Abstract: An intelligent shape is displayed in conjunction with a CAD application program, wherein the intelligent shape selectively displays positioning and alignment aids on the monitor of the computer to assist a user in operating one or more functions of the host application program. When invoked, the intelligent shape displays plugs and sockets related to the shapes on the monitor and aids the user in positioning, aligning, rotating, and connecting shapes together.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provides an interactive, dynamic, automatic dimension arrangement generator for a computer-aided drafting (CAD) system. The dimension arrangement generator selects one or more geometric entities displayed on the monitor of the CAD system and extracts one or more relevant dimension points for the selected geometric entities. The dimension arrangement generator selects one or more dimension line positions for the relevant dimension points, and then generates and displays the dimension arrangement for the selected geometric entities on the monitor of the CAD system in accordance with the extracted dimension points and selected dimension line positions.

Abstract: Method for creating a three dimensional model of a scene based on a two dimensional image of the scene. The method includes identifying a plurality of surfaces in the image, identifying a plurality of constraints between the surfaces in the image, identifying a pattern on a first surface in the image, identifying a first constraint between the pattern and another feature of the image, and generating a three dimensional model of the scene based on the surfaces, the plurality of constraints, and the first constraint. The pattern may include a grout line in a tile surface or an identifying a mark on a wall paper.

Abstract: An intelligent shape is displayed in conjunction with a CAD application program, wherein the intelligent shape can be authored by a user. The intelligent shape comprises a frame and at least one property which defines the shape. The intelligent shape comprises several objects for use in connecting, manipulating, displaying, mapping, and otherwise creating a new component or modifying an existing one. The intelligent shape also monitors the user's interaction with the CAD application program during execution of the sequence of steps, wherein handlers defined for the shape provide additional customization of the component shape during system operations.

Abstract: A technique for efficient small block memory allocation in processors. One or more segments are allocated in the memory, wherein each segment is comprised of a plurality of data pages. A same size pool is created for a specified block size and one or more of the data pages are assigned to the same size pool, wherein the assigned data page is subdivided into a plurality of free blocks of the specified block size. A request for memory of the specified block size is satisfied by accessing the data page assigned to the same size pool and allocating one or more of the free blocks of the data page to the request.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and article of manufacture for mirroring a part model within a computer aided design computer system. A physical body, which is not directly accessible to the user is used for boundary representation of the non-mirrored part model, and a special mirror transformed instance of the physical body, called the logical body, is presented to the user. The logical body is a mirrored boundary representations of the same part model, and is not persistent to conserve computer resources. The invention uses face, edge, and vertex mapping to communicate between the two bodies, and uses matrix multiplication to perform the mirroring transformation.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture are disclosed that provide an efficient and non-ambiguous differentiation and subsequent selection of a single virtual element displayed in close proximity with multiple other virtual elements on a two-dimensional graphics display. A large number of virtual element selection elements are possible at a single two-dimensional display location of a virtual three-dimensional space. The differentiation tool displays a large number of selection possibilities in a small screen size and substantially linear format such that rapid and non-ambiguous graphic selections are possible.

Abstract: An interactive rendering system which can minimize computational demand while allowing a designer to manipulate one or more selected objects in a scene is disclosed. A scene is rendered to a scene buffer. One or more objects are selected and rendered to an object buffer. The scene is re-rendered to the scene buffer without the selected objects. As the selected objects move or change, they are re-rendered only in the object buffer and a display is generated by merging the objects buffer and the scene buffer. Because there is no need to render the background scene, most of the computational power can be dedicated to the selected objects. The perspective and depth relationship between the selected objects and the scene are maintained.

Abstract: A test generator creates a cyclic directed graph representation of the interface of a program being tested and then generates tests from this representation. In generating the tests, the test generator iteratively selects traversal paths through the cyclic directed graph that result in traversal of every edge in the graph in a random order with a minimum number of iterations. The resulting tests contain randomly selected actions and randomly generated data, and thus when executed, these tests randomly manipulate the program being tested.

Abstract: A three dimensional (3D) modeling system for generating a 3D representation of a modeled object on a display device of a computer system. The modeled object is represented by an initial definition of an object and a set of modifiers. Each modifier modifies some portion of the definition of an object that may result in a change in appearance of the object when rendered. The modifiers are ordered so that the first modifier modifies some portion of the initial definition of the object and produces a modified definition. The next modifier modifies the results of the previous modifier. The results of the last modifier are then used in rendering processes to generate the 3D representation.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and article of manufacture for generating and rendering arrowheads that approximate the direction of the arrowhead. A base and an axis vector for the arrowhead are created, and a view direction vector, approximating the direction that a user of a computer is viewing the arrowhead, is determined. The angle between the axis vector and the view direction vector is calculated, and the arrowhead is displayed rotated by the angle between the view direction vector and the axis vector. Silhouette lines and portions of the base are selectively displayed depending on the angle that the arrowhead is viewed from.

