Patents Examined by A. Brautigam
  • Patent number: 7123269
    Abstract: Computer programs and computer-implemented methods implement techniques for applying a modification operation to vector objects in an image. These include receiving user input applying a modification operation in an image, identifying one or more vector objects to be affected by the modification operation and changing one or more attribute values for one or more of the attributes of each identified vector object according to the modification operation. The techniques can also include receiving user input selecting one of a plurality of image processing modes, each of the image processing modes defining a method of changing attribute values for of one or more of the attributes. In preferred embodiments, feedback is provided to the user of how attribute values for the attributes of vector objects are changing within the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2006
    Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated
    Inventors: Lubomir D. Bourdey, Martin E. Newell
  • Patent number: 7123271
    Abstract: A method and apparatus determine an antialiased intensity of a component of a pixel. A set of objects is represented by a set of two-dimensional distance fields. For each distance field, a corresponding set of sample points is associated with the component and a corresponding distance is determined using the corresponding set of sample points. The corresponding distances are combined to determine a combined distance that is mapped to the antialiased intensity of the component of the pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald N. Perry, Sarah F. Frisken
  • Patent number: 7057616
    Abstract: A curve may be reshaped by determining new locations for its control points that minimize some measure of the change in the curve (typically, the “energy” of the change), while meeting the specified editing constraints. For example, a designer or other user may indicate an editing constraint by selecting a point anywhere on a curve and moving it to a new location. In response, the unconstrained control points may be moved automatically and simultaneously to optimal new locations. The resulting change in the curve may be aesthetically pleasing and satisfy the editing constraints. This curve editing technique may allow designers to be more productive by providing predictable and intuitive results while enabling curves to be directly manipulated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: DoRon B. Motter, Michael Kallay
  • Patent number: 7053913
    Abstract: The invention provides a method for integrating an inset geometry within a background geometry. The method comprises the step of identifying a perimeter of the inset geometry. A further step is extending a skirt, having an outer perimeter and an inner perimeter, from the perimeter of the inset geometry out over the background geometry. An additional step is removing portions of the background geometry that are covered by the inset geometry and skirt. Another step is modifying the skirt so that the outer perimeter of the skirt matches background geometry behavior and the inner perimeter matches inset geometry behavior and a continuous transition exists between the outer perimeter and the inner perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2006
    Assignee: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
    Inventor: Michael A. Cosman
  • Patent number: 7053911
    Abstract: The invention provides a method for integrating an inset geometry within a background geometry. The method comprises the step of identifying a perimeter of the inset geometry. A further step is extending a skirt, having an outer perimeter and an inner perimeter, from the perimeter of the inset geometry out over the background geometry. An additional step is removing portions of the background geometry that are covered by the inset geometry and skirt. Another step is modifying the skirt so that the outer perimeter of the skirt matches background geometry behavior and the inner perimeter matches inset geometry behavior and a continuous transition exists between the outer perimeter and the inner perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2006
    Assignee: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
    Inventor: Michael A. Cosman
  • Patent number: 7053912
    Abstract: The invention provides a method for integrating an inset geometry within a background geometry. The method comprises the step of identifying a perimeter of the inset geometry. A further step is extending a skirt, having an outer perimeter and an inner perimeter, from the perimeter of the inset geometry out over the background geometry. An additional step is removing portions of the background geometry that are covered by the inset geometry and skirt. Another step is modifying the skirt so that the outer perimeter of the skirt matches background geometry behavior and the inner perimeter matches inset geometry behavior and a continuous transition exists between the outer perimeter and the inner perimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2006
    Assignee: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
    Inventor: Michael A. Cosman
  • Patent number: 7050064
