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:
Nov. 24, 2009
Filed:
Aug. 22, 2006
Hui Xie, Plainsboro, NJ (US);
Jin Zhou, Forest Hills, NY (US);
Gregory G. Slabaugh, Princeton, NJ (US);
Gozde Unal, West Windsor, NJ (US);
Tong Fang, Morganville, NJ (US);
Hui Xie, Plainsboro, NJ (US);
Jin Zhou, Forest Hills, NY (US);
Gregory G. Slabaugh, Princeton, NJ (US);
Gozde Unal, West Windsor, NJ (US);
Tong Fang, Morganville, NJ (US);
Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Malvern, PA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for rounding a sharp edge of a model of an object is disclosed whereby a ball is propagated in a desired direction along the edge to be smoothed. The position of the ball at each point in its propagation is noted and, as a result, a virtual tunnel through which the ball passed may be constructed. Points on the sides of the surface of the object in proximity to the sharp edge are then projected onto the virtual tunnel by connecting with a line each point in proximity to the sharp edge to the center of the tunnel. New projected points are created at each position on the surface of the tunnel where the lines intersect that surface. The original points along the sharp edge are then hidden or deleted and the points along the virtual tunnel are connected via well-known surface reconstruction methods. In this way, a sharp edge of a triangle mesh model are advantageously smoothed.