Abstract: A system for selecting decorative materials is based on large numbers of high-resolution, full color images of decorative materials stored in a compressed format on an inexpensive medium such as a CD-ROM. In creating the ROM, each image is coordinated with additional information such as style of pattern, type of material, and other auxiliary information. Before final compression and storage of the image data color information is added by spectrophotometrically analyzing the decorative material. Color values for a background color and up to four foreground colors are determined. Individual colors are then referenced to a comprehensive color standard system containing a large number of standardized color swatches. Spectrophotometric color referencing allows the data records to be rapidly searched on the basis of color, as well as the other information in the record. Wallpaper patterns, drapery material, floor covering, or paint can then be rapidly selected on the basis of matching color.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for converting Non-Zero Winding to Even-Odd rule polygons, regardless of their shapes. Convex, concave, self-intersecting, and polygons with holes can all be converted from Non-Zero Winding to Even-Odd fill rule polygons. The invention accepts Non-Zero Winding fill polygons and computes all intersection points between the polygons. An initial intersection point between a first polygon and a second polygon is selected. The perimeter of either the first or second polygon is traced beginning from the selected intersection point. The trace switches between the perimeters of the first and second polygons as additional intersection points are reached during the tracing. The tracing is terminated when the selected intersection point is encountered by the tracing step. These steps are then repeated until all intersection points between the first and second polygons have been encountered.

Abstract: A technique for reducing the total storage used in representing data having spatial extents. The data is represented in a tree structure having a plurality of nodes, wherein each of the nodes has parent and child relationship to one or more others of the nodes in the tree structure. An encoded representation of the relation of a child node's extents with respect to its parent is stored in the node. A preorder traversal of the tree structure is performed to store it compactly in an output file.

Abstract: A system to permit a designer to select the minimum scene refresh rate or animation redraw rate acceptable by the designer. The system also incorporates a selection of presentation methods for the three-dimensional objects in a scene, arranged in decreasing fidelity, and consequently in computational complexity, as fall back positions for the general rendering technique. Using the designer's selected refresh rate as a target, the system attempts to use the highest quality rendering technique selected by the designer. If the computational complexity of the scene causes the refresh rate of the scene to fall below the minimum acceptable level selected by the designer, the system selects the next lower rendering option selected by the designer, thus degrading the presentation quality of the scene and simultaneously reducing the computational complexity of the task.

Abstract: A model of a physical object is constructed in a modeling system running on a computer system. The model includes model objects and constraints. The constraints on the model describe the relationship between the model objects. The modeling system constructs a graph representing the model. The graph has nodes representing the modeling objects and arcs representing the relationships between the model objects. The relationships are either directed or nondirected. The modeling system then identifies the set of cycles in the graph. The cycles have a subset of the nodes of the graph coupled by arcs representing nondirected relationships. The modeling system starts with a first cycle from the set of cycles and determines the set of programs that can be used to satisfy all of the relationships between the model objects represented by nodes in the first cycle.

Abstract: An intelligent shape is displayed in conjunction with a CAD application program, wherein the intelligent shape can be authored by a user. The intelligent shape comprises a frame and at least one property which defines the shape. The intelligent shape comprises several objects for use in connecting, manipulating, displaying, mapping, and otherwise creating a new component or modifying an existing one. The intelligent shape also monitors the user's interaction with the CAD application program during execution of the sequence of steps, wherein handlers defined for the shape provide additional customization of the component shape during system operations.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and article of manufacture for (U,V) texture mapping of object surfaces in a 3D graphics system in such a way that the size of the texture is preserved, and the texture wraps around curved surfaces, even when the surface is scaled. One or more triangles are selected from an arbitrary mesh of triangles. A plane normal and a (U,V) origin of the plane normal is determined for each selected triangle. The surface of the selected triangle is texture mapped using the plane normal and the (U,V) origin.

Abstract: A distributed computing method is disclosed. The method includes a requester making a number of requests to a number of other computers to perform a number of operations for the requestor's computer using the other computers' resources. The method further includes each corresponding grantor of the other computers to determine whether the other computer should grant the request(s). Each grantor is to make the determination at least at times in accordance with the requestor's computer's prior response(s) to the grantor's computer's prior request(s) of the requestor's computer to perform one or more operations for the grantor's computer.

Abstract: A three dimensional (3D) modeling system for generating a 3D representation of a modeled object on a display device of a computer system. The modeled object is represented by an initial definition of an object and a set of modifiers. Each modifier modifies some portion of the definition of an object that may result in a change in appearance of the object when rendered. The modifiers are ordered so that the first modifier modifies some portion of the initial definition of the object and produces a modified definition. The next modifier modifies the results of the previous modifier. The results of the last modifier are then used in rendering processes to generate the 3D representation. Each modifier is associated with a three dimensional representation so that the user can more easily visualize the effect of the modifier.