Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Attributes
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-26
2004-10-05
Bella, Matthew C. (Department: 2676)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Attributes
C345S601000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06801214
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-dimensional graphics system capable of three-dimensional graphics color display.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional three-dimensional graphics system has a geometric operation portion, a drawing operation portion, a drawing executing portion, and a drawing unit. The geometric operation portion performs geometric operations to obtain geometrically-processed three-dimensional data; for example, on the basis of three-dimensional object data defining three-dimensional objects arranged on a virtual three-dimensional space, the geometric operation portion computes, for each frame, two-dimensionally projected coordinates of the objects defined by the three-dimensional object data, as seen from a certain visual point.
The drawing operation portion performs drawing operations on the basis of the geometrically-processed three-dimensional data and provides three-dimensional graphic drawing data which is defined in pixels on a two-dimensional space assigned in a frame memory.
The drawing unit provides three-dimensional graphics display on a two-dimensional display screen in a display unit on the basis of the three-dimensional graphics drawing data.
The three-dimensional object data, the geometrically-processed three-dimensional data and the three-dimensional graphic drawing data each include three-dimensional coordinate data (X, Y, Z), &agr; value (data which indicates transmittance), color data (R, G, B), and texture coordinate data (U, V) for each vertex forming three-dimensional objects.
Accordingly, even when changing only the color of an object, the geometric operation portion and the drawing operation portion must compute on the basis of three-dimensional object data defining the changed color data, which unnecessarily consumes the processing time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a three-dimensional graphics system comprises: color data transforming means receiving three-dimensional data defining a three-dimensional object and having original color data with a predetermined number of bits, for transforming the original color data into reduced color data composed of a smaller number of bits than the predetermined number of bits to generate three-dimensional data for operation; and processing means for applying processing including color processing operation based on the reduced color data to the three-dimensional data for operation to generate graphics drawing data corresponding to the three-dimensional object.
Preferably, according to a second aspect of the invention, in the three-dimensional graphics system, the processing means comprises color information storage means containing a plurality of pieces of display color information in a one-to-one correspondence with a plurality of color specifications definable with at least part of the reduced color data, and the processing means reads from the color information storage means the display color information corresponding to the color specifications defined by at least part of the reduced color data on the basis of the reduced color data and performs the color processing operation.
Preferably, according to a third aspect of the invention, in the three-dimensional graphics system, at least part of the plurality of pieces of display color information stored in the color information storage means can be changed in its contents.
Preferably, according to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the three-dimensional graphics system, the three-dimensional data further comprises display color selecting information and the three-dimensional data for operation further comprises the display color selecting information. The plurality of pieces of display color information comprise a first number of pieces of first display color information in a one-to-one correspondence with a first number of first color specifications which can be defined with a first number of bits in the reduced color data and a second number of pieces of second display color information in a one-to-one correspondence with a second number of second color specifications which can be defined with a second number of bits in the reduced color data, and the color information storage means comprises first color information storage means containing the first number of pieces of first display color information and second color information storage means containing the second number of pieces of second display color information. The color processing operation performed by the processing means comprises a first color processing operation performed by reading from the first color information storage means the first display color information corresponding to the first color specifications defined by the first number of bits in the reduced color data, and a second color processing operation performed by reading from the second color information storage means the second display color information corresponding to the second color specifications defined by the second number of bits in the reduced color data. The processing means performs one of the first and second color processing operations on the basis of the color specification selecting information in the three-dimensional data for operation, and the second number of pieces of second display color information stored in the second color information storage means can be changed in its contents.
Preferably, according to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the three-dimensional graphics system, the first number of pieces of first display color information stored in the first color information storage means cannot be changed.
Preferably, according to a sixth aspect of the invention, in the three-dimensional graphics system, the display color information comprises information equivalent in amount to the information in the original color data.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, a three-dimensional graphics system comprises: color data transforming means receiving three-dimensional data defining a three-dimensional object and having original color data with a predetermined number of bits, for transforming the original color data into color data for operation to generate three-dimensional data for operation; and processing means for applying processing including a color processing operation based on the color data for operation to the three-dimensional data for operation to generate graphics drawing data corresponding to the three-dimensional object, the processing means comprising color information storage means containing a plurality of pieces of display color information in a one-to-one correspondence with a plurality of color specifications which can be defined with at least part of the color data for operation, the processing means reading from the color information storage means the display color information corresponding to the color specifications defined by at least part of the color data for operation and performing a first color processing operation, the color processing operation including the first color processing operation, wherein the plurality of pieces of display color information stored in the color information storage means can be changed in its contents.
Preferably, according to an eighth aspect of the invention, in the three-dimensional graphics system, the three-dimensional data further comprises display color selecting information, the three-dimensional data for operation further comprises the display color selecting information, and the color data for operation comprises the original color data itself. The processing means performs, as the color processing operation, one of the first color processing operation and a second color processing operation based on all information in the color data for operation, on the basis of the display color selecting information in the three-dimensional data for operation.
According to the three-dimensional graphics system of the first aspect of the invention, the processing means uses the reduced color data having a fewer
Azekawa Yoshifumi
Chiba Osamu
Moriwaki Shohei
Bella Matthew C.
Blackman Anthony J.
Renesas Technology Corp.
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