Louisiana Patent of the Month – February 2026

Report Overview

In the high-stakes domain of medical diagnostics, the margin between healing and harm often rests on the fidelity of a single image. As healthcare decentralizes through telehealth and remote monitoring, the reliability of digital imaging has transitioned from a convenience to a clinical imperative. This report provides an exhaustive, expert-level analysis of U.S. Patent No. 12,536,703, titled “System for producing three-dimensional medical images using a calibration slate,” issued on January 27, 2026.

Developed by the Louisiana-based innovators True-See Systems, LLC, this patent represents a watershed moment in the standardization of wound care documentation. Its significance has been formally recognized by Swanson Reed, a global leader in R&D tax advisory, which awarded it the prestigious title of Louisiana Patent of the Month for February 2026. Selected from a field of over 1,000 AI-driven and medical patents via Swanson Reed’s proprietary inventionINDEX algorithm, the patent was singled out for its profound “Real-World Impact”—a metric that prioritizes immediate industrial application and economic efficiency over theoretical novelty.

This document serves two distinct but converging purposes. First, it functions as a technical market intelligence report, benchmarking the ‘703 patent against legacy optical competitors like MolecuLight, Stryker, and Aranz Healthcare. The analysis demonstrates how True-See’s “calibration slate” technology achieves a 58.8% improvement in color accuracy over standard smartphone photography, effectively turning consumer electronics into clinical-grade medical devices.

Second, the report serves as a strategic fiscal guide for corporate leadership. It details how the rigorous engineering behind Patent 12,536,703 exemplifies the Qualified Research Activities (QRAs) defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). By dissecting the development process through the lens of the Four-Part Test under IRC Section 41, and outlining the audit-proof methodologies employed by Swanson Reed—including their mandatory Six-Eye Review and TaxTrex AI platform—this report charts a course for innovative firms to reclaim vital capital through the R&D Tax Credit.

The Clinical and Technical Crisis: Subjectivity in Medical Imaging

To fully appreciate the value of U.S. Patent 12,536,703, one must first understand the depth of the problem it solves. The medical field, particularly dermatology and wound care, faces a “subjectivity crisis” driven by the inherent limitations of unassisted digital photography.

The Physics of Color Perception and Metamerism

The fundamental challenge in medical imaging is not resolution; it is color fidelity. In a clinical setting, the assessment of a wound’s healing progress relies heavily on color cues. Granulation tissue (healthy) is beefy red; slough (dead tissue) is yellow or tan; eschar (necrotic) is black. However, digital sensors do not “see” color like the human eye.

Most digital cameras use a Bayer filter array to estimate color, heavily relying on automatic white balance (AWB) algorithms. These algorithms are designed for consumer aesthetics—making sunsets look warmer or skin tones look “pleasing”—rather than clinical accuracy. Furthermore, a phenomenon known as metamerism complicates matters. Metamerism occurs when two colors appear identical under one light source (e.g., hospital fluorescence) but drastically different under another (e.g., daylight). Without a standardized reference point in the frame, a photograph taken in a clinic can look radically different from one taken in a patient’s home, potentially leading to a misdiagnosis of infection or a failure to detect necrosis.

The Economic and Legal Burden of Inaccuracy

The costs of this inaccuracy are staggering. Chronic wounds affect millions of patients and cost the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $28 billion annually. A significant portion of this cost is driven by inconsistent documentation leading to unnecessary hospital admissions or, conversely, premature discharge.

From a legal standpoint, the lack of objective imagery is a liability. In cases of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs), the defense often hinges on proving that a wound was present upon admission or that it has not deteriorated due to negligence. “Blurry, yellow-tinted” photos from a nurse’s smartphone are frequently inadmissible or easily discredited in court. The industry has long awaited a solution that provides an “objective source of truth”—a forensic-grade record of the patient’s condition.

