Extended rotation and sharpening of an object viewed from a finite number of angles

• US 20070236515A1
• Filed: 04/10/2006
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roland Montague
• Original Assignee: Roland Montague
• Inventors: Montague, Roland
• Granted Patent: US 7,773,100 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/649
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/20 3D [Three Dimensional] animation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/36 Level of detail
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/60 Rotation of whole images or parts thereof

Abstract

A method of continuously rotating a subject object top over bottom over top on a display screen encompasses jumping to a view having a longitude that is 180 degrees from the previous and displaying the image in an up-side-down orientation. Upon pausing, or completing the rotation by releasing the mouse button, a higher resolution image loads and displays thereby improving the sharpness or allowing the user to zoom in on additional detail.

Claims

1. In an application where an object is rotated by sequencing through a finite number of predetermined views from different angles, a method of extended rotation, comprising the following steps:

a. providing a first means for specifying a current angle from which to view the object, the current angle comprised of a current colatitude coordinate and a current longitude coordinate;

b. responsive to the current colatitude coordinate having a value greater than approximately 180 degrees, displaying an up-side-down orientation of the view nearest to having a colatitude substantially 360 degrees minus the current colatitude and a longitude substantially 180 degrees different from the current longitude; and

c. responsive to the current colatitude coordinate having a value less than approximately 180 degrees, displaying a right-side-up orientation of the view nearest to having a colatitude substantially equal to the current colatitude and a longitude substantially equal to the current longitude;

whereby the amount of possible rotation of the object is extended by displaying the back side of the object up-side-down when a user rotates over the top and displaying the front side right-side-up again when the user continues to rotate over the original bottom providing an appearance of continuous rotation.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said first means comprises a pointing device means to specify a new value for the current angle, the current angle change being proportional to the movement of the pointing device.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 wherein said pointing device means specifies the new value for the current colatitude and the current longitude within a range of approximately 0 to 360 degrees, where increasing above 360 degrees resets to 0 and deceasing below 0 resets to 360 degrees.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said first means comprises, a repeating time delay, and a function selected from the group consisting of random direction change and predetermined pattern, the function specifying a new value for the current angle after each completion of the time delay, whereby the object rotates without user input such as in the case of an animation.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of,

responsive to a user action, displaying a higher resolution image,

whereby the view'"'"'s sharpness is increased or provides additional detail if the user zooms in.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein said user action is one from the group consisting of pause, removal of contact with a touch screen, button release, button click, icon click, button press.

7. In an application where an object is rotated by sequencing through a finite number of predetermined views from different angles, a method of extended rotation, comprising the following steps:

a. providing a first means for specifying a current angle from which to view the object, the current angle comprised of a current colatitude coordinate and a current longitude coordinate;

b. providing a second means for specifying an orientation variable, the orientation variable changing between up-side-down and right-side-up for every toggle;

c. responsive to the current colatitude coordinate having a value greater than a predetermined upper limit or less than a predetermined lower limit,

c1. modifying the current longitude coordinate to a value substantially 180 degrees different from the current longitude, and

c2. toggling the orientation variable; and

d. displaying the view nearest to having the current angle and according to the orientation variable;

whereby the amount of possible rotation of the object is extended by displaying the back side of the object up-side-down when a user rotates over the top and displaying the front side right-side-up again when the user continues to rotate over the original bottom providing an appearance of continuous rotation.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said upper limit equals approximately 180 degrees and said lower limit equals approximately 0 degrees.

9. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said first means comprises a pointing device means for specifying a new value for the current angle, the current angle change being proportional to the movement of the pointing device and according to the orientation variable.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said pointing device means specifies the new value for the current colatitude and the current longitude within a range of approximately 0 to 360 degrees, where increasing above 360 degrees resets to 0 and deceasing below 0 resets to 360 degrees.

11. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein said first means comprises, a repeating time delay, and a function selected from the group consisting of random direction change and predetermined pattern, the function specifying a new value for the current angle after each completion of the time delay, whereby the object is rotated without user input such as in the case of an animation.

12. The method as recited in claim 7 further comprising the step of,

responsive to a user action, displaying a higher resolution image,

whereby the view'"'"'s sharpness is increased or provides additional detail if the user zooms in.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein said user action is one from the group consisting of pause, removal of contact with a touch screen, button release, button click, icon click, button press.

14. In an application where an object is rotated by sequencing through a finite number of predetermined views from different angles, a method of improved sharpness, comprising the following steps:

a. providing a first means for specifying a current angle from which to view the object;

b. displaying the view nearest to having the current angle; and

c. responsive to a user action, displaying a higher resolution image;

whereby the view'"'"'s sharpness is increased or provides additional detail if the user zooms in.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 wherein said user action is one from the group consisting of pause, removal of contact with a touch screen, button release, button click, icon click, button press.