EP0116737A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Three-dimensional display system
Assignee: BK Technologies Corp
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Filing: 1983-06-01
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2003-06-01
Abstract
Abstract A display system for displaying a three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional raster display screen (13) comprises a host processor (21) which supplies input information on the geometric elements, e.g. polygons. which make up the image to a local display processor (20) which processes the input information and provides data concerning the location, color, intensity and depth of the points which make up the surfaces of the polygon. The depth data is stored in a depth buffer (26) which is a part of the display processor and the color and intensity data is also stored directly in a frame buffer (25) or as color index data in the frame buffer which is used to address the desired color and intensity stored in a color look-up table (27). The color and intensity video data is supplied to a suitable display means (13), such as a cathode ray tube.
Inventors
- 👤 Tsu Yuan Shen
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 10:34
CPC Classifications
G; G09; G09G; G09G5/00; G09G5/36; G06; G06T; G06T15/00; G06T15/10; G06T15/40; G06T15/405
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 31
Claim 1
Independent Claim
172 words
A system for displaying a three-dimensional representation of an image on a two-dimensional display means, said system comprising; host processor means responsive to input data from a data base source defining said image for generating host data representing the confirguration and orientation of one or more three-dimensional geometric elements comprising said image to be displayed on said display means; display processor means responsive to said host data for providing video data to said raster display means; said display processor means including; means responsive to host data defining selected points of said geometric elements for providing depth data defining the depth relationships of points at each location required to form said image and video image data defining the color and intesity at each location required to form said image; means for storing said depth data; means for storing said video image data; and means responsive to said video image data for supplying said data to said display means for displaying thereon all visible points required to produce a three-dimensional representation of said image.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
172 words
A system for displaying a three-dimensional representation of an image on a two-dimensional display means, said system comprising; host processor means responsive to input data from a data base source defining said image for generating host data representing the confirguration and orientation of one or more three-dimensional geometric elements comprising said image to be displayed on said display means; display processor means responsive to said host data for providing video data to said raster display means; said display processor means including; means responsive to host data defining selected points of said geometric elements for providing depth data defining the depth relationships of points at each location required to form said image and video image data defining the color and intesity at each location required to form said image; means for storing said depth data; means for storing said video image data; and means responsive to said video image data for supplying said data to said display means for displaying thereon all visible points required to produce a three-dimensional representation of said image.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
24 words
A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein the means for providing said depth. data and said video image data is a microprocessor means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system in accordance with claim 2 wherein said display processor means provides said display data to said display means'substantially immediately as host data is supplied form said host processor to said display processor means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
19 words
A system in accordance with claim 3 wherein said video image data storing means comprises a frame buffer means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
A system in accordance with claim 4 wherein said frame buffer means stores color and intensity values which can be directly supplied to said display means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
56 words
A system in accordance with claim 4 wherein said frame buffer means stores color index values relating to said video image data; and further including color look-up table means for storing color and intensity values and responsive to said color index values for supplying color and intensity values which can be supplied to said display means.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
16 words
A system in accordance with claim 6 wherein said display means is a cathode ray tube.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
46 words
A system in accordance with claim 6 wherein said microprocessor means includes means for determining the depth value of a currently prccessed point at a selected location of said image relative to the depth value previously stored in said depth buffer means at said selected location.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
82 words
A system in accordance with claim 8 wherein said determining means includes , means for reading the depth value at said selected located of said depth buffer means. means for comparing the depth value of a currently processed point at said selected location with the depth value read from said depth buffer means at said selected location; and means responsive to said comparison for controlling the writing of the color index values of said currently processed point into said frame buffer means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
43 words
A system in accordance with claim 9 wherein said controlling means writes the color index values of said currently processed point into said frame buffer means when the depth value thereof is greater than the depth value read from said depth buffer means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
43 words
A system in accordance with claim 9 wherein said microprocessor means further includes means for determining whe L her the three-dimensional representation of said image to be displayed is to provide an image one or more portions of which display a translucency effect.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
42 words
A system in accordance with claim 11 wherein said micrcprocessor means further includes means for selecting a reference depth value which is to be used as the zero depth value reference for the three-dimensional representation of the image on said display means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
66 words
A system in accordance with claim 12 wherein said microprocessor means further includes means for determining whether the depth value of a currently processed data point is less than or equal to a selected limit depth value when a portion of said three-dimensional image representation is to provide an image, one or more portions of which are to be displayed in cross-section on said display means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
47 words
A system in accordance with claim 13 wherein said micrcprocesor means further includes means for disabling the control of the writing of depth data into said depth buffer means in response to said comparison when the image to be displayed is to be a two-dimensional image representation.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
53 words
A system in accordance with claim 14 wherein said microprocessor means further includes means for controlling the display of one or more points having a common depth at a selected location of said image so that the intersection of said one or more points is displayed with greater intensity on said display means.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
58 words
A system in accordance with claim 14 wherein said microprocessor means further includes means responsive to said comparing means to control the display of said currently processed point at a selected location of said image when its depth value is either equal to or greater than the currently stored depth value in said depth buffer at said location.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
64 words
A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said host processor supplies input information concerning the vertices of one or more geometric elements which form said image; and said microprocessor means responds to said vertex input information to produce depth and image data concerning said vertices and further produces depth and image information of the remaining points defining the surfaces of said geometric elements.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
37 words
A system in accordance with claim 17 wherein the depth and image data concerning said remaining points produced by said microprocessor means are produced by linear interpolation of the value of the image data of said vertices.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
38 words
A system in accordance with claim 18 wherein said microprocessor means determines the values of said image data at points along the lines between vertices by linearly interpolating between the values of said image data at said vertices.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
51 words
A system in accordance with claim 19 wherein said microprocessor means further determines the values of the image data along horizontal segments having as end points the points along said lines between said vertices, said values being determined by linearly interpolating the values of said image data at said end points.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
52 words
A system in accordance with claim 4 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies which one of the depth buffer and frame buffer is to be used for storing and for supplying information provided by said microprocessor means concerning said depth data and said image data.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
39 words
A system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies that said display processor means is to be placed in an operating mode for providing said three-dimensional image representation.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
46 words
A system in accord with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies a pattern of image data for use in one or more selected portons of said image which produces a translucent effect in said displayed image representation.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
41 words
A system in accord with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies single points with respect to which image and depth data are to be stored for use in displaying said image representation.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
56 words
A system in accord with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies the image and depth values which are to be stored for use in producing a single horizontal segment of said image having a constant shading for use in displaying said horizontal segment in said image representation.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
56 words
A system in accord with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies the image and depth values to be stored for use in providing a single horizontal segment of said image having a smooth linearly interpolated shading for use in displaying said horizontal segment in said image representation.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
56 words
A system in accord-with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies the image and depth values to be stored for use in producing a polygon of said image having a constant shading over the surface of said polygon for use in displaying said polygon in said image representation.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
56 words
A system in accord with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies the image and depth value to be stored for use in producing a polygon of said image having a smooth linearly interpolated shading over said surface for use in displaying said polygon in said image representation.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
54 words
A system in accord with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies the image and depth values which are to be stored for use in producing a single vector of said image having a constant shading for use in displaying said vector in said image representation.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
54 words
A system in accord with claim 1 wherein said host processor includes means for providing a command signal which specifies the image and depth values to be stored for use in providing a single vector of said image having a smooth linearly interpolated shading for use in displaying said vector in said image representation.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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