Volume body renderer
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for identifying irregular volumes represented within volumetric input data, comprising the steps of:
- inputting one or more volume datasets comprising a multiplicity of three-dimensional cells;
establishing criteria describing properties of an irregular volume of interest;
processing each volume dataset, the processing comprising the steps of;
traversing from cell to cell of the volume dataset until a seed cell is identified having properties matching the criteria, the identified seed cell thereby belonging to an identified irregular volume;
identifying cells related to the seed cell by a predetermined relationship as belonging to the identified irregular volume; and
storing in a data structure associated each identified cell belonging to the identified irregular volume attribute data describing properties of the identified cell, the attribute data including an indication of the location of the identified cell with respect to a predetermined frame of reference and including an identifier uniquely identifying the identified cell as belonging to the identified irregular volume.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Irregular volumes within one or more three-dimensional volume datasets are identified and extracted in response to criteria. The processing involves automatically finding a seed voxel or seed cell that meets the criteria and thus belongs to an irregular volume of interest, and then identifying cells related to the seed cell by one or more predetermined relationships that are therefore also to be grouped into that irregular volume. Information, which can be of any suitable type, identifying each such cell as being related to other cells and belonging to an irregular volume is stored in a suitable data structure. The location or similar neighborhood information and other data describing properties or attributes of the identified cell are also stored. Because the irregular volumes are extracted and pre-processed in this manner, operations including rendering them on a display and performing Boolean and arithmetic operations on them can readily be performed.
-
Citations
72 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method for identifying irregular volumes represented within volumetric input data, comprising the steps of:
-
inputting one or more volume datasets comprising a multiplicity of three-dimensional cells;
establishing criteria describing properties of an irregular volume of interest;
processing each volume dataset, the processing comprising the steps of;
traversing from cell to cell of the volume dataset until a seed cell is identified having properties matching the criteria, the identified seed cell thereby belonging to an identified irregular volume;
identifying cells related to the seed cell by a predetermined relationship as belonging to the identified irregular volume; and
storing in a data structure associated each identified cell belonging to the identified irregular volume attribute data describing properties of the identified cell, the attribute data including an indication of the location of the identified cell with respect to a predetermined frame of reference and including an identifier uniquely identifying the identified cell as belonging to the identified irregular volume. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
-
-
28. A method for voxel-encoding a volume dataset comprising a multiplicity of cells, comprising the steps of:
-
defining a multiplicity of polyhedral voxels, each polyhedral voxel corresponding to one cell; and
storing a representation of each polyhedral voxel in a computer memory, the representation including a face string having a plurality of bits, and a position string having a plurality of bits, each bit of the face string corresponding to one face of the polyhedral voxel and having a value indicating whether the face is to be displayed, the position string having a value indicating a three-dimensional spatial position of the polyhedral voxel.
-
-
35. A computer-implemented method for identifying irregular volumes represented within volumetric input data, comprising the steps of:
-
inputting one or more volume datasets comprising a multiplicity of three-dimensional cells;
establishing criteria describing properties of an irregular volume of interest;
processing each volume dataset, the processing comprising the steps of;
traversing from cell to cell of the volume dataset until a seed cell is identified having properties matching the criteria, the identified seed cell thereby belonging to an identified irregular volume;
identifying cells related to the seed cell by a predetermined relationship as belonging to the identified irregular volume; and
storing in a data structure associated each identified cell belonging to the identified irregular volume attribute data describing properties of the identified cell;
a user selecting an irregular volume to be rendered;
storing a representation of each polyhedral voxel of the selected irregular volume, the representation including a face string having a plurality of bits, and a position string having a plurality of bits, each bit of the face string corresponding to one face of the polyhedral voxel and having a value indicating whether the face is to be displayed, the position string having a value indicating a three-dimensional spatial position of the polyhedral voxel; and
rendering polyhedral voxels in response to the stored representations.
-
-
37. A computer program product for identifying irregular volumes represented within volumetric input data, comprising a computer-usable medium carrying thereon:
-
means for inputting one or more volume datasets comprising a multiplicity of three-dimensional cells;
means for establishing criteria describing properties of an irregular volume of interest;
means for processing each volume dataset, the means for processing comprising;
means for traversing from cell to cell of the volume dataset until a seed cell is identified having properties matching the criteria, the identified seed cell thereby belonging to an identified irregular volume;
means for identifying cells related to the seed cell by a predetermined relationship as belonging to the identified irregular volume; and
means for storing in a data structure associated each identified cell belonging to the identified irregular volume attribute data describing properties of the identified cell, the attribute data including an indication of the location of the identified cell with respect to a predetermined frame of reference and including an identifier uniquely identifying the identified cell as belonging to the identified irregular volume.
-
-
64. A computer program product for voxel-encoding a volume dataset comprising a multiplicity of cells, comprising a computer-usable medium carrying thereon:
-
means for defining a multiplicity of polyhedral voxels, each polyhedral voxel corresponding to one cell; and
means for storing a representation of each polyhedral voxel in a computer memory, the representation including a face string having a plurality of bits, and a position string having a plurality of bits, each bit of the face string corresponding to one face of the polyhedral voxel and having a value indicating whether the face is to be displayed, the position string having a value indicating a three-dimensional spatial position of the polyhedral voxel. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
-
-
71. A computer program product for identifying irregular volumes represented within volumetric input data, comprising a computer-usable data medium carrying thereon:
-
means for inputting one or more volume datasets comprising a multiplicity of three-dimensional cells;
means for establishing criteria describing properties of an irregular volume of interest;
means for processing each volume dataset, the processing comprising the steps of;
means for traversing from cell to cell of the volume dataset until a seed cell is identified having properties matching the criteria, the identified seed cell thereby belonging to an identified irregular volume;
means for identifying cells related to the seed cell by a predetermined relationship as belonging to the identified irregular volume; and
means for storing in a data structure associated each identified cell belonging to the identified irregular volume attribute data describing properties of the identified cell;
means for a user selecting an irregular volume to be rendered;
means for storing a representation of each polyhedral voxel of the selected irregular volume, the representation including a face string having a plurality of bits, and a position string having a plurality of bits, each bit of the face string corresponding to one face of the polyhedral voxel and having a value indicating whether the face is to be displayed, the position string having a value indicating a three-dimensional spatial position of the polyhedral voxel; and
means for rendering polyhedral voxels in response to the stored representations. - View Dependent Claims (72)
-
Specification