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Hidden surface processor

  • US 4,594,673 A
  • Filed: 06/28/1983
  • Issued: 06/10/1986
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1983
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A hidden surface processor to distinguish between the hidden and visible surfaces of a pair of video scan line segments relative to a viewpoint, one of said segments being positioned behind the other, said segments comprising one or more picture elements and forming portions of a three dimensional scene, and said hidden surface processor including:

  • first memory means including buffer memories to store information regarding a first scan line segment including the location thereof relative to an arbitrary set of axes,second memory means including a random access memory to store information regarding the second scan line segment including the location thereof relative to said set of axes,processor means interconnected with said first and second memory means for accessing the memories thereof and for comparing the information regarding the first and second scan line segments to determine whether the respective locations of said segments relative to one another are such that at least a portion of one of said segments is obscured by the other of said segments with respect to the viewpoint, andmultiplier means interconnected with said processor means for multiplying together certain of the information stored in said first and second memory means for providing an indication of the distance from the viewpoint to a picture element which forms one of said first or second scan line segments.

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