Method and apparatus for creating virtual worlds using a data flow network

• US 5,588,104 A
• Filed: 10/04/1994
• Issued: 12/24/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: VPL Research, Inc.
• Inventors: Sparks, Joe L., Lanier, Jaron Z., Lasko-Harvill, Ann, Blanchard, Chuck L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ellis, Richard L.
• Application Number:
  US08/317,341
• Time in Patent Office: 812 Days
• Field of Search: 395/119, 395/152, 395/155, 395/161, 395/500, 395/700, 395/800, 364/188, 364/190, 364/191, 364/192, 364/193, 364/189
• US Class Current: 715/848
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

A computer display displays a data flow network as a plurality of interconnected units. An interactive program allows the appearance of the plurality of interconnected units to be changed. The data flow network then is automatically altered to correspond with the visual changes. The interconnected units of the data flow network represent inputs, functions and outputs of the data flow network. Inputs represent control signals to manipulate the data flow network, functions modify the value of inputs according to the type of the function unit and outputs represent the x, y or z value of a point in a three-dimensional coordinate system of the virtual world.

Claims

1. An apparatus for creating a virtual world, the virtual world including a virtual object which represents a physical object, wherein a first point of the virtual object represents a first part of the physical object and the first point moves in relation to second and third points of the virtual object which represent second and third parts of the physical object, wherein a movement of the first point is based on changes in inputs to a data flow network, the data flow network describing the movement of the first point in relation to the second and third points when the movement of the first point is not based on either one of a rotation and a translation of the virtual object, the apparatus comprising:

a computer display; and

means, connected to the computer display, for generating a data flow network for calculating a movement of a first point of a virtual object in a virtual world in relation to a second point and a third point of the virtual object when the movement is not based on either one of a rotation and a translation of the virtual object, the data flow network including a plurality of interconnected units, and the plurality of interconnected units including at least one input unit representing at least one source of input data for providing input data to the data flow network, a plurality of function units which transform the input data, and a plurality of output units each representing one dimension of a corresponding vector of the first point in a three-dimensional coordinate system, wherein the corresponding vector of the first point generates a first spatial position and a first orientation of the first point in the three-dimensional coordinate system in the virtual world.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising means for generating a point hierarchy including the first, second and third points, the first point having a first hierarchical position, the second point having a second hierarchical position and a second spatial position, and the third point having a third hierarchical position and a third spatial position, wherein said second hierarchical position is higher in the point hierarchy than said third hierarchical position and wherein said third spatial position is derived from said second spatial position.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

means for altering said first spatial position of the first point in response to changes in the input data.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

means for altering said third spatial position in response to a change in said second spatial position.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein at least one of said plurality of function units has a first output and a first user-definable type representation.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

at least one of said plurality of input units has a first input and a second user-definable type representation; and

said apparatus further comprises a means for checking that said first user-definable type representation is compatible with said second user-definable type representation before said first output and said first input are connected.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

means for visually notifying a user of a type representation incompatibility between said first output and said first input.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

means for acoustically notifying a user of a type representation incompatibility between said first output and said first input.

9. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said computer display comprises means for graphically rendering said first and second spatial positions in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the virtual world.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

means for altering said first spatial position in response to changes in said first hierarchical position.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

means for a user to specify an angle from which said points are viewed.

12. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

means for reading the input data from a digital storage device.

13. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

means for sampling the input data from an external device.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said external device is a data glove.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said external device is an analog-to-digital converter.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said external device is a computer.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said external device is an electronic mouse.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

means for calibrating positions of said external device.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a digital storage device; and

a means for writing the input data sampled by the means for sampling to the digital storage device.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for writing also writes time-stamps with the input data to the digital storage device.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

means for preprocessing the input data before the means for writing writes the input data and the time-stamps to the digital storage device.

22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for sampling samples at a user-definable period.

23. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said at least one source of input data inputs said input data which includes position values in x, y, z, yaw, pitch and roll.

24. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said at least one source of input data inputs said input data which includes changes in position values in x, y, z, yaw, pitch and roll.

25. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

means for visually notifying to a user that at least one of said plurality of said function units has outputs not used by any of said plurality of said function units.

26. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

means for individually displaying and hiding said function units as requested by a user.

27. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

means for adding user notations to the data flow network.

28. The apparatus of claim 4,

wherein said means for generating a data flow network further comprises a means for generating a name for one of said plurality of interconnected units;

wherein said apparatus further comprises a selecting means for selecting, as a named unit, said one of said plurality of interconnected units for which a name was generated by specifying a name that corresponds to said named unit; and

wherein said computer display displays a graphical representation of said named unit.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:

means for automatically naming modules without user intervention.

30. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

means for combining a plurality of function units into a new single function unit.

31. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

means for individually displaying and hiding an interconnection line between two function units.

32. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a display separate from said computer display, including means for graphically rendering said first and second spatial positions in the three-dimensional coordinate system of the virtual world.

33. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first point represents a center point of an N-dimensional polygon.

34. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

means for altering said data flow network.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the means for altering said data flow network comprises:

means for manipulating a graphical representation of said data flow network; and

means for changing which of said plurality of said function units are interconnected in response to manipulations of the graphical representation of said data flow network.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the means for altering said data flow network comprises:

means for receiving a textual description of changes to be made to said data flow network; and

means for changing which of said plurality of said function units are interconnected based on the received textual description of changes to be made.

37. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

means for designating one of said first and second points as a root of a sub-tree in the point hierarchy; and

means for scaling corresponding spatial positions of points in the sub-tree in x, y and z dimensions.

38. A method for creating a virtual world, the virtual world including a virtual object which represents a physical object, wherein a first point of the virtual object represents a first part of the physical object and the first point moves in relation to second and third points of the virtual object which represent second and third parts of the physical object, wherein a movement of the first point is based on changes in inputs to a data flow network, the data flow network describing the movement of the first point in relation to the second and third points when the movement of the first point is not based on either one of a rotation and a translation of the virtual object, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a data flow network for calculating a movement of a first point of a virtual object in a virtual world in relation to a second point and a third point of the virtual object when the movement is not based on either one of a rotation and a translation of the virtual object, the data flow network including a plurality of interconnected units, and the plurality of interconnected units including at least one input unit representing at least one source of input data for providing input data to the data flow network, a plurality of function units which transform the input data, and a plurality of output units each representing one dimension of a corresponding vector of the first point in a three-dimensional coordinate system, wherein the corresponding vector of the first point generates a first spatial position and a first orientation of the first point in the three-dimensional coordinate system in the virtual world; and

calibrating said at least one source of input data to restrict said input data to a corresponding range.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising the steps of:

generating a point hierarchy including said first, second and third points, said first point having a first hierarchical position, said second point having a second hierarchical position and a second spatial position, and said third point having a third hierarchical position and a third spatial position;

generating relative hierarchical point positions for said second and third points wherein said second hierarchical position is higher in the point hierarchy than said third hierarchical position; and

calculating said third spatial position as a function of said second spatial position.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising the steps of:

sampling the at least one source of input data for changes in the input data provided to the data flow network from the at least one source of input data; and

altering said first spatial position in response to said changes in the input data provided to the data flow network from the at least one source of input data.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising the step of:

altering said third spatial position in response to changes in said second spatial position.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising the step of:

displaying said first, second and third spatial positions in the three-dimensional coordinate system in the virtual world.