Synthetic environment employing a craft for providing user perspective reference
First Claim
1. A method of aiding the user in apparent movement through an N-dimensional visual environment defined by N-dimensional data where N is greater than 2, in which a user may move apparent position and perspective comprising:
- a) providing an N-dimensional visual environment defined by N-dimensional data in which a user may move apparent position and perspective substantially continuously in any desired direction;
b) displaying the N-dimensional visual environment including those features present in the environment from any selected user perspective, said step of displaying producing a perspective image of said environment;
c) moving the user perspective substantially continuously through the n-dimensional visual environment, when and as desired;
d) displaying a three dimensional craft having an identifiable front; and
e) locating the craft over the environment displayed from the desired user perspective so that the user'"'"'s viewpoint originates from within said craft so that the user can use said craft as a perspective reference;
said step c) of moving user perspective moving both viewpoint and user perspective independently of craft orientation so that user perspective is independent of craft orientation or travel direction.
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Abstract
A multi-dimensional user oriented synthetic environment system allows application programs to be programmed and accessed with input/output device independent, generic functional commands which are a distillation of the actual functions performed by any application program. A shared memory structure allows the translation of device specific commands to device independent, generic functional commands. Complete flexibility of the mapping of synthetic environment data to the user is thereby allowed. Accordingly, synthetic environment data may be provided to the user on parallel user information processing channels allowing the subcognitive mind to act as a filter, eliminating irrelevant information and allowing the processing of increase amounts of data by the user. The user is further provided with a craft surrounding the user within the synthetic environment, which craft, imparts important visual referential an motion parallax cues, enabling the user to better appreciate distances and directions within the synthetic environment. Display of this craft in close proximity to the user'"'"'s point of perspective may be accomplished without substantially degrading the image resolution of the displayed portions of the synthetic environment.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of aiding the user in apparent movement through an N-dimensional visual environment defined by N-dimensional data where N is greater than 2, in which a user may move apparent position and perspective comprising:
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a) providing an N-dimensional visual environment defined by N-dimensional data in which a user may move apparent position and perspective substantially continuously in any desired direction; b) displaying the N-dimensional visual environment including those features present in the environment from any selected user perspective, said step of displaying producing a perspective image of said environment; c) moving the user perspective substantially continuously through the n-dimensional visual environment, when and as desired; d) displaying a three dimensional craft having an identifiable front; and e) locating the craft over the environment displayed from the desired user perspective so that the user'"'"'s viewpoint originates from within said craft so that the user can use said craft as a perspective reference; said step c) of moving user perspective moving both viewpoint and user perspective independently of craft orientation so that user perspective is independent of craft orientation or travel direction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of aiding the user in apparent movement through an N-dimensional visual environment defined by N-dimensional data where N is greater than 2 in which a user may move apparent position and perspective comprising:
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a) providing an N-dimensional visual environment defined by N-dimensional data in which a user may move apparent position and perspective substantially continuously in any desired direction; b) displaying a craft having at least three identifiable dimensions and an identifiable front superimposed on said N-dimensional visual environment; c) locating the craft so that the user'"'"'s viewpoint originates from within said craft so that the user can use said craft as a perspective reference; and d) controllably moving user perspective substantially continuously, as desired, through the N-dimensional visual environment from the user'"'"'s viewpoint independent of movement of said craft along the travel path to thereby decouple the direction of travel of the viewpoint along the travel path from the user perspective, said step d) of moving user perspective moving both viewpoint and user perspective independently of craft orientation so that user perspective is independent of craft orientation or travel direction.
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9. In a system having a N-dimensional visual environment in which a user may move apparent position and perspective, a method of aiding the user in apparent movement through said environment comprising:
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a) developing an environment video display frame of a selected view of the N-dimensional visual environment including those features present in the environment, said environment video display frame being derived from an environment viewing volume defined at least in part by a selected user viewpoint and a selected user perspective; b) developing a craft video display frame of a three-dimensional image of a craft, said craft video display frame being derived from a craft viewing volume defined at least in part by the selected user viewpoint and the selected user perspective; and c) overlaying said environment video display frame and said craft video display frame on a selected visual display to display both said craft and said selected view of the N-dimensional environment. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification