The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 10, 1995
Filed:
Dec. 18, 1992
Robert A Drebin, Corte Madera, CA (US);
Loren C Carpenter, Novato, CA (US);
Pixar, Richmond, CA (US);
Abstract
An imaging system for providing apparatus and method for projecting a two dimensional (2D) representation of three dimensional (3D) volumes where surface boundaries and objects internal to the volumes are readily shown, and hidden surfaces and the surface boundaries themselves are accurately rendered. In the present invention, the two dimensional image produced is capable of having the same resolution as the sampling resolution of the input image image volume of interest. This is accomplished through the implementation of methods for determining 'partial volumes' of voxels. Partial voluming provides for the assignment of selected colors and opacities to different materials (or data components) represented in an image data volume based on the percentage composition of materials represented in each voxel of the image volume. Unlike prior art systems, such as those that use thresholding techniques, the imaging of the present invention has a high degree of precision and definition that is independent of image volume on a per voxel basis.