James LeVoy Sorenson 1921-2008

James LeVoy Sorenson, World-Renowned Medical Device Inventor, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist, Dies at 86.

James LeVoy Sorenson left behind a profound professional and personal legacy, the inventions and companies that Mr. Sorenson created have had a significant and lasting impact on the development of numerous medical treatments and procedures.

How does this person’s legacy has to do with the Deaf Community?

One of his inventions, is the video compression technology. This invention lead to the development of the videophone and video relay services.

Remember the first videophone that was distributed by Communication Services for the Deaf (CSD) and Hamilton Relay around 2003?

That is the DLink’s DVC1000 i2eye videophone. DLink is no longer manufacturing or distributing this videophone.

I have this DLink model, and currently it was not in working order. I took this videophone apart and saw the videochip inside. Here’s the picture:

How did that happen?

Read this article:

Sorenson Media and D-Link Join Forces to Co-Develop First Affordable Videophone; D-Link DVC-1000 i2eye VideoPhone Co-Developed by D-Link and Sorenson Media

SALT LAKE CITY & IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–March 24, 2003

Sorenson Media(TM) and D-Link(R) Systems Inc. today announced that they worked together to co-develop a cutting-edge system design for real-time, high-quality, personal video conferencing that combines Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology, video software, a video communication processor and a user-friendly graphic user interface. Designed to deliver standards-based point-to-point access, the co-developed videophone uses the SVX video communications processor from Sorenson Media to provide the highest-quality video at the lowest possible bandwidth.

Wow, let’s dig back further to learn how this invention was created…

In 1998, Sorenson Media (one of the many companies that James LeVoy Sorenson and his son, James Lee Sorenson established) began to develop video streaming products, and the Sorenson Video was the first product. This product helped to compress a very large digital file to as little as one percent of the original size, that could be distributed over the Internet.

Go and read this article that was published in 2002:

Sorenson Media: Video Compression Software by Nathan Segal

“James LeVoy Sorenson has a background in the medical industry and they had branched out and investigated other technologies that could complement their medical devices. Years ago, they were looking at video compression as a technology that could aid in compressing large medical imaging files. They found some great technologies, brought them on board and then all of a sudden, the Internet fell in the way. In response, they started to develop some different technology companies. One of these companies was Sorenson Vision, which specialized in the conferencing business. In April of 2000, Sorenson Media was formed specifically for compression technologies.”

This invention is called the Sorenson codec (also known as Sorenson Video Codec, Sorenson Video Quantizer or SVQ) is a digital video codec devised by the company Sorenson Media. It is used in Apple’s QuickTime and in Macromedia Flash applications. The Sorenson Video codec first appeared with the release of QuickTime 3 on March 30, 1998. (Source from Wikipedia.com)

That’s how it began… by developing a codec (compression technology) leads to the development of videochip, through the partnership with DLink Systems, Inc. to make THE videophone.

Without further ado, it is the time to pay respects for Mr. James LeVoy Sorenson.

Thank you, Mr. James LeVoy Sorenson for your contributions, especially developing the video compression technology which opened up the communications between Deaf and Hearing people today.

Here are the links below for more information about Mr. Sorenson.

KSL.com news announcement

Genealogy Blog

PR-inside.com

Desert News.com

The Salt Lake Tribute/ci_8027567

James LeVoy Sorenson, may you rest in peace,

Amy Cohen Efron