Dynamic weather simulation
US7077749B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 20, 2003 |
| Grant date | Jul 18, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 17, 2024 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01W1/10
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Methods and systems for providing dynamic weather simulation in a computer gaming environment are disclosed. Weather may be user-specified, computer simulated, or based on periodic updates of real-world weather conditions. To dynamically simulate weather while conserving computer resources, a weather simulation manager may periodically alter temperature and dew point values and determine whether to render or dissipate clouds based on the current temperature and dew point values. Weather may be morphed back to real-world weather as updated weather is retrieved from a database over the Internet. The weather simulation manager may simulate weather independently for each of a plurality of geographic cells, thus allowing different weather to appear in different directions during game play. Cloud dissipation may be based on increasing a transparency value of sprites located at the outer edges of each cloud, and gradually working towards the center of the cloud until the cloud has disappeared completely.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.