Occlusion reduction and magnification for multidimensional data presentations

• US 8,907,948 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2010
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Accessify, LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Noregin Assets N.V. LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Shoemaker, Garth B. D., Baar, David J. P., Solehdin, Ali
• Primary Examiner(s): Richer, Joni
• Application Number:
  US12/773,185
• Publication Number:
  US 20100208968A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,680 Days
• Field of Search: 345/418, 345/419, 345/421, 345/427, 345/661
• US Class Current: 345/421
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04805 Virtual magnifying lens, i.e. window or frame movable on top of displayed information to enlarge it for better reading or selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/20 Perspective computation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/40 Hidden part removal
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/20 Finite element generation, e.g. wire-frame surface description, tesselation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/205 Re-meshing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2016 Rotation, translation, scaling

Abstract

A method in a computer system for generating a presentation of a region-of-interest in an original image for display on a display screen, the original image being a collection of polygons having polygons defined by three or more shared edges joined at vertex points, the method comprising: establishing a lens for the region-of-interest, the lens having a magnified focal region for the region-of-interest at least partially surrounded by a shoulder region across which the magnification decreases, the focal and shoulder regions having respective perimeters; subdividing polygons in the collection of polygons proximate to at least one of the perimeters, as projected with the polygons onto a base plane, by inserting one or more additional vertex points and additional edges into the polygons to be subdivided; and, applying the lens to the original image to produce the presentation by displacing the vertex points onto the lens and perspectively projecting the displacing onto a view plane in a direction aligned with a viewpoint for the region-of-interest.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage device including instructions for execution by at least one processor, wherein the instructions comprise instructions for:

performing operations on data, wherein the data includes;

a viewpoint,

an object of interest including a plurality of surface points,

a line of sight between the viewpoint and the object of interest,

an extrusion volume formed by extruding the plurality of surface points towards the viewpoint,

a plurality of occluding elements at least partially within the extrusion volume, and

a plurality of additional elements outside of the extrusion volume;

determining a plurality of direction vectors for the plurality of occluding elements, wherein a length of each direction vector corresponds to a distance between a corresponding one of the plurality of occluding elements and a nearest point on the line of sight;

inputting the plurality of direction vectors into a transformation function to determine a plurality of displacement vectors;

increasing an amplitude of the displacement vectors until each of the plurality of occluding elements does not intersect with the extrusion volume; and

forming a plurality of displaced elements by displacing the plurality of occluding elements away from the line of sight based on the plurality of displacement vectors.

2. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of direction vectors is orthogonal to the line of sight.

3. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of displacement vectors is orthogonal to the line of sight.

4. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein each of the displacement vectors is parallel to a corresponding each of the direction vectors.

5. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for generating a presentation from a perspective of the viewpoint, wherein the presentation includes the object of interest, the plurality of displaced elements, and the plurality of additional elements.

6. A method comprising:

performing operations on data with at least one processor, wherein the data includes;

a viewpoint,

an object of interest including a plurality of surface points,

a line of sight between the viewpoint and the object of interest,

an extrusion volume formed by extruding the plurality of surface points towards the viewpoint,

a plurality of occluding elements at least partially within the extrusion volume, and

a plurality of additional elements outside of the extrusion volume;

determining a plurality of direction vectors for the plurality of occluding elements, wherein a length of each direction vector corresponds to a distance between a corresponding one of the plurality of occluding elements and a nearest point on the line of sight;

inputting the plurality of direction vectors into a transformation function to determine a plurality of displacement vectors;

increasing an amplitude of the displacement vectors until each of the plurality of occluding elements does not intersect with the extrusion volume; and

forming a plurality of displaced elements by displacing the plurality of occluding elements away from the line of sight based on the plurality of displacement vectors.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of direction vectors is orthogonal to the line of sight.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of displacement vectors is orthogonal to the line of sight.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the displacement vectors is parallel to a corresponding each of the direction vectors.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising generating a presentation from a perspective of the viewpoint, wherein the presentation includes the object of interest, the plurality of displaced elements, and the plurality of additional elements.

11. A system comprising at least one processor together with at least one memory, wherein the system is configured to:

perform operations on data, wherein the data includes;

a viewpoint,

an object of interest including a plurality of surface points,

a line of sight between the viewpoint and the object of interest,

an extrusion volume formed by extruding the plurality of surface points towards the viewpoint,

a plurality of occluding elements at least partially within the extrusion volume, and

a plurality of additional elements outside of the extrusion volume;

determine a plurality of direction vectors for the plurality of occluding elements, wherein a length of each direction vector corresponds to a distance between a corresponding one of the plurality of occluding elements and a nearest point on the line of sight;

input the plurality of direction vectors into a transformation function to determine a plurality of displacement vectors;

increase an amplitude of the displacement vectors until each of the plurality of occluding elements does not intersect with the extrusion volume; and

form a plurality of displaced elements by displacing the plurality of occluding elements away from the line of sight based on the plurality of displacement vectors.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of direction vectors is orthogonal to the line of sight.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of displacement vectors is orthogonal to the line of sight.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the system is further configured to generate a presentation from a perspective of the viewpoint, wherein the presentation includes the object of interest, the plurality of displaced elements, and the plurality of additional elements.