Anatomy of Innovation: U.S. Patent 12,536,703

U.S. Patent 12,536,703 answers this call with a deceptively simple yet mathematically rigorous solution: the Calibration Slate.

Bibliographic Profile

• Patent Number: US 12,536,703
• Title: System for producing three-dimensional medical images using a calibration slate
• Issue Date: January 27, 2026
• Application Filing Date: March 8, 2024 (Note: This patent claims priority benefit from earlier provisional applications dating back to December 2020, establishing a long-standing priority date for the core intellectual property).
• Assignee: True-See Systems, LLC
• Inventors: Francis Godwin James Jr. (New Orleans, LA) and Shoban Pattam
• Primary Classification: G06T (Image Data Processing), A61B (Diagnosis; Surgery).

Technical Specification: The Calibration Slate Mechanism

The core claim of the ‘703 patent describes a system that integrates a physical fiducial marker (the calibration slate) with advanced image processing software. Unlike previous attempts that relied on hardware-heavy solutions (like specialized cameras with built-in ring lights), the ‘703 patent shifts the burden of accuracy from the hardware to the algorithm, mediated by the slate.

The Fiducial Framework and Color Matrices

The calibration slate is not merely a ruler. It contains a specific array of color chips with known spectral reflectance curves. These chips are selected to mimic the spectral properties of human tissue—melanin, hemoglobin, and lipids. When an image is captured, the system identifies these chips and compares their measured RGB values in the image against their known true values.

The software then computes a color correction matrix (often a 3×3 or 4×4 affine transformation matrix) that maps the distorted image colors back to the “ground truth.” This process effectively neutralizes the ambient lighting temperature (whether 3000K tungsten or 6500K daylight), ensuring that “red” is always the exact same “red,” regardless of where the photo was taken.

Photogrammetric 3D Reconstruction

Crucially, the patent title refers to “three-dimensional medical images.” The calibration slate includes geometric patterns (such as QR codes, concentric circles, or checkerboards) that allow the software to perform pose estimation. By analyzing the perspective distortion of these known patterns (e.g., if a circle looks like an oval), the system can calculate the camera’s angle and distance relative to the wound.

This data allows for the generation of a 3D depth map or a rectified 2D image where the “keystone effect” is eliminated. This enables clinicians to measure the surface area and volume of a wound with sub-millimeter precision, without ever touching the patient. This non-contact measurement capability is a massive leap forward for infection control.

Strategic Recognition: The Louisiana Patent of the Month (February 2026)

The issuance of Patent 12,536,703 was not merely a routine administrative event; it was highlighted as a significant industrial milestone by Swanson Reed, a specialist R&D tax advisory firm.

The Award and Selection Methodology

Swanson Reed designated US Patent 12,536,703 as the Louisiana Patent of the Month for February 2026. This accolade is derived from a rigorous screening process utilizing the firm’s proprietary inventionINDEX technology.

The inventionINDEX is an AI-driven evaluation engine that scrapes and analyzes thousands of patent filings. For the February 2026 cycle, the system evaluated over 1,000 AI and medical technology patents filed or issued within the region. The selection criteria were not focused on academic abstraction but on “Real-World Impact.” The algorithm scores patents based on:

1. Disruptive Potential: The ability to displace existing, inefficient methodologies (in this case, manual rulers and subjective eyeing).
2. Economic Scalability: The ease of adoption (software-based vs. hardware-based).
3. Market Readiness: The proximity to commercial viability.

Why True-See Won: The “Democratization of Accuracy”

True-See Systems was selected because Patent 12,536,703 represents the democratization of medical accuracy. By using a low-cost, disposable or reusable slate paired with ubiquitous smartphone technology, True-See allows a rural home health aide to capture data of the same quality as a research hospital. This scalability—bringing “Mayo Clinic accuracy” to the “Mississippi Delta”—is the definition of high-impact innovation. It addresses a critical healthcare disparity, ensuring that patient outcomes are not dictated by their proximity to specialized hardware.

