Latency optimization for autostereoscopic volumetric visualization in image-guided interventions

Autostereoscopic visualization in clinical image-guided interventions and therapy poses constrains on the maximal latency in the visualization chain. In order to use visual feedback in the hand-eye coordinated loop, the latency of the visualization chain should be less than approximately 250–300 ms. This is a challenging constraint for interactive autostereoscopic multi-view volume rendering of large datasets. The various building blocks of such a visualization chain and their latency aspects are explored in this paper. Two complementary strategies to improve the latency of the entire chain are introduced and examined: lowering the resolution of the rendered views and reducing the amount of rendered views by smartly interpolating the missing views at receiver side. These strategies are balanced while optimizing the latency and image quality using a fuzzy logic approach. Furthermore, the optimal view resolution for a multi-view autostereoscopic lenticular display has been determined by investigating the lenticular lattice in the frequency domain. The quantitative aspects of the latency of the proposed building blocks and the resulting image quality have been measured.