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:
Aug. 15, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 30, 1998
Eric Ledoux, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
Displaying an image at a particular level of opacity on a pixel-oriented output device by selecting a dithered pattern corresponding to the desired opacity level. The image is divided into tiles of a predetermined pixel width and height. The dither pattern comprises a predetermined number of bits, each bit corresponding to a pixel in a tile. When a bit in the dither pattern is set to a binary 1 value, the corresponding pixel is displayed opaque. In contrast, if a bit in the dither pattern is set to a binary 0 pattern, the corresponding bit is displayed transparent. The pixels in each tile in a row are displayed according to the dither pattern. A new dither pattern is then created by shifting the dither pattern by a random number of bits. The pixels of another row are displayed according to the new dither pattern. New dither patterns can be created for each row in the image, thereby generating an image having a desired opacity level.