Method and apparatus for projective texture mapping rendered from arbitrarily positioned and oriented light source
Granted: September 8, 1998
Patent Number:
5805782
A method and apparatus for generating interactive computer graphics images using projective texture mapping. The projective texture mapping of the present invention involves the mapping of a texture map onto a scene being rendered from the perspective of an arbitrarily positioned and oriented projection light source. The visual effect is as if the texture map were a slide being displayed onto the objects comprising the scene. During this process, homogeneous texture map coordinates are…
System and method for an iconic drag and drop interface for electronic file transfer
Granted: September 1, 1998
Patent Number:
5801700
A system and method for transferring files from a sending user to a recipient, utilizes a drag-and-drop graphical user interface. To send a file to a recipient, the user drags and drops onto the recipient's icon an icon, or set of selected icons, representing the file(s) to be transmitted. Information pertaining to the file and the recipient is captured from the icons and used to establish a session between the sender and the recipient. The file is transferred to the recipient via the…
System and method using cover bundles to provide immediate feedback to a user in an interactive television environment
Granted: September 1, 1998
Patent Number:
5802284
A computer-based system and method for providing immediate feedback to the user in an interactive television system. The system presents interactive programs to a user; each program can have a "cover bundle" for "covering" the delay between user selection of the program and the program's availability. When a user requests a program having a cover bundle, the cover bundle is downloaded first. The cover bundle provides a simple presentation (e.g., a short movie, music, and the like) to…
System and method for processing graphic language characters
Granted: September 1, 1998
Patent Number:
5802482
A system and method is described for processing foreign language characters. An input processor parses input language data into combinations dictated by a set of combining rules. The combining rules are application and language dependent. The data structures generated by the input processor comprises a header and one or more characters or character strings. The header further comprises a layout field that identifies the relative position of the one or more characters or character…
Robust mapping of 2D cursor motion onto 3D lines and planes
Granted: August 25, 1998
Patent Number:
5798761
A moving 2D cursor is mapped onto a guiding entity in a virtual 3D space displayed on a 2D surface by determining if the guiding entity has a characteristic that may yield a discontinuity in motion along the guiding entity when the moving cursor is mapped onto the guiding entity. The cursor is mapped onto the guiding entity based on a result of the determining.
Volume-based free form deformation weighting
Granted: August 18, 1998
Patent Number:
5796400
A system and method for weighting one or more vertices in a region being deformed by free-form deformation techniques assigns a weight a vertex based on the position of that vertex within the deformation lattice. The assigned weight is used to alter the amount of displacement that the free-form deformation would otherwise have on the vertex by an amount proportional to the weight.
Apparatus for generating differential noise between power and ground planes
Granted: August 11, 1998
Patent Number:
5793259
The present invention provides an apparatus for generating a differential noise between a power and ground planes in a printed wiring board (PWB). The apparatus comprises a power plane, a ground plane, and a signal transmission circuit. A plurality of cuts comprising a first pattern is formed on the power plane. The ground plane also provides a plurality of cuts comprising a second pattern. Both the power plane and the ground plane are disposed in the PWB. A signal transmission circuit…
High-memory capacity DIMM with data and state memory
Granted: August 4, 1998
Patent Number:
5790447
A high memory capacity dual in-line memory modules (DIMM) for use in a directory-based, distributed shared memory multiprocessor computer system includes a data memory for storing data and a state memory for storing state or directory information corresponding to at least a portion of the data. The DIMM allows the data and the state information to be accessed independently. The DIMM can be configured in a plurality of storage capacities.
System for editing time-based temporal digital media including a pointing device toggling between temporal and translation-rotation modes
Granted: August 4, 1998
Patent Number:
5790769
A system and method that maps temporal control functions into a six degree of freedom pointing device. The six degree of freedom pointing device controls both transport and view modes within a time-based media editing system and allows a user to toggle between modes without losing visual contact with graphical objects appearing on a video screen.
