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:
Jul. 07, 1998
Filed:
Jan. 05, 1996
Theodore Franklin Lehr, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method for identifying invisible objects that are ordered in a tree-like data structure in which a drawing program displays object data on a display device and a user selects a viewing area of the object data to be drawn. Each of the objects includes a size that is determined by a first-edge value and a second-edge value. The method comprises the steps of finding a maximum second-edge value among a group of objects that includes a first object and descendant objects of the first object. A viewing resolution is determined from the viewing area, and each of the objects in the viewing area are then drawn on the display. If the first object is invisible at the current viewing resolution, then the maximum second-edge value is used to calculate whether any of the descendant objects are also visible at the viewing resolution. If none of the descendant objects are visible, then the method determines if there are more objects to be drawn within the viewing area, thereby eliminating the need to check the size of each of the descendant objects.