    Abstract: Effective color resolution of a limited-memory color-mapped display system such as a portable liquid crystal display (LCD) handheld video game system can be increased by changing the color mapping information during active display time (e.g., during the horizontal blanking interval between rasterization of successive lines on the display). A subset of the color mapping information can be rewritten during each horizontal blanking period. A full color bitmapped source image can be converted into a color-mapped image in a way that optimizes the use of such color map updates. Since photographic and photorealistic images typically don't exhibit abrupt color changes between neighboring pixels, such techniques can result in display of a color image with very high color resolution (e.g., having as many as 2048 different colors) on hardware intended to permit simultaneous display of only a much smaller number of different colors (e.g., only 56 different colors simultaneously).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2006
    Assignee: Nintendo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jun Pan, Samir Abou-Samra, Robert Champagne, Claude Comair, Sun Tjen Fam, Prasanna Ghali, Xin Li
  • Patent number: 7034845
    Abstract: A method and apparatus determine an antialiased intensity of a component of a pixel from a two-dimensional distance field representing an object. A set of sample points in the two-dimensional distance field is associated with the component of the pixel. A distance is determined from the two-dimensional distance field and the set of sample points and then mapped to the antialiased intensity of the component of the pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald N. Perry, Sarah F. Frisken
  • Patent number: 7009620
    Abstract: A texture mapping system comprises memory and a texture map manager. The memory stores a first texture map and a parametric texture map. The texture map manager is configured to combine at least a portion of the first texture map and at least a portion of the parametric texture map, and the texture map manager is configured to determine a texture map type for the first texture map and a texture map type for the parametric texture map and to perform a prioritization of the texture map portions based on the determined texture map types. The texture map manager is further configured to select, for conversion, one of the texture map portions based on the prioritization and to convert the selected texture map portion into a form corresponding to a form of the non-selected texture map portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2006
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Noah Horton, Bradford A. Ritter
  • Patent number: 7006108
    Abstract: A method renders a region of a composite glyph. The composite glyph is defined by a set of elements. A set of two-dimensional distance fields is generated using the set of elements, where a composition of the set of two-dimensional distance fields represents the composite glyph. The region of the composite glyph is then rendered using the set of two-dimensional distance fields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald N. Perry, Sarah F. Frisken
  • Patent number: 7006103
    Abstract: An embodiment of texture mapping system comprises a plurality of format-specific editors and a parametric texture map (PTM) editing tool. Each of the format-specific editors is configured to perform at least one spatial operation on a PTM of a different format. The PTM editing tool is configured to receive a command to perform a spatial operation on a parametric texture map identified by the command. The PTM editing tool is configured to select one of the format-specific editors based on a format of the identified PTM and to invoke the selected format-specific editor in response to the command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2006
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Noah Horton
  • Patent number: 7006095
    Abstract: A method typesets a set of glyphs. A current glyph is selected from the set of glyphs and a current position of the current glyph is selected. A next position of a next glyph is determined, where the next glyph is selected from the set of glyphs. The determination of the next position of the next glyph first represents the current glyph as a two-dimensional distance field and then determines the next position using the current position, an escapement of the current glyph, and an alignment of the two-dimensional distance field. The current glyph is then updated to be the next glyph and the current position is updated to be the next position. The selection of the next glyph and the determination of the next position continue until a termination condition is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Sarah F. Frisken, Ronald N. Perry
  • Patent number: 7002598
    Abstract: A method renders a region of a composite glyph. The composite glyph is defined by a set of elements. A set of two-dimensional distance fields is generated using the set of elements, where each two-dimensional distance field is partitioned into cells and each cell includes a method for reconstructing the corresponding two-dimensional distance field within the cell. A composition of the set of two-dimensional distance fields represents the composite glyph. The region of the composite glyph is then rendered using the set of two-dimensional distance fields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs., Inc.
