Patent ID: 7199807
Filing Date: 2007-04-03
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
1. A mixed reality presentation method for generating a virtual space image to be superimposed on a real space, comprising: a holding step of holding data indicating a hierarchical structure of objects that form a virtual space; a configuration step of configuring a first set of objects, a second set of objects, and a third set of objects from the objects forming the virtual space, with the first set, the second set, and the third set being rendered by first, second, and third rendering methods, respectively; a generation step of generating first, second, and third hierarchical structures of objects included in each of the first, the second and the third sets configured in the configuration step with reference to the data held in the holding step; a first rendering step of rendering, in a first buffer memory, each object included in the first set configured in the configuration step in accordance with the first hierarchical structure generated in the generation step; a second rendering step of rendering, in a second buffer memory, each object included in the second set configured in the configuration step in accordance with the second hierarchical structure generated in the generation step and each object rendered in the first buffer memory in the first rendering step, wherein the second rendering step is executed after processing of the first rendering step; a third rendering step of rendering, in the second buffer memory, each object included in the third set configured in the configuration step in accordance with the third hierarchical structure generated in the generation step, wherein the third rendering step is executed after processing of the second rendering step; and an output step of outputting data rendered in the second buffer memory to a display unit; wherein the first set of objects are mask objects, the second set of objects are normal virtual CG objects, and the third set of objects are translucent objects.