Patent · US Expired

Area and span based Z-buffer

US6972760B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
9References
29Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 30, 2001
Grant dateDec 6, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 23, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T15/40
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method is provided for decreasing the amount of data required to represent depth information for 3D images. In accordance with one embodiment, depth information is represented by a piecewise function Z(x,y). An (x,y) space is split into areas representing a region of primitive shapes. For each of these regions, Z(x,y) is defined as a simple parametric analytical function. Subsequently, only a few parameters are required to encode this function in each region. By using these parametric analytical functions to represent depth value of the split, the present invention achieves advantages such as reductions in required storage space and required bandwidth with a concomitant increase in processing speed.

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