CS Professor Creates Technology to “C” the Future

11-25-2014

Writer(s): Steve Martin, Purdue Purdue Research Park

Daniel Aliaga is helping develop a new technology that allows people to view digital content on tablets, smartphones and laptops with greater clarity – eliminating the need for corrective eyewear.

CPrecisely, a Purdue Research Park-based company, was co-founded by Aliaga, chief executive officer and associate professor in the computer science department, along with Chris May, chief technology officer, and Ignacio Garcia-Dorado, chief science officer.

Aliaga said 75 percent of people in the United States need corrective eyewear.

"From the age of 45, people inevitably start to suffer from presbyopia - a condition in which the lens of the eye gradually loses its ability to focus, making it difficult to see objects up close," he said. "This means they will need reading glasses in their day-to-day lives. This creates a greater need for a more efficient way to see content on electronic devices."

The CPrecisely development team has created corrective imaging technology that helps a person with visual impairments to see electronic images or text properly.

"Our approach exploits the way the uncorrected eye incorrectly focuses light rays. These images look clear to a person who isn't wearing their corrective eyewear, but they look strange to people with 20/20 vision," he said. "It corrects the image according to the user's eyesight, making it a personalized solution. It uses existing digital displays and projectors, so there is no specialized hardware to purchase."

Aliaga said there are two equally important parts to developing CPrecisely's business: software development and content availability. He said the software will soon be complete and distributed through app stores such as Apple iTunes and Google Play. Aliaga and his colleagues now are looking to collect content.

"First, we are going to focus on public domain content," he said. "After we do that, we hope to connect with publishing companies to inquire about re-selling their content with our image correcting technology. Customers would be able to apply our technology to their current or new e-books."

The technology has been exclusively licensed to CPrecisely through the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization. A video about CPrecisely is available at http://youtu.be/vXH1KmwHSC4