Patent ID: 7928980

Claim:
A method for visualizing data clouds using color and opacity blending comprising: inputting three-dimensional (3D) data points of a data set into a computer system as objects; creating one or more data containers for the objects; assigning color C, opacity α, and object size for each object; defining the distance, orientation, and field of view from a viewing reference point for each object; representing the color and opacity of the objects that reside within a single pixel PxlC in a two dimensional (2D) view from the viewing reference point by blending the colors C and opacities α of stacked objects wherein: PxlC=Clamp(ScrO+FrmC) where Clamp limits results to 255, 255, 255 in C R , C G , C B , FrmC is a stored value for background color, source object SrcO=SrcC*Srcα, SrcC is designated with either 8 or 24 bits of color, and opacity α is designated with 8 bits and Srcα=α/255; representing the color and opacity of the objects by blending the colors C and opacities α of stacked objects for remaining pixels PxlC in a frame buffer to process a pixel pipeline; and rendering image pixels in the frame buffer on a display as a visual representation of information stored in the data cloud, wherein the blending results in an extension of the range between colors in the stacked objects and wherein the objects represent space debris, satellites, or other orbiting objects around the earth.