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:
Sep. 19, 1997
Sarah F Gibson, Arlington, MA (US);
Mitsubishi Electric Information Technology Center America, Inc., Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
A linked volumetric representation for graphical objects is presented together with techniques for physically-plausible modeling of object cutting, joining and tearing. In one embodiment, each element is may be explicitly linked to its six nearest neighbors by storing pointers to those neighbors in the element's data structure. The link between two elements can be cut when a graphical representation of cutting tool passes between the elements by setting the appropriate neighbor pointers in the two elements to point to NULL instead of to each other. If material limits in the link between two elements are exceeded during simulation of object deformation, the link can be torn apart by setting the appropriate neighbor pointers in the two elements to NULL. When a joining tool is applied to two volumetric objects in close proximity, edge elements in the two objects that have complimentary neighbors set to NULL can be joined by setting these missing neighbors to point to each other.