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:
Dec. 02, 2008
Filed:
Dec. 05, 2005
Kenn D. Cartier, Redmond, WA (US);
Kenn D. Cartier, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A system for configuring orientation and storing criteria corresponding to vector elements that form a boundary of a polygon is provided. This innovation can define the boundary of a polygon as individual vectors with implied 'from-' and 'to-' directionality and can store the vectors in a standard manner such that they are always aligned in a like orientation. This novel configuration and/or storage mechanism(s) can facilitate efficient spatial operations. Particularly, spatial operations can be enhanced by employing a single formula to compare a reference point to any of the vectors forming the boundary when determining intersection with a boundary vector segment. Additionally, the innovation can employ a novel schema to store vector information into a relational database management system (RDBMS). As such, the data can be used for performing spatial selection operations such as the well-known Point-In-Polygon and Polygon-on-Polygon operations.