Digital vector generator for a graphic display system
First Claim
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1. A digital vector generator system comprising:
- a plurality of spatial vector generators coupled to receive position information representing a visual image and to generate in response thereto data defining a sequence of pixel coordinate points defining a line within a display image; and
at least one visual characteristic vector generator coupled to receive visual characteristic information representing the visual image and to operate synchronously with the spatial vector generators to generate in response to the received visual characteristic information visual characteristic vector information corresponding to each pixel coordinate point defined by the data generated by the spatial vector generators; and
means for generating a video signal coupled to receive the sequence of pixel coordinate points from each of the spatial vector generators and the visual characteristic vector information from the at least one visual characteristic vector generator and generating a video signal representing the video image in response thereto.
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Abstract
A graphics display system digital vector generator system includes three position vector generators generating position information for each of three different pixel location dimensions and three visual characteristic vector generators operating synchronously with the position vector generators to generate dynamic intensity information for three different dimensions of visual characteristics. Optical processing of visual characteristic vectors includes normalization to generate Phong shading intensity vectors, pattern shape generation, and mixing of hue and intensity information with selectable resolution to obtain a desired visual characteristic pixel data representation.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A digital vector generator system comprising:
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a plurality of spatial vector generators coupled to receive position information representing a visual image and to generate in response thereto data defining a sequence of pixel coordinate points defining a line within a display image; and at least one visual characteristic vector generator coupled to receive visual characteristic information representing the visual image and to operate synchronously with the spatial vector generators to generate in response to the received visual characteristic information visual characteristic vector information corresponding to each pixel coordinate point defined by the data generated by the spatial vector generators; and means for generating a video signal coupled to receive the sequence of pixel coordinate points from each of the spatial vector generators and the visual characteristic vector information from the at least one visual characteristic vector generator and generating a video signal representing the video image in response thereto. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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4. A digital vector generator system comprising:
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a plurality of spatial vector generators coupled to receive position information representing a visual image and to generate in response thereto data defining a sequence of pixel coordinate points defining a line within a display image; and at least one visual characteristic vector generator coupled to receive visual characteristic information representing the visual image and to operate synchronously with the spatial vector generators to generate in response to the received visual characteristic information visual characteristic vector information corresponding to each pixel coordinate point defined by the data generated by the spatial vector generators; and a dynamic intensity processing circuit coupled to receive the visual characteristic vector information for each pixel coordinate point and generate in response thereto a visual characteristic data representation having one of a plurality of different selectable relationships to the visual characteristic vector information with the one relationship being selected in response to at least one control signal. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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6. A digital vector generator system comprising:
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a plurality of spatial vector generators coupled to receive position information representing a visual image and to generate in response thereto data defining a sequence of pixel coordinate points defining a line within a display image; and at least two visual characteristic vector generators coupled to receive visual characteristic information representing the visual image and to operate synchronously with the spatial vector generators to generate in response to the received visual characteristic information visual characteristic vector information corresponding to each pixel coordinate point defined by the data generated by the spatial vector generators; and a normalizing circuit coupled to receive the generated visual characteristic vector information and generate normalized intensity information representative of the magnitude of the received vector information in response thereto.
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7. A digital vector generator system comprising:
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a plurality of spatial vector generators coupled to receive position information representing a visual image and to generate in response thereto data defining a sequence of pixel coordinate points defining a line within a display image; at least two visual characteristic vector generators coupled to receive visual characteristic information representing the visual image and to operate synchronously with the spatial vector generators in response to the received visual characteristic information visual characteristic vector information corresponding to each pixel coordinate point defined by the data generated by the spatial vector generators; and a normalizing circuit coupled to receive the generated visual characteristic vector information and generate normalized intensity information representative of the square root of the sum of the squares of individual vectors represented by the received visual characteristic vector information.
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12. A graphic display digital vector generating system comprising:
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at least three spatial vector generators, each coupled to receive information defining a different dimension of a spatial vector within a graphic scene including respectively vertical, horizontal and depth and to respond by generating video disply spatial information defining coordinate values in one dimension of a display for each of a sequence of video display pixel points representing the spatial vector within the graphic scene; a plurality of visual characteristic vector generators each coupled to receive information defining a different dimension of a visual characteristic vector representing visual characteristics of the spatial vector and to respond by generating visual characteristic information in one dimension for each point of the sequence of video display pixel points representing the spatial vector within the graphic scene; and a visual characteristic processing circuit coupled to receive from each visual characteristic vector generator the visual characteristic information generated thereby and to output for each video display pixel point information representing the visual characteristic thereof.
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13. A graphic display digital vector generating system comprising:
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a plurality of spatial vector generators, each coupled to receive information defining a different dimension of a spatial vector within a graphic scene and to respond by generating video display spatial information defining coordinate values in one dimension of a display for each of a sequence of video display pixel points representing the spatial vector within the graphic scene; a plurality of visual characteristic vector generators each coupled to receive information defining a different dimension of a visual characteristic vector representing visual characteristics of the spatial vector and to respond by generating visual characteristic information in one dimension for each point of the sequence of video display pixel points representing the spatial vector within the graphic scene; and a visual characteristic processing circuit coupled to receive from each visual characteristic vector generator the visual characteristic information generated thereby and to output for each video display pixel point information representing the visual characteristic thereof. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A digital vector generator system comprising:
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a plurality of spatial vector generators coupled to receive position information representing one or more objects in a visual image and to generate in response thereto a sequence of pixel coordinate points defining at least one feature of the one or more objects within a display image; and a plurality of visual characteristic vector generators coupled to receive visual characteristic information representing visual characteristics of the one or more objects in the visual image and to generate in response thereto visual characteristic information defining a visual characteristic of the display image at each of the pixel coordinate points in the sequence of points generated by the plurality of spatial vector generators, and means for generating a video signal representing the display image in response to the generated sequence of pixel coordinate points and the generated visual characteristic information.
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Specification