Patents by Inventor Forrester Hardenbergh Cole

Forrester Hardenbergh Cole 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).

  • Method and system for automatically generating factored approximations for arbitrary bidirectional reflectance distribution functions
    Patent number: 7075534
    Abstract: A method and a system are presented to generate automatically factored approximations for arbitrary Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDFs). The method presented extends previous work to include a search over a space of 4D to 2D projections. Each set of projections defines a set of factors, which in turn defines an approximation error. This error is minimized using a conventional multi-dimensional search algorithm. A new representation for the projection functions is presented that allows efficient searching and enables the construction of a full approximation of a BRDF from the set of its optimal factors and the computation of reflectance values for arbitrary viewing angles using the function's full approximation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2006
    Inventors: Forrester Hardenbergh Cole, Steven J. Gortler
  • Method and system for automatically generating factored approximations for arbitrary bidirectional reflectance distribution functions
    Publication number: 20030234786
    Abstract: A method and a system are presented to generate automatically factored approximations for arbitrary Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDFs). The method presented extends previous work to include a search over a space of 4D to 2D projections. Each set of projections defines a set of factors, which in turn defines an approximation error. This error is minimized using a conventional multi-dimensional search algorithm. A new representation for the projection functions is presented that allows efficient searching and enables the construction of a full approximation of a BRDF from the set of its optimal factors and the computation of reflectance values for arbitrary viewing angles using the function's full approximation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2003
    Publication date: December 25, 2003
    Inventors: Forrester Hardenbergh Cole, Steven J. Gortler