3M and Kodak are negotiating a licensing arrangement for the 3M laser printer protocol. If a deal is signed, scanner vendors trying to hook lasers to their medical imaging systems should breathe a sigh of relief.
3M is also negotiating laser protocol licensing arrangements with Agfa and Du Pont, said Brian Sabo, 3M product development manager for laser imagers. The camera vendor hopes to finalize these talks in 30 to 60 days, he said.
Kodak confirmed that it is negotiating with 3M to gain access to that vendor's laser printer protocols, but preferred not to provide details while talks are under way.
The conflict over proprietary protocols has clouded what is otherwise a major milestone on the road to digital medical imaging networks, said Michael Gray, president of Adaptive Video. Most manufacturers of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems are providing digital printer ports on their new scanners that use a standard data interface.
"The manufacturers have suddenly given us a standard interface. It is not ACR/NEMA and it is only eight bits, but it is still a powerful tool," Gray told SCAN.
In order to interface a laser with a scanner, a laser control protocol is needed, along with the data interface and control protocols specific to each laser. A scanner needs the control protocol for a laser in order to tell the peripheral device what to print and how (in what format) to print it, Gray said.
3M's older 831 control protocol has been widely used for some time, and it is questionable whether the laser vendor could enforce licensing of this software. However, 3M has maintained stricter control over its more advanced 952 protocol, Gray said.
Scanner manufacturers that implement the 952 protocol on their interfaces have had to sign agreements with 3M stating that they would not use the 3M control specifications on lasers provided by any other vendor, he said.
Most scanner vendors include multiple control protocols with their digital ports, with one exception--and that is the rub. The exception is GE Medical Systems.
GE, the largest scanner vendor, will use only the 3M 952 protocol on its digital printer ports, which have not yet been introduced, Gray said.
This means that, unless 3M signs a licensing agreement with another laser manufacturer, either a 3M laser must be used with the new GE digital port or an interface must be obtained from an independent supplier that does have a licensing arrangement with 3M.
Vortech Data, which entered into a digital imaging partnership with Kodak last year, does have permission to use the 3M protocol. But there are restrictions on Kodak's ability to get around the 3M license requirements by using a Vortech network, Sabo noted. Kodak therefore has had to deal directly with 3M.
A driving force behind this interface controversy is 3M's desire to maximize its laser film sales. While most laser vendors manufacture film compatible with the 3M laser as well as film for their own cameras, 3M makes laser film only for the 3M laser, Gray said.
"You have to realize that 3M is a film company as much as a laser imager producer," Sabo said. "Our desire is to have as much of a (laser) market share as possible so we can sell as much film as possible."