Competitive Landscape and Benchmarking

To validate the “Superiority” claim inherent in the patent’s selection, we must benchmark Patent 12,536,703 against the incumbent titans of the wound care and imaging industry. The market is currently dominated by three primary approaches: Fluorescence Imaging, Surgical Navigation, and Laser Scanning.

Competitor 1: MolecuLight (Fluorescence Imaging)

The Technology: MolecuLight utilizes handheld devices that emit violet light (405nm) to cause bacteria (porphyrins) to fluoresce red.

Comparative Analysis:

• MolecuLight Strength: Unmatched ability to visualize bacterial load in situ. It answers the question, “Is there bacteria here?”
• True-See Advantage: MolecuLight is a diagnostic adjunct, not a documentation standard. It requires a dark room and specialized hardware. It does not produce a color-accurate, white-light image for the permanent medical record. Patent 12,536,703 provides the legal record of the wound’s appearance. While MolecuLight finds the bacteria, True-See documents the healing. They are complementary, but True-See is essential for the standard of care documentation required by insurance payers.

Competitor 2: Stryker (Surgical Navigation)

The Technology: Stryker employs sophisticated infrared camera arrays and active LED markers for surgical navigation and operating room imaging.

Comparative Analysis:

• Stryker Strength: Extreme sub-millimeter precision for neurosurgery and orthopedics.
• True-See Advantage: Cost and Mobility. A Stryker navigation cart costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and is tethered to the OR. True-See’s solution exists as software on a $500 tablet. The ‘703 patent brings “surgical-style” calibration to the bedside, the nursing home, and the field clinic, markets that Stryker’s capital-heavy model cannot reach.

Competitor 3: Aranz Healthcare (Laser Scanning)

The Technology: Aranz (Silhouette system) uses laser lines projected onto the skin to measure depth and area.

Comparative Analysis:

• Aranz Strength: precise volumetric measurement.
• True-See Advantage: Hardware Agnosticism. Aranz requires a dedicated, bulky camera device. The ‘703 patent enables BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). By using the calibration slate to derive 3D structure from motion, True-See eliminates the need for laser hardware, significantly reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for hospital networks.

Quantitative Benchmarking: The 58.8% Advantage

The superiority of the technology described in Patent 12,536,703 is not theoretical. Clinical studies utilizing the core “SCOAG” (Standardized Color Alignment Grid) technology—which forms the basis of the patent’s calibration slate—have demonstrated a 58.8% improvement in image color accuracy compared to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported values for smartphone cameras.

• Metric: Delta E 2000 (The standard metric for color difference).
• Result: Uncalibrated smartphones produced images with high Delta E errors (perceptible to the eye). The application of the True-See calibration slate reduced these errors to below the threshold of “Just Noticeable Difference” (JND), creating a record that is arguably more accurate than the clinician’s memory.

Future Horizons: AI, Forensics, and Telemedicine

The issuance of Patent 12,536,703 secures True-See Systems’ position not just in today’s market, but in the future data economy.

The “Ground Truth” for Medical AI

Artificial Intelligence models, specifically Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) used for diagnostics, are ravenous for data. However, they suffer from the “Garbage In, Garbage Out” principle. If a dermatology AI is trained on a dataset of 10,000 uncalibrated images—where some are yellow-tinted due to tungsten light and others are blue-tinted due to shade—the AI will learn “noise” rather than “signal.”

• The Opportunity: By deploying the system described in Patent 12,536,703, True-See is creating a massive repository of color-normalized, dimensionally accurate images. This dataset is a high-value asset. It can be used to train the next generation of AI to detect skin cancer, diabetic ulcers, and burn depth with unprecedented accuracy. The patent effectively corners the market on “Ground Truth” data for tissue analysis.

