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:
Mar. 30, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 20, 2001
Joel James McCormack, Boulder, CO (US);
Robert Stephen McNamara, Portola Valley, CA (US);
Laura Edwards Mendyke, Calabasas, CA (US);
Todd Aldridge Dutton, Southborough, MA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company L.P, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for visiting all stamps that are relevant to a two-dimensional convex polygonal object. The object is visited with a rectangular stamp, which contains one or more discrete sample points. A relevant location is one for which the object contains at least one of the stamp's sample points when the stamp is placed at that location. Stamp locations are discrete points that are separated vertically by the stamp's height, and horizontally by the stamp's width. The stamp may move to a nearby position, or to a previously saved position, as it traverses the object. The plane in which the object lies is partitioned into rectangular tiles, which are at least as wide and high as the stamp. The invention visits stamp locations in an order that respects tile boundaries—that is, it visits all locations within one tile before visiting any locations within another tile. The invention may also be used with further partitioning of the plane (metatiles), so that it will visit all locations within a metatile before visiting any locations within another metatile, and further visit all locations within a portion of a tile within the current metatile before visiting any locations within a portion of a different tile within the current metatile.