STREAMING OF IMAGES WITH DEPTH FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL GRAPHICS

摘要

An apparatus (100), executing on a server (120) or similar machine and a client machine (130), and a corresponding method, includes mechanisms for rendering a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional object, and streaming the thus-rendered image to the client machine. The mechanisms include a rendering module (122) that generates a first image, from a first point of view, having a plurality of pixels, as frst image data for display on a client machine, and generates first depth information for one or more of the plurality of pixels, nad a compression module (124) that compresses the first image data and the first depth information, wherein the first image data and the first depth information are provided to the client machine. A user input (150) coupled to the rendering module, provides a command to the rendering module to change a point of view from the first point of view to a second point of view, wherein the rendering module generates a second image, as second image data, from the second point of view, the second image including second depth information for one or more pixels comprising the second image. The second image data and the second depth information are then provided to the client machine (130). The client machine includes a decompression module (132) that receives compressed image data, the compressed image data including depth information related to one or more pixels comprising the three-dimenional representation, and decompresses the compressed image data; a display module (134) that displays the generated images, wherein a first image is displayed; and a warp module (133) that generates an interim image for display based on the image data, including the depth information, and a second point of view.