CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

12 November 2012

Product News

Patent Awarded for PDF3D Geospatial Reporting Technology

Visual Technology Services announces Grant of Patent GB2484561 for Alternative Multi-Level Elevation Mesh Representation by the UK Intellectual Property Office, supporting the highly compressed terrain grid implementation in the PDF3D® software systems. The technology is successfully deployed and licensed world-wide with integration into numerous 3D technical report generation systems in the areas of civil engineering, marine and airborne survey, geophysical exploration and geo-intelligence.

“The 3D PDF document format allows embedding potentially large geospatial 3D map representations, driving the need for efficient compression to allow collaborative communication and distribution, including as email attachments,” comments Ian Curington, CEO and co-author of the new patent. “The granting of this critical patent strengthens our intellectual property position in 3D technical publishing using the PDF Engineering and Product Representation Compact (PRC) document standards. As a UK registered company, licensing the patent along with the software also allows us to access the recently announced ‘Patent Box’ tax incentive scheme.”

Following on from the previously granted GB2477368 for Triangle Mesh Compression, GB2484561 represents a breakthrough in the field of 3D technical document generation. The patent covers PDF3D library proprietary methods used to compress large terrain grids, typical of digital elevation maps, bathymetric survey data, in a multi-level mesh packaged within a standard PDF file, such that the resulting document is reduced and more efficient to transmit, while enabling the recipient to open and navigate the 3D model with rotation, pan, zoom, geolocation probe, including geospatial image or attribute data draped onto the elevation mesh.

“The company’s balanced and well-targeted commercial intellectual property (IP) strategy is clearly working,” comments Ian Bingham founding partner of IPASSET LLP. “The strong professional IP management team has demonstrated taking ideas from proof-of-concept, registering IP, product implementation and commercial licensing stages. We continue to offer support for this high growth entrepreneurial business. As this additional application in the current portfolio goes to grant, we look forward soon to further announcements regarding other patent applications and licensing announcements.”

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