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:
Dec. 24, 1996
Filed:
Feb. 24, 1993
Makoto Ono, Yokohama, JP;
Hiroshi Minakata, Tokyo, JP;
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A semitransparent spherical surface having as its center O, a fixed point in an object being displayed on a screen of a tablet, is generated so as to enclose the object. Then, three degrees of freedom for orientation are determined by pen-manipulation on the spherical surface. That is, a plurality of points (P0-P3) on the spherical surface are specified in a predetermined order. Points P0 and P1 specify two polar surface coordinate positions on the spherical surface for rotation of the object in a polar coordinate system and simultaneously specify a rotation axis OP1 connecting the center O to point P1. Then a rotation angle .alpha. about this axis OP1 is specified by the specification of points P2 and P3. Then, calculations for rotating the object to the specified orientation are performed, and the rotated object is displayed. According to this method, the object in three-dimensional space can be rotated to an arbitrary orientation in a desired manner.