System and method to reduce jitter in digital delay-locked loops
Granted: August 4, 1998
Patent Number:
5790612
The present invention incorporates a variable delay circuit to add delay to a clock signal. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the delay is determined and fixed by a circuit employing the concept of a lock-and-leave circuit. This has the effect of fine tuning the delay determined by the lock-and-leave circuit. Mode bits allow a user to control the rate at which fine tuning occurs. Three update rates are provided in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. They…
Disk drive loading mechanism
Granted: August 4, 1998
Patent Number:
5790373
A connection mechanism which will positively lock a disk drive storage device to a computer housing is disclosed. A cam which may rotate within a predetermined range of motion is attached to the disk drive housing. The disk drive is coupled to a computer by the insertion of the disk drive into the housing of the computer such that the disk drive housing engages a post located within the computer housing. A channel within the disk drive housing guides the disk drive housing into the…
System and method for allowing a performer to control and interact with an on-stage display device
Granted: August 4, 1998
Patent Number:
5790124
A performance or show production system and method allows a performer to control and interact with an on-stage display or screen. The on-stage screen is used to create a virtual extension of the stage. Images displayed on the screen may include video playback and real-time generated, texture mapped graphics. The system includes a media production system for producing visual images, a display system for displaying the visual images, a tracking system for tracking the position of the…
Compact computer housing
Granted: August 4, 1998
Patent Number:
D396698
System and method for maintaining coherency of virtual-to-physical memory translations in a multiprocessor computer
Granted: July 28, 1998
Patent Number:
5787476
A multiprocessor computer system and method for maintaining coherency between virtual-to-physical memory translations of multiple requestors in the system. A poison bit is associated with a memory block in the system. The poison bit is set to indicate that a virtual-to-physical memory translation for the memory block is stale. An exception is generated in response to an access by one of the requestors to the memory block if the poison bit is set, thereby indicating to the requestor that…
System and method for coordinating communication between layers of a layered communication system
Granted: July 21, 1998
Patent Number:
5784567
A system and method for facilitating communication between layers in a multi-layer system. Opaque information is utilized to pass information between layers in an indirect communication. A single horizontal communication between the highest layer in a first communication end of the system passes opaque information collected from all lower layers to the highest layer in a second communication end. Vertical communications are utilized to distribute the opaque information to the intended…
Guaranteed bandwidth allocation method in a computer system for input/output data transfers
Granted: July 21, 1998
Patent Number:
5784569
The present invention discloses a novel arbitration procedure for selecting among devices in a computer system requesting access to a single resource such as, for example, a system bus or main memory. The arbitration procedure provides an efficient means for guaranteeing the available system bus bandwidth to devices having high bandwidth requirements. Each device can be allotted a certain amount of bandwidth that is guaranteed to be available for that device within a given time interval.…
Method for simulating hair using particle emissions
Granted: July 7, 1998
Patent Number:
5777619
A method for simulating and rendering hair. A simulator calculates the motion dynamics of a hair. The simulator includes a particle system that emits particles from a surface and a normalization module that normalizes the trajectory of each of the particles to a fixed length to form a set of normalized segments. The simulator outputs a list of normalized segments that are passed to a renderer. The renderer performs a variety of tasks, including fuzzy segment generation and…
Interprocedural analysis user interface
Granted: July 7, 1998
Patent Number:
5778212
The present invention provides a system and method for implementing interprocedural analysis using a standard compilation user interface. The present invention stores an intermediate representation of the source code, associated interprocedural summary information, and compilation options into an extended object format file. Interprocedural analysis functions are then performed on each of the extended object format files, resulting in IPA output files which preserve the compilation…
System and method for displaying uniform network resource locators embedded in time-based medium
Granted: June 30, 1998
Patent Number:
5774666
A system and method are provided for displaying a uniform network resource locator embedded in a time-based medium. In one embodiment, the time-based medium can be a movie file having an uniform network resource locator embedded by association with a track in the movie file. In another embodiment, the time-based medium can be a video signal having encoded information defining an embedded uniform network resource locator. An output for display is generated based upon the time-based medium…
Apparatus and method for dynamic central processing unit clock adjustment
Granted: June 30, 1998
Patent Number:
5774704
In a computer system having a cpu, a device for dynamic cpu clock adjustment. The device is comprised of a clock pulse generator for generating a clock frequency. The clock frequency is coupled to the cpu and is used by the cpu to synchronize and pace its internal operations. The clock frequency generated by the generator is variable over a range. A controller is coupled to the clock pulse generator, for adjusting the clock frequency from the clock pulse generator over the range. The…
