United States Patent [19]

Cline et a1.

[11] [45]

Patent Number: Date of Patent:

4,710,876
Dec. 1, 1987

[54]

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE DISPLAY OF SURFACE STRUCTURES CONTAINED WITHIN THE INTERIOR REGION OF A SOLID BODY

Graphics Computer Magazine, IEEE Computer Soci

ety Publication, (Oct. 1984), pp. 145-161. Artzy, Ehud et al., The Theory, Design, Implementa
tion and Evaluation of a Three-Dimensional Surface

[75] Inventors: Harvey E. Cline, Schenectady;

William E. Lorensen, Ballston Lake, both of NY.

Detection. Algorithm, Computer Graphics and Image

Processing, vol. 15, (1981) pp. l-24. Primary Examiner-Jerry Smith Assistant Examiner-Gail Hayes
Attorney, Agent, or FirmLawrence D. Cutter; James

[73] Assignee: General Electric Company,

Schenectady, NY.

[21] Appl. No.: 741,390 Jun. 5, 1985 [22] Filed: [51] Int. Cl.4 .............................. .. G06F 15/42 [52] US. Cl. .................................. .. 364/414; 340/728;
340/727; 340/747; 364/521

C. Davis, Jr.; Marvin Snyder [57] ABSTRACT A method and apparatus for displaying three dimen
sional surface images includes the utilization of a case

table for rapid retrieval of surface approximation infor mation. Eight cubically adjacent data points associated
with a given voxel element are compared with a prede termined threshold value or range to generate an eight

[53] [56]

Field of Search ............................. .. 364/414, 521;

382/44-47; 340/727-729, 706, 747

References Cited U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
3,889,107 4,436,748 4,471,349
4,475,104

bit vector. This eight bit vector is employed to rapidly produce vector lists of approximating surfaces. An in terpolation operation is performed so as to more closely approximate the desired surface and to provide more
accurate representations of vectors normal to the de sired surface. The accurate representation of these nor mal directions provides means for accurately represent ing shading information on a display screen. The method and apparatus of the present invention are par

6/1975 2/1984 9/1984

10/1984

Sutherland ........................ .. 340/747 Tuhro .... .. 340/ 728 Strolle .... .. 340/ 728
Shen . .. ... . . . . . .. 340/ 729

4,594,673

6/ 1986

Holly ..

.... .. 340/729

4,612,546

9/1986

Pratt .................................. .. 340/728

ticularly useful for the display of medical images both,

from x-ray generated data and from data generated from various other sources including magnetic reso nance imaging and positron emission tomography. The present invention provides a means for rapid generation
of three dimensional images so as to enable interactive

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Anti-Aliasing Video Lookup Table, IBM Tech. Dis

closure Bulletin; vol. 27 No. 10B, Mar. 1985. Elimination of Staircasing in Raster Display; IBM Tech. Disclos. Bulletin; vol. 18, No. 9, pp. 3077-3078; Feb. 76.

use by medical practitioners.

Machover, C, and Myers, W., Interactive Computer

16 Claims, 55 Drawing Figures

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