Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Three-dimension
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-31
2001-04-24
Nguyen, Phu K. (Department: 2772)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Three-dimension
Reexamination Certificate
active
06222549
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for transmitting data representing multiple views of an object. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for transmitting multiple views of an object over a network of computer systems.
2. Background Information
Digital processing systems, such as conventional computer systems, can often display various different views of an object on a display device which is coupled to the digital processing system. In many such systems, the user of the system may manipulate the object in such a way to see various views of the object. The views, in one example, may be considered to be obtained from the surface of a virtual sphere which surrounds the object.
FIG. 1A
shows a virtual sphere
10
which surrounds an object
9
. The different views of the object may be considered to be taken from various points on the surface of the virtual sphere
10
. The virtual sphere
10
includes an equator
12
and a meridian or longitudinal line
14
. Point
15
b
represents the north pole of the virtual sphere and point
15
a
represents the south pole of the virtual sphere. Points
16
,
17
,
18
, and
19
on the equator
12
represent the locations 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270° respectively along the equator. If the view at point
16
along the equator
12
is considered to be a front view of the object
9
, which is shown as a house, then the view from point
18
is a rear view while views from points
17
and
19
are views of the right and left sides respectively. A view from the north pole shows the roof of the house, and a view from the south pole shows the bottom of the house.
Various methods exist in the prior art for manipulating such an object in order to see various views of the object. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,809 by Michael Chen describes a method for direct manipulation of an object by using a two dimensional cursor control device, such as a mouse, to simulate three dimensional movement over the surface of a virtual sphere in order to see views of the object which is surrounded by the virtual sphere. Other methods, such as the use of sliders displayed on the screen or physical, mechanical sliders which may be manipulated by a user are also well known in the art. These various techniques allow a user to rotate or otherwise manipulate the object in order to see various different views of the object.
It is well known in the art that these views may be used to make a sequence of views which appears to be a movie. Typically these views are displayed in a particular sequence which makes the object appear to be smoothly rotating. For example, the house
9
at the center of the virtual sphere
10
may appear to rotate on an axis defined by the north and south pole. This “movie” is merely the playback of various views of the object taken along the equator
12
in sequence from point
16
, through points
17
,
18
, and
19
and back to point
16
. This “movie” may be further enhanced by providing views at different latitudes.
FIG. 1B
shows an example of the various views which may be provided at each selected latitude. Table
35
includes rows
21
through
31
, each of which specify at least one longitude for each latitude. For example, row
21
shows that at latitude
0
(along the equator) at least four views are shown; in this case, the views are from points
16
,
17
,
18
, and
19
of FIG.
1
A. It will be appreciated that additional views may be obtained and stored to provide greater resolution along each latitude. For example, views at every 5° or 10° along each latitude provides greater resolution of the object and also makes any “movie” seem more realistic. It will also be appreciated that additional views along additional latitudes may be stored in order to provide greater resolution in the north and south directions.
Table
35
of
FIG. 1B
represents a typical way in the prior art in which the various views are stored and transmitted between systems. Essentially, the views are stored in circular passes of the object at various vertical levels along the north/south axis. Typically, the physical arrangement of the data in a storage device reflects a similar arrangement of the data, which arrangement is often the manner in which the data is originally captured from the object. For example, a camera may be positioned at each of the different viewpoints in series and the data from the camera may be stored in this order such that there are essentially circular passes of the object at various vertical levels which are captured and stored on a storage device, such as a hard disk or other computer readable media.
On a storage device which has random access capabilities and which provides reasonably fast rates of data retrieval, this storage arrangement provides adequate data rates such that a “movie” may be displayed from these various views. However, if this data is stored in a remote location and is accessed through a network or through a slow input/output port, then storage of this data in this arrangement does not provide adequate or satisfactory display of the object, particularly when the object is to be displayed as a “movie” which may be referred to as an “object movie”. This often happens in the case of transmission of objects through the Internet or other networks.
FIG. 2A
shows several computer systems which are coupled together through the Internet
103
. It will be appreciated herein that the term “Internet” refers to a network of networks which uses certain protocols (e.g. the TCP/IP protocol and possibly other protocols such as HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) for HTML (hypertext markup language) documents). The physical connections of the Internet and the protocols and communication procedures of the Internet are well known to those in the art. Access to the Internet
103
is typically provided by Internet service providers (ISP's) such as ISP's
105
and
107
. Users on client systems, such as client computer systems
121
,
125
,
135
, and
137
obtain access to the Internet through the Internet service providers. Access to the Internet allows users of the client computer systems to exchange information, receive and send e-mails, and view objects, and manipulate these objects as they are received. For example, web server system
109
may contain data representing the object
9
shown in FIG.
1
A and provide this data to a client computer system such as client system
121
upon request by the client system
121
. Often these web servers are provided by ISPs, such as ISP
105
, although a computer system may be set up and connected to the Internet without that system also being an ISP as is well known in the art.
The web server system
109
is typically at least one computer system which operates as a server computer system and is configured to operate with the protocols of the World Wide Web (WWW) and is coupled to the Internet. Optionally, the web server
109
may be part of an ISP which provides access to the Internet for client systems. The web server
109
is shown coupled to other computers in the Internet
103
. Client computer systems
121
,
125
,
135
, and
137
may each, with the appropriate web browsing software, view HTML pages provided by the web server
109
. These web pages may provide movies, such as QuickTime movies, which may be viewed by users of the particular client computer system.
The ISP
105
provides Internet connectivity for the client computer system
121
through the modem interface
123
which may be considered part of the client computer system
121
. The client computer system may be a conventional computer system such as a Macintosh computer, a “network” computer, a Web TV system, or other types of digital processing systems, such as a cellular telephone having digital processing capabilities. Similarly, the ISP
107
provides Internet connectivity for client systems
125
,
135
, and
137
, although as shown in
FIG. 2A
, the connections are not the same for these three compute
Apple Computer Inc.
Blakely & Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman
Nguyen Phu K.
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