    Inventors: Sarah F. Frisken, Ronald N. Perry
  • Patent number: 6985160
    Abstract: Methods and systems for selecting different anti-aliasing filters to be applied to objects of image data rendered with pixel sub-component precision based on the attributes of the objects of the graphics image. For example, when rendering a character traditional anti-aliasing applied in the direction parallel to the striping of the pixel sub-components is adapted to the unique requirements of different character font sizes such that a large amount of anti-aliasing is applied to large font sizes while a small amount of anti-aliasing is provided for characters at small font sizes. Displaced sampling is utilized to determine the alpha values for a plurality of vertical samples for each RGB pixel sub-component. The selected anti-aliasing filter is applied to the alpha values to determine the luminous intensity values of the RGB pixel sub-components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David C. Brown, John C. Platt, Michael Duggan, Gregory Hitchcock, Beat Stamm
  • Patent number: 6982724
    Abstract: A method and apparatus antialias a region of a two-dimensional distance field representing an object. The two-dimensional distance field is partitioned into cells where each cell includes a method for reconstructing the two-dimensional distance field within the cell. A set of cells of the two-dimensional distance field associated with the region is identified and a set of pixels associated with the region is located. For each pixel, a set of components is specified. For each component, a distance is determined from the set of cells and then mapped to the antialiased intensity of the component of the pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2006
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Sarah F. Frisken, Ronald N. Perry
  • Patent number: 6947058
    Abstract: An approach for incrementally updating graphical images when using anti-aliasing techniques is disclosed. Data for an original color is stored, and an image is filtered based on the original color. A new color for an image portion less than the entire image is identified. The new color is used with the old color to re-filter the image portion. The re-filtering may be performed by a two-step approach in which the image portion is filtered using the negative of the original color and then the image portion is filtered using the new color. The re-filtering may be performed by a one-step approach in which the portion of the image is filtered using the difference between the new color and the old color. The appearance of a halo around the portion of the image that would otherwise occur when filtering based on only the new color is thereby avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
    Inventor: Kells A Elmquist
  • Patent number: 6947059
    Abstract: An imaging system comprising a plurality of first image capture devices. Overlapping rectilinear images are captured and halved, with the left halves being stitched and transformed into a first equirectangular image and the right halves being stitched and transformed into a second equirectangular image. The first equirectangular image, and second equirectangular image are displayed in a stereoscopic orientation to produce a stereoscopic equirectangular image. The imaging system may be utilized to capture a plurality of sequential images, to produce a full-motion stereoscopic equirectangular image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: Micoy Corporation
    Inventors: Donald Pierce, Steven M. Herrnstadt, Trent Grover, Frederick Good
  • Patent number: 6940528
    Abstract: The invention provides a display-service providing system in which an image display apparatus, such as a projector, simultaneously displays a plurality of image data on a display section and the display sizes of the image data can be controlled. The invention provides such an image display apparatus. A display-service providing system is formed of instructing apparatuses to provide operation instructions to a projector serving as a service providing apparatus; a virtual-object management apparatus to control operations related to virtual objects, such as setting the virtual objects and giving the instructing apparatuses a right of instructing the projector; the projector to display images corresponding to the contents of instructions sent from the instructing apparatuses, on a display section; and a network to allow data communications to be performed between the above-mentioned apparatuses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiki Fukui, Shinya Taniguchi, Naruhide Kitada
  • Patent number: 6941276
    Abstract: A system and method for changing attributes of an image-based product in which an attribute of a first image is automatically identified and a new value for a product attribute of the image-based product is automatically selected based on the image attribute. Also, a user interface can be provided that allows a user to actuate a user interface control in order to select a new value for a product attribute of an image-based product. Such techniques can be used to offer image-based products for sale over a computer network such as the Internet so that the user can change attributes of the image-based products before ordering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Shutterfly, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Haeberli
  • Patent number: 6933952
    Abstract: A method and apparatus antialias a region of a set of objects. The set of objects is represented by a set of two-dimensional distance fields. Each distance field is partitioned into cells, where each cell is associated with a method for reconstructing the distance field within the cell. For each distance field, a set of cells associated with the region is identified. A set of pixels associated with the region is located and a set of components is specified for each pixel. For each component of each pixel, a corresponding distance for the component is determined for each distance field using the corresponding set of cells and the corresponding distances are combined to determine a combined distance. The combined distance is mapped to an antialiased intensity of the component of the pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Sarah F. Frisken, Ronald N. Perry