Expansion into Forensics and Manufacturing

While the patent claims focus on “medical images,” the underlying technology—using a slate to rectify 3D space and color—has broad applications:

• Forensics: Crime scene investigators currently use simple plastic rulers. The ‘703 patent technology could allow for the creation of 3D, color-perfect crime scene reconstructions using standard cameras.
• Teledermatology: As virtual care expands, the ability for a patient to snap a photo of a mole with a “calibration sticker” and have a dermatologist give a confident diagnosis remotely is a game-changer for access to care.

Fiscal Engineering: The R&D Tax Credit Opportunity

For innovative companies like True-See Systems, the journey from concept to patent is paved with significant financial investment. The U.S. Tax Code, specifically IRC Section 41, provides the Research and Experimentation (R&D) Tax Credit to offset these costs. However, accessing this credit requires more than just having a patent; it requires demonstrating that the process of developing the patent met specific statutory requirements.

Understanding IRC Section 41

The R&D Tax Credit is a permanent federal incentive designed to keep technical jobs and innovation within the United States. It allows companies to claim a credit against their tax liability (or payroll taxes for qualified startups) based on a percentage of their Qualified Research Expenses (QREs). These expenses typically include:

• Wages: The W-2 salaries of engineers, developers, and scientists (like inventors James and Pattam).
• Supplies: The cost of prototypes (e.g., various iterations of the calibration slate).
• Contract Research: A portion of fees paid to outside testing labs or consultants.
• Cloud Computing: Costs for AWS/Azure used to train algorithms or host test environments.

The Four-Part Test: A Case Study of Patent 12,536,703

To qualify for the credit, every project must satisfy the IRS Four-Part Test. Below is a detailed analysis of how the development of the technology in Patent 12,536,703 meets these rigorous standards.

Part 1: Permitted Purpose

The Requirement: The research must relate to a new or improved business component (product, process, software, technique, formula, or invention) held for sale, lease, or license. The intent must be to improve function, performance, reliability, or quality.

Application to the Patent:

The “Business Component” is the True-See Imaging System (the software and the slate). The “Permitted Purpose” is clearly defined in the patent abstract: to improve the reliability of medical images (by eliminating color variance) and the quality of data (by adding 3D depth). The development was not for aesthetic style, but for enhanced functional performance in a clinical setting.

Part 2: Technological in Nature

The Requirement: The process of experimentation must fundamentally rely on principles of the hard sciences—physics, biology, engineering, or computer science.

Application to the Patent:

The development of Patent 12,536,703 relied heavily on:

• Optical Physics: Understanding spectral power distributions, illuminants (D50, D65), and the reflectance properties of human tissue.
• Computer Science/Mathematics: Implementing algorithms for homography, affine transformations, and 3D mesh generation from 2D inputs.
• Colorimetry: Utilizing the CIE 1931 color space and Delta E calculations.

This is distinct from “soft sciences” like consumer psychology or market research, satisfying the requirement.

Part 3: Elimination of Technical Uncertainty

The Requirement: At the outset of the project, there must be uncertainty regarding the capability to develop the product, the method to be used, or the appropriate design of the component. It answers the question: “Why is this hard?”

Application to the Patent:

Before the patent was filed, the engineers likely faced significant uncertainties, such as:

• Design Uncertainty: What is the optimal arrangement of color chips on the slate to ensure detection in low-light environments?
• Method Uncertainty: Can the 3D depth calculation be performed locally on a mobile device processor (Edge Computing) in real-time, or must it be offloaded to the cloud?
• Capability Uncertainty: Is it possible to correct for “metameric failure” on low-end smartphone sensors without introducing noise artifacts?

The existence of these questions at the project’s start defines the eligibility.

Part 4: Process of Experimentation

The Requirement: Substantially all (at least 80%) of the activities must constitute a process of experimentation. This involves the identification of uncertainty, the evaluation of alternatives, and a systematic trial-and-error process (modeling, simulation, testing).

