Patent ID: 7190367
Filing Date: 2007-03-13
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A method for rendering, comprising: defining a rendering request, the rendering request describing an object to be rendered in a single rendering pipeline including a set of stages connected serially to each other as a sequence of stages so that output of a previous stage provides input to a next stage, the sequence of stages including, in order, a preprocessed shape descriptor determination stage, a distance field determination stage, a distance values determination stage, an antialiased intensities determination stage, and a colorized image determination stage, and where the distance field determination stage determines a distance from a point in a co-planar field to an edge of the object, where the sign of the distance is negative if the point is outside the object, positive if the point is inside the object, and points on the edge having a zero distance; querying a progressive cache to determine a most finished cached element representing a display image satisfying the rendering request, the progressive cache including a set of caches, the set of caches including a preprocessed shape descriptor cache, a distance field cache, a distance values cache, an antialiased intensities cache, and a colorized image cache, each cache in the set of caches arranged to store cached elements in a least finished to a most finished order, there being one cache associated with each stage; sending the most finished cached element to a starting stage of a rendering pipeline for the object, the starting stage being a next stage of the rendering pipeline corresponding to the most finished cached element; and sending an output of the starting stage to an input of a next stage of the rendering pipeline, a final stage of the rendering pipeline determining the display image satisfying the rendering request; and displaying the display image satisfying the rendering request.