Space skipping for multi-dimensional image rendering
US9177416B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 22, 2010 |
| Grant date | Nov 3, 2015 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 7, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N13/275
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Space skipping for multi-dimensional image rendering is described. In an embodiment a ray-casting engine is used to form a two dimensional image from an at least three dimensional image volume by computing rays extending from a camera location, through the two dimensional image and into the volume. For example, a space skipping logic is used to clip the rays such that computationally expensive aspects of ray-casting only need to be performed along the clipped rays. For example a volume pyramid is formed by repeatedly reducing the resolution of the volume data. In an example, each ray is intersected with the lowest resolution volume of the pyramid and clipped using data from that volume. In examples, the clipping is then repeated at higher resolutions in order to clip the ray closely to non-transparent voxels in the volume and optimize the task of rendering the image.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.