Application to the Patent:

This is the “How.” The development log for Patent 12,536,703 likely includes:

• Hypothesis Testing: “If we use a glossy finish on the slate, it creates specular highlights that confuse the sensor.”
• Iteration: “Let’s test a matte finish with a specific lamination.”
• Testing: Capturing thousands of images of the slate under varying lighting conditions (fluorescent, LED, sunlight) to verify the color correction matrices.
• Refinement: Adjusting the geometric pattern from squares to circles to improve detection at acute angles.

This cyclical process of “Hypothesis -> Test -> Analyze -> Refine” is the gold standard for R&D tax eligibility.

The Swanson Reed Advantage: Claiming the Credit

Identifying eligibility is only half the battle; substantiating the claim against an IRS audit is the other. This is where Swanson Reed—the firm that recognized the patent—excels. As a specialist R&D tax advisory firm, they employ a methodology designed for maximum compliance and minimal risk.

The “Six-Eye Review” Protocol

Swanson Reed utilizes a mandatory quality assurance process known as the Six-Eye Review. This ensures that every claim is vetted by three distinct layers of expertise before it is filed:

1. Eye Pair 1: The Qualified Engineer/Scientist: This expert reviews the technical narrative. For a patent like 12,536,703, they would verify that the work was truly experimental engineering and not just routine software maintenance. They speak the language of the inventors.
2. Eye Pair 2: The Tax Attorney/Specialist: This expert reviews the legal eligibility. They analyze contracts to ensure the research was not “funded” by a client (which would negate the credit) and ensure the claim aligns with current case law (e.g., Sudderth, Union Carbide).
3. Eye Pair 3: The CPA/Enrolled Agent: This expert performs the financial calculation. They ensure the QREs are accurately captured and that the “Base Amount” is calculated correctly using either the Regular Method or the Alternative Simplified Credit (ASC) method.

TaxTrex: AI-Powered Documentation

To streamline the often-burdensome documentation process, Swanson Reed utilizes TaxTrex, a proprietary AI platform.

• Speed: TaxTrex allows companies to prepare a defensible R&D claim in as little as 90 minutes of “face-time” with the AI.
• Nexus Creation: The AI interviews the technical staff using natural language processing (NLP). It asks specific questions to extract the “technical uncertainties” and “experimental procedures” associated with projects like the ‘703 patent. It then automatically links (creates a “nexus” between) the employee’s time and the specific project, creating a contemporaneous audit trail.
• Compliance: Because TaxTrex is trained on the tax code and court rulings, it flags potential risks or weak descriptions in real-time, ensuring the final report is robust.

Audit Defense: CreditARMOR

Finally, Swanson Reed offers creditARMOR, an audit defense and risk management platform. Should the IRS challenge the claim for the ‘703 patent development costs, Swanson Reed provides the defense, leveraging the comprehensive documentation created during the study. This provides peace of mind to CFOs, knowing that their tax strategy is backed by a firm that stands behind its work.

Final Thoughts

The issuance of U.S. Patent 12,536,703 is a landmark event in the convergence of medical technology and digital imaging. By solving the persistent problem of color subjectivity, True-See Systems has created a tool that enhances patient safety, reduces legal liability, and paves the way for the next generation of AI diagnostics.

The selection of this invention as the Louisiana Patent of the Month for February 2026 by Swanson Reed is a testament to its “Real-World Impact.” It benchmarks superiorly against competitors by offering a scalable, software-centric solution that achieves a 58.8% improvement in accuracy without the need for expensive capital equipment.

For the innovators behind this technology, and for the wider industry, the path forward involves not just commercialization but strategic fiscal management. The development of such rigorous technology is the archetype of Qualified Research. By leveraging the Four-Part Test and utilizing the specialized, audit-defensive methodologies of Swanson Reed—including the Six-Eye Review and TaxTrex AI—companies can secure the capital needed to continue their vital work. In doing so, they ensure that the future of medicine is not only more accurate but also economically sustainable.