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. 22, 2003
Filed:
May. 17, 2000
Applicant:
Inventor:
Olin Lathrop, Groton, MA (US);
Assignee:
Raychip, Inc., Devens, MA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06T 1/120 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06T 1/120 ;
Abstract
The invention is a method and apparatus for a ray tracer incorporating major functions of ray tracing in hardware. The invention performs the hierarchical space subdivision technique of accelerating a ray tracer, statically or dynamically. The preferred embodiment is a fully recursive and dynamic system employing an octree hierarchy. The system utilizes hard-wired electronics instead of software, with the accompanying adjustments to better suite the hardware implementation. The invention also specifically claims caching of scene object descriptions, specific subdivision criteria, and other refinements.