Patent ID: 7388585
Filing Date: 2008-06-17
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of displaying three dimensional computer modeled image scenes streaming from a server to a client computer over a network, wherein the thee dimensional computer modeled image scenes comprise geometrical data describing shapes of objects and texture data describing the appearance of the objects in the scenes, the method comprising: transferring an initial file after receipt of a request from the client computer to the server computer, the initial file providing minimum geometrical data and minimum texture data for minimum visual quality, the minimum geometric data and minimum texture data to be used for initial display; in the client computer, displaying an image based on the minimum geometric data and the minimum texture data; in the client computer, initiating a further downloading of data from the server to the client computer according to an importance factor P indicating the importance of both visible objects and at present not visible objects that are associated with visible objects in the vicinity of an observation point, such that objects having an importance factor P above a minimum threshold are updated with additional data, thereby providing more details for the objects having an importance factor above the minimum threshold, wherein the importance factor is defined as: wherein C is a screen coverage factor related to how much a texture covers a computer display surface, or how much a texture will be covering a computer display surface when being displayed, and 1/A is the inverse distance to the object from the observation point; and displaying the image based on the further downloaded data.