Tech Convergence Will Spur Demand for New ADAS Technology

MVIS Blog Person of the Month 7/04

MVIS Blog Person of the Month for July, 2004 is Microvision research fellow John R. Lewis.

He is the author or co-author of 22 Microvision patents and patent applications, including this patent for a Personal Display with Image Tracking:

"A display apparatus includes an image source, an eye position detector, and a combiner, that are aligned to a user's eye. The eye position detector monitors light reflected from the user's eye to identify the pupil position. If light from the image source becomes misaligned with respect to the pupil, a physical positioning mechanism adjusts the relative positions of the image source and the beam combiner so that light from the image source is translated relative to the pupil, thereby realigning the display to the pupil."

John R. Lewis Microvision Patents
John R. Lewis Microvision Patent Applications

Mr. Lewis is the co-author of the research papers "Scanner design and resolution trade-offs for miniature scanning displays" published by Society for Imaging Science and Technology, "Scanned beam medical imager" for NASA Astrophysics Data System Service as well as "Diode light sources for retinal scanning displays" for the International Society for Optical Engineering.

Mr. Lewis is also the author of the outstanding IEEE Spectrum magazine cover story In the Eye of the Beholder:

"We expect a higher performance per scanner as we more fully exploit the basic advantages of MEMS, which include the potential of very low costs in small packages. In addition, multiple scanners could provide higher-resolution images by each providing full detail in a tiled subarea. Eventually, costs will become low enough to make this practical, allowing the scanned-beam approach to surpass the equivalent pixel count of any other display technology."

And from Mike Villas' World, the companion article to Vernor Vinge's augmented reality story Synthetic Serendipity:

"The scanned-beam display, including the lasers and the 2.5-mm-diameter microelectromechanical scanner that paints the light onto the retina, needs to shrink to fit comfortably and unobtrusively on a contact lens. John R. Lewis, a research fellow at Microvision, insists he could build such a prototype today for US $5 million to $10 million."

It has been a tough month for MVIS shareholders, and the market in general for technology companies. But progress on the development of Microvision's technology is unrelenting, due to the efforts of dedicated scientists like Mr. Lewis. While the markets are fickle and preoccupied with fleeting concerns, Microvision research scientists continue to further the company's advantage in microscanning technology -- which will provide the foundation for geometric growth for years to come.

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