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. 21, 2001
Filed:
Aug. 20, 1997
Thomas Malzbender, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Michael E. Goss, Mountain View, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
In order to solve the need for an accurate two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional image, the invention provides an improved method and apparatus for processing voxel data which avoid the problem of color artifacts coming from zero opacity regions. The three-dimensional image is stored in a computer memory as a three-dimensional data array having object data values associated with sample points in a three-dimensional space. A central processing unit (CPU) processes the object data values to determine voxel colors C and voxel opacities &agr; for the plurality of sample points and then opacity weights the voxel colors to produce a set of opacity weighted colors,. Next, the voxel opacities &agr; and the opacity weighted colors,from each sample point are composited in a compositor to form the two-dimensional representation. Finally, a display unit visually displays the two-dimensional representation. In this manner, artifacts resulting from zero opacity areas contributing to the overall color are eliminated because of the opacity weighting performed prior to compositing.