Curvilinear dynamic image generation system
US4763280A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 29, 1985 |
| Grant date | Aug 9, 1988 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 29, 2005 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T17/00
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system is disclosed for the production of real-time, computer-generated images as for projection on a curvilinear surface as on the inside of a dome. A general-purpose computer provides data for visual images and supplies the data in an ordered format. Such data is processed first with regard to viewpoint and second with regard to channel operation. Specifically, viewpoint processing incorporates an object manager and a polygon manager. Channel processing includes a geometric processor and a display processor. The display processor drives a projector for illuminating a spherical surface with the desired images. The geometric processor incorporates several well known elements including a rotator, clippers, a slope calculator and polygon buffer. Additionally, the geometric processor incorporates a segmenter and mapper which replaces the traditional perspective divider to process the data so as to generate images for curvilinear projection. The segmenter tests the character of polygon edges in spherical coordinate format and corrections are performed on data in the same format. Segmentation is performed on data in a rectangular coordinate format.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.