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:
Apr. 25, 2000
Filed:
Jul. 29, 1994
Christopher Adam Crane, Washington, MO (US);
Tom J Bannon, Dallas, TX (US);
Daniel Martin Donahue, Dallas, TX (US);
Donald Wayne Adkins, Oak Leaf, TX (US);
Judd England Heape, Dallas, TX (US);
Andrew Kendall Smith, Boston, MA (US);
Thomas M Siep, Garland, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
In a virtual reality system (20) an operator perceives being in a virtual reality world (74) of virtual reality images (62). The system (20) models the relative position and movement of objects (208 and 210) in a virtual reality world (74) by representing graphically a first (208) and second (210) object in a virtual reality world (74) on a graphical display (60 and 68). The representation selective obscures the first (208) and second (210) objects according to the relative position of the objects (208 and 210) to a predetermined observation point in the virtual reality world (74). The system (20) then determines a first partitioning plane (204) between the first (208) and second (210) objects. Then, the system (20) method determines a second partition plane (206) between the first (208) and second (210) object in response to either of said first (208) or second (210) objects moving across the first partitioning plane (204). Then, the system (20) graphically represent on the graphical display (60 and 68) the first (208) and second (210) objects within the virtual reality world (74) by selectively obscuring the first (208) and second (210) objects according to their relative position to the predetermined observation point.