Processing three dimensional data for spatial three dimensional displays

• US 20050219241A1
• Filed: 04/05/2005
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Actuality Systems, Inc. (Ellis Amalgamated LLC)
• Inventors: Chun, Won
• Granted Patent: US 7,477,252 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/08 Volume rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/363 using image projection screens volumetric display H04N13/388
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/393 the volume being generated by a moving, e.g. vibrating or rotating, surface

Abstract

Methods and systems relating to electronic display technology, and more particularly to processing image data for volumetric three-dimensional (hereinafter “3-D”) displays, are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing initial data corresponding to an image projected by a three dimensional display;

generating a plurality of sets of data from the initial data, each set of data corresponding to an intersection of the image with a surface; and

displaying the image using a three dimensional display based on the sets of data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the surface is a two-dimensional surface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the two dimensional surfaces used to generate the plurality of sets of data intersect at a common axis.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising calibrating the sets of data based on calibration information associated with the three dimensional display, wherein the calibration reduces a distortion of the three dimensional image introduced by the three dimensional display.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein calibrating the sets of data comprises performing a linear transform on the initial data to reduce the effect of distortion.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating on the sets of data to re-center the three dimensional image.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the operation to re-center the three-dimensional image comprises performing a linear transform on the initial data based on information provided by a user of the three-dimensional display.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating on the sets of data to re-orient the three-dimensional image.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the operation to re-orient the three-dimensional image comprises performing a linear transform operation on the first set of data based information provided by a user of the three-dimensional display.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating on the sets of data to re-scale the three-dimensional image.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the operation to re-scale the three-dimensional image comprises performing a linear transform on the initial data based on information provided by a user of the three-dimensional display.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the plurality of sets of data comprises converting a color for a particular pixel from an initial format to a display format.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein converting the color comprises reducing a number of bits representing a color for the particular pixel in the sets of data relative to a number of bits representing a color for the pixel in the initial data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein reducing the number of bits representing the color comprises converting the color for the particular pixel from a multi-bit representation to a single bit representation.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein converting the color comprises:

shifting a most significant bit of the plurality of bits into a buffer; and

performing a threshold analysis on the most significant bit.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the sets of data comprises generating the sets of data using a graphics processing unit.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the graphics processing unit comprises a video card.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising superimposing a second image on the displayed three dimensional image of using the three dimensional display.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the second image is a three-dimensional image.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second image is a three-dimensional image of the same object based on data from a source different from the source of the initial data.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the second image is a three-dimensional image of the same object as the displayed image, the second image being generated based on a different set of initial data.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the second image is a computer-generated icon.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating on the sets of data to re-color at least a portion of the image.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the image in real time based on information provided by a user of the three-dimensional display.

25. A method comprising:

providing initial data corresponding to a three dimensional image projected by a three dimensional display;

generating a plurality of sets of data based on the initial data, each set of data corresponding to an intersection a two dimensional surface with the three dimensional image;

comparing each set of data to a corresponding threshold data structure,

wherein each threshold data structure is generated based on a threshold data structure corresponding to an adjacent data set, where the adjacent data set is the data set corresponding to the adjacent intersection of the two dimensional surface with the three dimensional image.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein each threshold data structure comprises a matrix of threshold values.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein a first of the threshold data structures is generated by permutating and negating the matrix elements of the threshold data structure for the adjacent data set.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein each set of data comprises a plurality of elements corresponding to pixels in the three dimensional image, and comparing each set of data to the corresponding threshold data structure comprises determining if a value for a particular pixel in the data set is greater than a value associated with the particular pixel in the associated threshold data structure.

29. A method, comprising:

sequentially generating a plurality of sets of data, each set corresponding to an intersection of an image projected by a three dimensional display with a surface,

sequentially projecting images onto a rotating screen to render a three dimensional image,

wherein each projected image is produced based on a corresponding set of data, and wherein the sequence in which the images are projected is different from the sequence in which the sets of data are generated.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein projecting the images includes projecting the plurality of sets of data in a sequential order for sets of data that represent adjacent sets of data in the three dimensional image of the object.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the surface is a two dimensional surface.