Computerized image system
First Claim
1. A method for storing in a computer-readable database scene data comprising electronic visual object data defining visual objects each having associated therewith electronic data identifying a location of the visual object in a virtual space, said method comprising:
- a) determining from the electronic visual object data a number representing a count of the how many of the visual objects have locations within a cell in the virtual space;
b) comparing said number of visual objects with a predetermined threshold subdivision value and/or a predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value;
c) responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell exceeds the predetermined threshold subdivision value but not the predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value, performing a subdivision operation representing a partitioning of the cell in at least one dimension thereof into an integer subdivision number s of sub-cells that are equal in size to each other and together constitute the cell;
d) responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell exceeds the predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value, performing a multiple subdivision operation representing a partitioning of the cell in at least one dimension thereof into a number of sub-cells, which number is an integral power, sn, of subdivision number s, said sub-cells being equal in size to each other and together constituting the cell;
e) responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell does not exceed the predetermined threshold subdivision value, storing data identifying the visual objects in the cell in the database so that the visual object data of said visual Objects can be accessed by a computer based on coordinates identifying said cell; and
f) repeating steps (a) to (d) for each of the sub-cells created in steps (c) Of (d), wherein each sub-cell becomes the cell in step (a) for which the number of visual objects is counted.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This system and process for providing a rendered image of a virtual 3-D scene comprises an image generating system which stores therein data defining the 3-D scene. Responses to receiving control data such as viewing parameters, editing commands, or instructions to a software application working with the scene data, the visualization systems renders a pixel data image of the scene and transmits the pixel data over a data network, such as the Internet, to a user computer to be viewed on a display device, such as a monitor.
78 Citations
61 Claims
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1. A method for storing in a computer-readable database scene data comprising electronic visual object data defining visual objects each having associated therewith electronic data identifying a location of the visual object in a virtual space, said method comprising:
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a) determining from the electronic visual object data a number representing a count of the how many of the visual objects have locations within a cell in the virtual space; b) comparing said number of visual objects with a predetermined threshold subdivision value and/or a predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value; c) responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell exceeds the predetermined threshold subdivision value but not the predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value, performing a subdivision operation representing a partitioning of the cell in at least one dimension thereof into an integer subdivision number s of sub-cells that are equal in size to each other and together constitute the cell; d) responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell exceeds the predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value, performing a multiple subdivision operation representing a partitioning of the cell in at least one dimension thereof into a number of sub-cells, which number is an integral power, sn, of subdivision number s, said sub-cells being equal in size to each other and together constituting the cell; e) responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell does not exceed the predetermined threshold subdivision value, storing data identifying the visual objects in the cell in the database so that the visual object data of said visual Objects can be accessed by a computer based on coordinates identifying said cell; and f) repeating steps (a) to (d) for each of the sub-cells created in steps (c) Of (d), wherein each sub-cell becomes the cell in step (a) for which the number of visual objects is counted. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A computer system for storing in a computer-readable data storage device a database of scene data comprising electronic visual object data defining visual objects each having associated therewith electronic data identifying a location of the visual object in a virtual space, said system comprising:
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means for determining from the electronic visual object data a number representing a count of the how many of the visual objects have locations within a cell in the virtual space; means for comparing said number of visual objects with a predetermined threshold subdivision value and/or a predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value; means for performing, responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell exceeds the predetermined threshold subdivision value but not the predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value, a subdivision operation representing a partitioning of the cell in at least one dimension thereof into an integer subdivision number s of sub-cells that are equal in size to each other and together constitute the cell; means for performing, responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell exceeds the predetermined threshold multiple subdivision value, a multiple subdivision operation representing a partitioning of the cell in at least one dimension thereof into a number of sub-cells, which number is an integral power, sn, of subdivision number s, said sub-cells being equal in size to each other and together constituting the cell; means for storing data identifying the visual objects in the cell in the database so that the visual object data of said visual objects can be accessed by a computer based on coordinates identifying said cell, said means for storing storing said data responsive to a determination that the number of visual objects in the cell does not exceed the predetermined threshold subdivision value, and means for providing to the means for determining, means for comparing, means for performing and means for storing each of the sub-cells created, said means for determining, means for comparing, means for performing and means for storing processing each sub-cell as the cell for which the number of visual objects is counted. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A memory for storing scene data for access by a computer program being executed on a computer system, said scene data comprising data defining a plurality of visual objects each having a respective virtual location in a scene space, said memory comprising:
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a plurality of cell data entries stored in said memory, each of said cell data entries corresponding to respective cell of the scene space, said cell being defined by coordinates thereof and a subdivision level value; the cell data entries being stored in said memory so that each cell data entry is accessed based on the coordinates and level value of the associated cell; said cell data entries each comprising data identifying the visual object or objects having a virtual location within the cell; said cells being configured such that no more than a threshold subdivision number of visual objects have locations in any cell. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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Specification