Real time three-dimensional multiple display imaging system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A video display system having multiple display units comprising:
- A memory including a world memory in which a world is spatially defined and including at least one object to be displayed, an image memory for storing graphical image data of said at least one object, and an animation memory for storing animation sequencing instructions on the positioning and movement of said at least one object within the world;
a rendering processor coupled to the memory and including a plurality of virtual camera nodes each driving at least one of the display units, each of the virtual camera nodes associated with a stored, user-definable viewpoint into the world which includes a plurality of orientation parameters, each viewpoint capable of being chosen as different from the other ones of the viewpoints; and
the rendering processor rendering images of said at least one object from the viewpoints of each of the virtual cameras according to the animation sequencing instructions, the rendering processor causing the rendered images to be displayed on respective ones of the display units.
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Abstract
A real time three dimensional multiple display imaging system has a central processing node and a plurality of remote, virtual camera processors. Each of the virtual cameras has its own predetermined viewpoint and is capable of displaying a scene into a virtual world from that viewpoint. The virtual world and the objects displayed in it are controlled by the central processing node. Geometric and textural data concerning the objects are stored in advance by memories associated with each one of the virtual cameras, thereby reducing the amount of communication bandwidth necessary for real-time animation.
69 Citations
53 Claims
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1. A video display system having multiple display units comprising:
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A memory including a world memory in which a world is spatially defined and including at least one object to be displayed, an image memory for storing graphical image data of said at least one object, and an animation memory for storing animation sequencing instructions on the positioning and movement of said at least one object within the world;
a rendering processor coupled to the memory and including a plurality of virtual camera nodes each driving at least one of the display units, each of the virtual camera nodes associated with a stored, user-definable viewpoint into the world which includes a plurality of orientation parameters, each viewpoint capable of being chosen as different from the other ones of the viewpoints; and
the rendering processor rendering images of said at least one object from the viewpoints of each of the virtual cameras according to the animation sequencing instructions, the rendering processor causing the rendered images to be displayed on respective ones of the display units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. Apparatus for rendering animated images in a multiple display unit video system, comprising:
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a plurality of virtual camera means, each associated with a respective one of a plurality of display units, each virtual camera means defining a viewpoint of a scene including at least one object to be rendered, means coupled to the virtual camera means for choosing the viewpoints by a user of the apparatus such that the viewpoints may be different from each other;
means for storing animation sequencing instructions;
rendering means, coupled to each of the virtual camera means and the means for storing animation sequencing instructions, for rendering said at least one object as seen from the viewpoint of the virtual camera means and responsive to the animation sequencing instructions; and
means for displaying the scene as including the rendered object on each of the display units. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A method for rendering images in a multiple display unit video system, comprising the steps of:
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for each of a plurality of virtual cameras each associated with respective ones of a plurality of display units, establishing a viewpoint of a scene, each of the plurality of virtual cameras depicting the same scene from its own viewpoint, the viewpoints capable of being chosen as different from each other;
for at least one object to be displayed in the scene, storing graphical image data;
for said at least one object, generating a plurality of sequencing instructions;
responsive to the sequencing instructions and using the graphical image data, rendering the object as seen from the viewpoint of each of the virtual cameras; and
displaying the scene as including the object on each of the display units. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An animation display system having multiple display units, comprising:
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a plurality of imaging computers each having a processor, a memory, a communications link to at least one other of the imaging computers and at least one output for driving a respective video display unit;
the memory of each imaging computer storing graphical image data for at least one object to be displayed;
a three-dimensional scene which will be rendered by all of the imaging computers, said at least one object being displayed within the scene, and a plurality of viewpoints of the scene from which the object is to be displayed, the viewpoints user-definable such that they can be different from each other, each display unit having a viewpoint assigned thereto;
wherein for each imaging computer and for each video display unit associated with the last said imaging computer, the processor renders the scene, as including said at least one object, using the viewpoint assigned to the display unit and the graphical image data. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An animated display system comprising:
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a central node coupled to each of a plurality of remote nodes by at least one communications link;
an animation instruction memory of the central node storing instructions on the positioning and movement, in a virtual world, of a plurality of objects to be displayed;
each of the plurality of remote nodes having a rendering processor, a memory, and at least one output driving a respective display unit, the last said memory including a virtual world memory storing, prior to a first time, a scene, and an object data memory storing, prior to a first time, graphical image data for each of the objects to be displayed; and
each rendering processor rendering an image of the scene using selected ones of the object data and responsive to instructions received from the central node at the first time. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. Apparatus for rendering images in a multiple display unit video system, comprising:
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means for storing animation sequencing instructions at a central location;
a plurality of remote locations in communication with the central location, each of the remote locations including means for storing, prior to a first time, graphical image data for each of a plurality of objects to be displayed, means for storing, prior to the first time, a scene in which the objects are to be depicted, image rendering means coupled to the means for storing, and at least one display unit driven by the image rendering means;
each remote location receiving, at the first time and from the central location, sequencing instructions, the image rendering means at each remote location rendering an image of the scene using selected elements of the graphical image data and the stored scene and responsive to the sequencing instructions, said at least one display displaying the image rendered by the image rendering means. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A multiple-panel animation and text data display system, comprising:
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a server node having a processor and a memory, a first link of the central node coupled to a remote source of text data, a listen thread of the processor inspecting the first link for incoming text data to be displayed;
a plurality of client nodes each coupled to the server node and having a processor and a memory, at least one display coupled to each of the client nodes;
the server node and client nodes each storing, in memories associated with said nodes, scenes and object imaging data, the server node further storing animation sequencing instructions and transmitting said instructions to each of the client nodes, the server and the clients rendering animated scenes using the sequencing instructions and the stored scene and object imaging data;
the server node determining, according to stored instructions, a text overlay area on selected ones of the displays; and
the server node determining which text data should appear on which overlay area, the server node transmitting selected text data to corresponding ones of the client nodes such that the displays coupled to respective client nodes can display selected animation graphics and selected, overlaid text data. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53)
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Specification