Patents by Inventor James G. Fiasconaro

James G. Fiasconaro 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: 5363478
    Abstract: A graphics accelerator responds to commands from a computer in a graphics system by storing the definitions of non-uniform rational B-spline patches and their associated trimming curves. As a convenience in developing a parametric representation, a complete trimming curve is generally divided into a collection of ordered segments, each of which has different parametric functions. But this means that the end point in one segment might not be exactly identical to the first point in the succeeding segment, even though they are in principle the same point. This lack of identity can produce undesirable artifacts in the displayed image. This problem is avoided by always taking the first point of a succeeding segment in place of the last point of the preceding segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1991
    Date of Patent: November 8, 1994
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: James G. Fiasconaro
  • Patent number: 5353389
    Abstract: A graphics accelerator responds to commands from a computer in a graphic system by storing the definitions of nonuniform rational B-spline patches and their associated triming curves. The graphics accelerator then produces device coordinates for trimmed polygons computed for each patch and sends these polygons to a display. Various improvements are incorporated to minimize the effects of roundoff error. The B-spline definitions of the trimming curves in the uv parameter space of each patch are converted to approximating short straight line segments. Untrimmed polygon vertices, the end points of the straight line segments and the intersections of the straight line segments with subspan boundaries corresponding to polygon edges are kept in a data structure of linked lists of vertex tables. The data structure is traversed to determine new polygon vertices for trimmed polygons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1991
    Date of Patent: October 4, 1994
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: James G. Fiasconaro
  • Patent number: 5303386
    Abstract: A graphics accelerator responds to commands from a computer in a graphic system by storing the definitions of nonuniform rational B-spline patches and their associated triming curves. The graphics accelerator then produces device coordinates for trimmed polygons computed for each patch and sends these polygons to a display. Various improvements are incorporated to minimize the effects of roundoff error. The B-spline definitions of the trimming curves in the uv parameter space of each patch are converted to approximating short straight line segments. Untrimmed polygon vertices, the end points of the straight line segments and the intersections of the straight line segments with subspan boundaries corresponding to polygon edges are kept in a data structure of linked lists of vertex tables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 12, 1994
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Co.
    Inventor: James G. Fiasconaro
  • Patent number: 5299302
    Abstract: A graphics accelerator responds to commands from a computer in a graphic system by storing the definitions of nonuniform rational B-spline patches and their associated triming curves. The graphics accelerator then produces device coordinates for trimmed polygons computed for each patch and sends these polygons to a display. Various improvements are incorporated to minimize the effects of roundoff error. The B-spline definitions of the trimming curves in the uv parameter space of each patch are converted to approximating short straight line segments. Untrimmed polygon vertices, the end points of the straight line segments and the intersections of the straight line segments with subspan boundaries corresponding to polygon edges are kept in a data structure of linked lists of vertex tables. The data structure is traversed to determine new polygon vertices for trimmed polygons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 1992
    Date of Patent: March 29, 1994
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: James G. Fiasconaro
  • Patent number: 5243694
    Abstract: A graphics accelerator responds to commands from a computer in a graphic system by storing the definitions of nonuniform rational B-spline patches and their associated triming curves. The graphics accelerator then produces device coordinates for trimmed polygons computed for each patch and sends these polygons to a display. Various improvements are incorporated to minimize the effects of roundoff error. The B-spline definitions of the trimming curves in the uv parameter space of each patch are converted to approximating short straight line segments. Untrimmed polygon vertices, the end points of the straight line segments and the intersections of the straight line segments with subspan boundaries corresponding to polygon edges are kept in a data structure of linked lists of vertex tables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1991
    Date of Patent: September 7, 1993
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: James G. Fiasconaro
  • Patent number: 5226115
    Abstract: A graphics accelerator responds to commands from a computer in a graphic system by storing the definitions of nonuniform rational B-spline patches and their associated triming curves. The graphics accelerator then produces device coordinates for trimmed polygons computed for each patch and sends these polygons to a display. Various improvements are incorporated to minimize the effects of roundoff error. The B-spline definitions of the trimming curves in the uv parameter space of each patch are converted to approximating short straight line segments. Untrimmed polygon vertices, the end points of the straight line segments and the intersections of the straight line segments with subspan boundaries corresponding to polygon edges are kept in a data structure of linked lists of vertex tables. The data structure is traversed to determine new polygon vertices for trimmed polygons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1991
    Date of Patent: July 6, 1993
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Company
    Inventor: James G. Fiasconaro
  • Patent number: 4999789
    Abstract: A graphics accelerator responds to commands from a computer in a graphic system by storing the definitions of nonuniform rational B-spline patches and their associated trimming curves. The graphics accelerator then produces device coordinates for trimmed polygons computed for each patch and sends these polygons to a display. The B-spline definitions of the trimming curves in the uv parameter space of each patch are converted to approximating short straight line segments. Untrimmed polygon vertices, the end points of the straight line segments and the intersections of the straight line segments with subspan boundaries corresponding to polygon edges are kept in a data structure of linked lists of vertex tables. The data structure is traversed to determine new polygon vertices for trimmed polygons. The trimming mechanism is compatible with recursive subdivision of patches to overcome practical limitations on the number of trimming curves that may be associated with each patch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 1987
    Date of Patent: March 12, 1991
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Co.
    Inventor: James G. Fiasconaro