Method and system for displaying stereoscopic detail-in-context presentations

• US 20060192780A1
• Filed: 04/25/2006
• Published: 08/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CDN Innovations, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Noregin Assets N.V. LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Lantin, Maria
• Granted Patent: US 7,737,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/427
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/34 Stereoscopes providing a stereoscopic pair of separated images corresponding to parallactically displaced views of the same object, e.g. 3D slide viewers
• CPC Class Codes: G03C 9/08 Producing three-dimensional images
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object

Abstract

A method for generating a stereoscopic presentation of a region-of-interest in a monoscopic information representation. The method includes the steps of: (a) selecting first and second viewpoints for the region-of-interest; (b) creating a lens surface having a predetermined lens surface shape for the region-of-interest, the lens surface having a plurality of polygonal surfaces constructed from a plurality of points sampled from the lens surface shape; (c) creating first and second transformed presentations by overlaying the representation on the lens surface and perspectively projecting the lens surface with the overlaid representation onto a plane spaced from the first and second viewpoints, respectively; and, (d) displaying the first and second transformed presentations on a display screen to generate the stereoscopic presentation.

Claims

1. A system for generating a stereoscopic presentation of a region-of-interest in a monoscopic information representation for display on a display screen, the system comprising:

a processor coupled to memory, an input device, and the display screen; and

,

modules within the memory and executed by the processor, the modules including;

a module for creating first and second transformed presentations by displacing the representation onto a lens for the region-of-interest and perspectively projecting the displaced representation onto a plane in first and second directions aligned with first and second viewpoints for the region-of-interest, respectively;

a module for displaying a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) over the region-of-interest for receiving one or more signals for adjusting the lens, wherein the lens includes a focal region at least partially surrounded by a base region; and

,

a module for displaying the first and second transformed presentations on the display screen.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the first and second viewpoints are separated by a distance.

3. The system of claim 2 and further comprising a module for receiving a signal indicative of the distance through a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

).

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the plane is spaced a height above a basal plane.

5. The system of claim 4 and further comprising a module for receiving a signal indicative of the height through a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

).

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the plane includes a first plane for the lens and a second plane for the displaced representation.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the first and second planes are spaced first and second heights, respectively, above a basal plane.

8. The system of claim 7 and further comprising a module for receiving first and second signals indicative, respectively, of the first and second heights through a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

).

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the focal region has a magnification which varies across the base region to provide a continuous transition from the focal region to the representation.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the focal region has a size and a shape and further comprising a module for receiving one or more signals to adjust at least one of the size, the shape, and the magnification of the focal region.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more signals are received through the GUI.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the GUI has means for adjusting at least one of the size, the shape, and the magnification of the focal region.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein at least some of the means are icons.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the means for adjusting the size and the shape is at least one handle icon positioned on a perimeter of the focal region.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the means for adjusting the magnification is a slide bar icon.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more signals are generated by the input device, the input device being manipulated by a user to move a cursor on the display screen.

17. The system of claim 9 wherein the base region has a size and a shape and further comprising a module for receiving one or more signals through the GUI to adjust at least one of the size and the shape of the base region, wherein the GUI has one or more handle icons positioned on a perimeter of the base region for adjusting at least one of the size and the shape of the base region.

18. The system of claim 9 wherein the GUI comprises at least one of:

a slide bar icon for adjusting the magnification;

a bounding rectangle icon with at least one handle icon for adjusting a size and a shape for the focal region;

a bounding rectangle icon with at least one handle icon for adjusting a size and a shape for the base region;

a move icon for adjusting a location for the lens;

a pickup icon for adjusting a location for the base region; and

, a fold icon for adjusting a location for the focal region relative to the base region to define a folding of the focal region over the base region.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the representation is a raster representation and further comprising a module for converting the raster representation to a vector representation by inversion of the stereoscopic presentation.

20. The system of claim 1 and further comprising a module for receiving signals indicative of at least one of editing and annotating instructions for editing and annotating the representation, respectively, by inversion of the stereoscopic presentation.