Date: 29-March-2004
Dr. K. Y. Wong from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) treats heart problems using an echocardiogram. This records ultrasound scans of the heart and surrounding vessels. In one year, Dr. Wong conducts some 4,000 examinations and the recorded tapes need to be stored for a minimum of 7 years. With several examinations being recorded on one tape, valuable time is wasted searching for a particular patient’s examination records. In addition, KKH is rapidly running out of tape storage space.
Luckily for Dr. Wong and other doctors around the world, MatrixView has developed EchoView, the world’s first complete digital storage and retrieval system, for echocardiograms. Its lossless quality and high compression ratios imaging technology results in greater efficiency and significant cost savings for hospitals like KKH. Savings are estimated at between US$400,000 to US$2 million a year. Other pilot studies are set to start later this year, both in Singapore and US-based hospitals.
“MatrixView’s technology is an emerging technology that will have a major impact in all areas, where data is involved. We started off with applications in the BMS (Biomedical Sciences) industry, due to the large unmet needs, numerous images required for the medical area, and the fact that this industry cannot afford to lose data. However, applications for our technology will permeate into other industries, including telecommunications, entertainment and defence,” said Mr. Ravindran Govindan, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, MatrixView.
The technology for EchoView is based upon Adaptive Binary Optimisation (ABO), developed by Mr. Arvind Thiagarajan, who wrote a University paper on the topic when he was 19. ABO allows for the compression, archival and transmission of digital content; including: images, videos, sound and text. This is critical in today’s business world, where access to, and communication of information is vital.
Mr. Ravindran Govindan, Executive Chairman and Managing Director, MatrixView
“ABO is an optimisation algorithm with very high compression ratios at mathematical lossless quality. This means that a digital file can be compressed and decompressed without losing any information,” said Mr. Arvind Thiagarajan, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, MatrixView.
Using ABO, image and video files can be compressed up to 30 times without any loss in quality. This is far superior to existing standards like JPEG and MPEG. Furthermore, as ABO is computationally less complex, it runs faster and uses less power on a computer. In addition, during optimisation the digital content can be encrypted simultaneously, thereby ensuring maximum security.
In order to protect the ABO technology, MatrixView applied for a patent in 2001 for the core technology and is applying for 9 other patents covering ABO’s surrounding methodology. Moving ahead, MatrixView is working on other solution offerings, such as movie archival, video conferencing, defence based solutions, security and surveillance applications.
Mr. Arvind Thiagarajan, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, MatrixView
The technology was developed in India, where there are over 40 R&D engineers at the company’s R&D facility. The Singapore headquarters is responsible for marketing, financial and business support, with sales operations in Japan, Korea, Australia and the United States. In April 04, MatrixView will set up a Singapore R&D centre, which will focus on exploring new applications and quality control.
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