Patent · US Expired

Blending with planar maps

US6049339A · kind A · utility

84Cited by
6References
49Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 22, 1997
Grant dateApr 11, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 22, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T11/60
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system for blending graphical objects using planar map representations is described. A page description representation of an input document's graphical objects is converted, at least in part, into a planar map representation. A color is assigned to each region in the planar map as a function of the region's associated paths' transparency characteristics. In one embodiment, if the graphical processing system exhausts its memory during processing, those paths already converted to planar maps are rasterized. Any subsequent processing of graphical objects is thereafter performed in raster format. In another embodiment, an output page is divided into tiles where each tile may be rasterized independent of the other tiles. In yet another embodiment, graphical objects are processed in reverse order compared to their arrangement in the page description language representation.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.