Patents by Inventor Elaine S. Acree

Elaine S. Acree has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9530244
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for creating an image that depicts shadowing for a specified light source even though the input data is not three-dimensional and is limited to elevation data that associates an elevation value with each of a plurality of spatial coordinates. Plumb line walls are generated between elevation points of neighboring grid cells for each elevation point meeting a specified delta elevation criterion. A shadow map is accumulated based on visibility of each pixel to the light source position, and then, in a subsequent pass through the coordinate pixels of the data, an image is created in a tangible medium with each pixel correspondingly visible or shadowed, either totally or partially. Values along one dimension may be spread over a Z-buffer range to optimally resolve visibility features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: Intergraph Corporation
    Inventor: Elaine S. Acree
  • Publication number: 20160133048
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for creating an image that depicts shadowing for a specified light source even though the input data is not three-dimensional and is limited to elevation data that associates an elevation value with each of a plurality of spatial coordinates. Plumb line walls are generated between elevation points of neighboring grid cells for each elevation point meeting a specified delta elevation criterion. A shadow map is accumulated based on visibility of each pixel to the light source position, and then, in a subsequent pass through the coordinate pixels of the data, an image is created in a tangible medium with each pixel correspondingly visible or shadowed, either totally or partially. Values along one dimension may be spread over a Z-buffer range to optimally resolve visibility features.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventor: Elaine S. Acree
  • Patent number: 8693806
    Abstract: A method of taking an aerial survey maps boundaries of a first image and a second image from a first plane to a second plane to determine boundaries of an output image in the second plane. For a plurality of pixels in the output image, the method determines a corresponding pixel of either the first image or second image in the first plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Intergraph Software Technologies Company
    Inventor: Elaine S. Acree
  • Patent number: 8160394
    Abstract: A method of transforming an input image from a hemispherical source to an output image in rectilinear coordinates is disclosed. The method includes receiving data representative of an input image originating from a hemispherical camera and having a size defined by an input image height and an input image width. Once the data is received, an output image width and output image height representative of a size of a rectilinear output image is calculated based on the size of the input image. A rectilinear output image is then generated by mapping input image pixels to locations within the width and height of the output image, without reference to the optical characteristics of the hemispherical camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: Intergraph Software Technologies, Company
    Inventors: Elaine S. Acree, Sheila G. Whitaker, Gene A. Grindstaff