Patent ID: 6674430
Filing Date: 2004-01-06
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
An apparatus for real-time volume processing and universal three-dimensional (3D) rendering, said apparatus being responsive to viewing and processing parameters which define a viewpoint, said apparatus generating a 3D volume projection image or new modified volume from said viewpoint, said image including a plurality of pixels, said apparatus comprising:a plurality of three-dimensional (3D) memory units which store a plurality of discrete voxels, each of said voxels having a location and voxel data associated therewith, said voxels together forming a volume dataset, said viewing and processing parameters defining at least one base plane of said volume dataset and first and last processing slices of said volume dataset; at least a first pixel bus for providing global horizontal communication; a plurality of rendering pipelines, each of said plurality of rendering pipelines being vertically coupled to both a corresponding one of said plurality of 3D memory units and said at least first pixel bus, each of said plurality of rendering pipeline having horizontal communication with neighbors, said rendering pipelines receiving said voxel data from said corresponding memory units and generating a two-dimensional (2D) base plane image aligned with a face of said volume dataset; at least one geometry bus for providing global horizontal communication between said plurality of rendering pipelines and a geometry engine, said at least one geometry bus enabling the rendering of geometric and volumetric objects together in a single image; and a control unit which initially designates said first processing slice as a current slice of sample points, and which controls sweeping through subsequent slices of said volume dataset as current slices until said last processing slice is reached.