Floating-point complementary depth buffer
US6285779A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 2, 1999 |
| Grant date | Sep 4, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 2, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/405
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for evaluating the depth of a pixel in a scene, the scene enclosed in a view volume, the scene to be rendered from a camera position, the view volume having a near and a far plane, includes calculating a depth value for a pixel in the scene, the depth value being generated by a depth function of view distance within the view volume from the camera position, and storing the depth value in a floating-point format, the floating-point format including a mantissa and exponent, where, as the distance of the pixel to the far plane decreases, the absolute magnitude of the depth value generated by the depth function approaches the minimum non-negative number representable by the floating-point format.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.