Claims
- 1. A method, comprising:
producing and displaying a three-dimensional scene in a volumetric display; and producing and displaying a volumetric interface element in the display.
- 2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the interface element comprises display faces arranged in separate non-adjoining locations within the volumetric display and each face having a viewing range where the viewing range of the faces cover the viewpoints of users around the volumetric display.
- 3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein viewpoints are allocated into viewing clusters and a face is oriented along an average angle between the viewpoints in a cluster.
- 4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the volumetric element comprises display faces corresponding one-to-one with users and oriented to face corresponding users.
- 5. A method as recited in claim 4, further comprising positioning the faces to eliminate occlusion by neighboring faces.
- 6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein each face has a normal to a surface of the volumetric display and the positioning comprises:
determining a normal to a surface of the volumetric display corresponding to each user location; placing the faces in a center of the volumetric display along their corresponding normals; determining a centroid of the faces; orienting the faces orthogonal to their corresponding normals along radials from the centroid to the corresponding user locations; and moving occluding faces along their corresponding normals until occlusion is eliminated.
- 7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the volumetric element comprises an omni-directional element.
- 8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein an omni-directional element comprises a multisided element with contents replicated on each side.
- 9. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein the multisided element comprises one of a cube, a globe and a hexagonal solid, the multisided element having faces each with a viewing range and the viewing ranges of the faces covering the viewpoints of users around the volumetric display.
- 10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the volumetric element comprises a rotating face rotating into view of the users.
- 11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the rotating face comprises one of a face revolving continuously through 360 degrees and a facerocking back and forth through a predetermined number of degrees.
- 12. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising orienting the rotating face toward a user selecting the volumetric element.
- 13. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein the volumetric element further comprises a stationary control associated with the rotating face.
- 14. A method, comprising:
producing and displaying a three-dimensional scene in a volumetric display; producing and displaying an omni-viewable widget in the display, where omni-viewable widget comprises display faces arranged in separate non-adjoining locations within the volumetric display, corresponding one-to-one with users and oriented to face corresponding users and each face having a viewing range where the viewing range of the faces cover the viewpoints of users around the volumetric display; and positioning the faces to eliminate occlusion by neighboring faces, where each face has a normal to a surface of the volumetric display and the positioning comprises:
determining a normal to a surface of the volumetric display corresponding to each user location; placing the faces in a center of the volumetric display along their corresponding normals; determining a centroid of the faces; orienting the faces orthogonal to their corresponding normals along radials from the centroid to the corresponding user locations; and moving occluding faces along their corresponding normals until occlusion is eliminated.
- 15. A computer readable storage controlling a computer or via producing a three-dimensional scene in a volumetric display, and producing a volumetric interface element in the display.
- 16. An apparatus, comprising:
a volumetric display system displaying a three-dimensional scene; and a computer creating the scene and providing a volumetric widget displayed by said display system.
- 17. A method, comprising:
producing and displaying scene in a display; and producing and displaying an omni-viewable widget in the display.
- 18. A method, comprising:
producing and displaying scene in a display; and modifying a widget to increase a number of viewpoints for the widget with the widget being viewable and operable omni-directionally and displaying a modified widget in the display.
- 19. A display, comprising:
scene content; and an omni-viewable widget.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)
[0001] This application is related to and claims priority to U.S. provisional application entitled User Interfaces For Volumetric Displays, having Ser. No. 60/350,952 (S&H Docket 1252.1054P), by Kurtenbach et al, filed Jan. 25, 2002, this application is also related to U.S. application entitled Three Dimensional Volumetric Display Input And Output Configurations, having Ser. No. ______ (S&H Docket 1252.1054), by Kurtenbach et al, filed concurrently herewith, to U.S. application entitled Volume Management System For Volumetric Displays, having Ser. No. ______ (S&H Docket 1252.1065), by Kurtenbach et al, filed herewith, to U.S. application entitled Widgets Displayed and operable on a surface of a volumetric display enclosure, having Ser. No. ______ (S&H Docket 1252.1066), by Fitzmaurice et al, filed concurrently herewith, to U.S. application entitled A System For Physical Rotation of Volumetric Display Enclosures To Facilitate Viewing, having Ser. No. ______ (S&H Docket 1252.1068), by Balakrishnan et al, filed concurrently herewith, to U.S. application entitled Techniques For Pointing To Locations Within A Volumetric Display, having Ser. No. ______ (S&H Docket 1252.1069), by Balakrishnan et al, filed concurrently herewith and all of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60350952 |
Jan 2002 |
US |