated the interior equipment of the future A380 for Arabian sheikhs.
But in 1998 I decided to form my own company called “3DTV SystemHouse”. The plan was to develop and sell displays, which can show content with spatial depth. At that time, we were, of course, using shutter glasses for viewing the content. I then developed the first autostereoscopic display with an attachable overlay sheet. The benefit of that display was when the overlay sheet was detached, it could be used for 2D content and for example Word, Excel, etc. and it could show 3D content with spatial depth without glasses when the overlay sheet was attached. All games like Counter Strike, Need for Speed, etc. were playable in 3D without glasses. I developed and sold that as a product already in 2007.
In 2015 I contacted our leading investor, in Basel. They were very enthusiastic about our ideas and technology and started to help us and support the further development of the psHolix technology since then.
AV: What problem does psHolix solve with its technology on both the hardware and software side?
Dr. Naske: There are several problems, which only psHolix solves compared to the competition. The key problem, which psHolix solves, is the accommodation conflict, which causes headache and eye strain when you're watching 3D over a longer period of time. The accommodation conflict is caused by the fact that the eyes always focus on the display panel surface when you're watch something on the display. But for 3D content objects are not always visible on the surface of the display. Maybe the object is behind or in front of the display. The eyes are then converging to the location of the object, which you're seeing on the display. And these distances are different: the focus on the display and the convergence behind the display for example. psHolix reduces this conflict for the brain.
Another benefit of the psHolix technology is that we are helping the brain of the viewer to see good 3D. We're “talking” to the viewer's brain and tell it where the foreground and where the background is. This reduces the workload of the brain and makes it more relaxing to watch 3D.
Furthermore, psHolix makes it possible that every viewer in front of the display can see a sharp image everywhere in front of the display.
AV: How is psHolix for VR headsets different than Oculus for VR headsets?
Dr. Naske: psHolix has developed a technology, which allows to walk into 3D movies, which are shot only with a standard stereo camera. I'm not talking about videos, which are shot with a 3D 360-degree camera. I'm talking about all these simple stereo movies, which do exist since decades like, for example, “Dial M” from Alfred Hitchcock or “Avatar” from James Cameron. The viewer with the HMD on can walk into the movie and look around to the left and right.
AV: Explain how psHolix can be used for current verticals such as:
- Video Gaming / E-sports
- Autonomous Vehicles
- Drone Market
- Video / Web Conferencing
Dr. Naske:
- It is a completely new gaming experience, highly immersive. Without glasses, our spatial depth displays allows for more than 600 games.
- In autonomous vehicles the displays could be installed with psHolix spatial depth extension. That means that the drivers and passengers can watch what's going on in the background and additionally can pass additional information about distances and structures of objects around the car to the autonomous driving system.
- In the Drone market the psHolix display would be part of the whole drone system. A stereo camera would be installed on the drone and pass stereoscopic images to a control center. There, operators can see the remote environment captured by the drone with spatial depth without glasses. They can easier discuss the remote situation and safer decide what would be the best way to react to what they see. Applications areas can be all kinds of catastrophic areas like earthquakes or tsunamis as well as defective oil pipelines or border protection.
- In these Covid-days home office is one of the most important ways of communication between employees or with external customers, because you cannot visit them. Video conferencing with Skype or Zoom is the key application for that type of communication. And that won't stop after the lock-down is over. Many companies noticed that working from home is not necessarily a disadvantage. Office space can be reduced and driving to the office is not necessary anymore. But if you want to explain a new device of car it is much more helpful to see the object with spatial depth, meaning in 3D. Again, here psHolix' HoloExtension is a very helpful functionality to make the communication and understanding easier and is a logical consequence for that type of working and communication.
AV: From Covid 19, it has accelerated, the adoption of 3D technology in the core verticals listed above. However, Covid 19 has also changed consumer behavior’s for home entertainment such as going to see movies in the theaters. How can psHolix be used for VOD so they can enjoy the movie experience at home?
Dr. Naske: When the psHolix technology is installed on a TV set or PC monitor all 3D content can be viewed by all members of the family with spatial depth from all positions in front of the TV set for example. No fuzziness anywhere. No 3D glasses. Also, when you're watching streaming videos there is no difference to watch it with spatial depth. Or games can be played in 3D, as mentioned before. But one important thing is that not everything is broadcasted in 3D. When we developed the technology, we also remembered how it was when television was migrating from black & white broadcasting to color television. The TV sets had to be able to continue to show black & white content in black & white. The same has to be able with the new generation of TV sets. They have to be “2D backwards compatible”. That means, it has to be possible to watch also 2D content in perfect quality. And psHolix has solved that problem. Our displays are also usable as standard 2D-displays. So, psHolix displays can show 3D content with spatial depth without glasses and 2D content with perfect 2D quality.