Patent ID: 7170521

Claim:
A method of rendering an image of a multidimensional item, the rendering occurring at one of a server and a client, the server and the client in communication with a network, the method comprising: storing a data file at the server, the data file including image data that is constructable to form the multidimensional item, wherein at least some of the image data is structured as submatrices satisfying the equation n d = 2 round ⁢ q ⁢ log 2 ⁡ ( N d ) 2 ⁢ r ⁢ ⁢ 1 ⁢ < _ ⁢ d ⁢ < _ ⁢ D , where n d is the number of points along dimension d of each submatrix, N d is the number of points alone dimension d of the full data set, and D is the total number of dimensions in the data set; receiving a request for an image associated wit the stored data file; performing at least one of determining a communications speed for the network, determining a memory size of a memory of the client, determining an available memory size of a memory of the client, determining a computing capability of the client, and determining a session state; and determining whether to render the image at the server or the client, the determination being based in part on at least one of the communications speed of the network, the memory size of the memory, the available memory size of the memory, the computing capability of a second computer, and the session state; rendering the image at the server when the determination is made to render the image at the server; rendering the image at the client when the determination is made to render the image at the client; and storing at least a portion of the image at the client when the determination is made to render the image at the client.