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:
May. 04, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 06, 2001
Applicant:
Inventors:
Henry A. Sowizral, Bellevue, WA (US);
Karel Zikan, Seattle, WA (US);
Randall G. Keller, San Carlos, CA (US);
Assignee:
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06T 1/700 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06T 1/700 ;
Abstract
A system and method for determining graphical object visibility by utilizing ancillary geometry. When comparing visibility cones with bounding hulls of scene graph hierarchy leaf nodes, ancillary geometry may be used in place of the bounding hulls and the leaf node's actual geometry. The ancillary geometry may be created through a manual process, or by an automated decimation process. The ancillary geometry may be a simplistic analytic surface (e.g., a sphere or a cylinder), a NURB surface, a collection of polygons, or a combination of surfaces and polygons.