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Subject: 
Re: Lego patent issued
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.cad
Date: 
Wed, 4 Sep 2002 01:38:11 GMT
Viewed: 
742 times
  
"Erik Olson" <erik@olson.pair.com> wrote in message
news:H1vK31.DJ8@lugnet.com...
Well folks, this is not cause for alarm, but Lego have got their software
patent on how they store model files:

US6389375: Virtual reality modelling
Published 5/14/02 Filed 1/14/99

The "novel idea" for which they have received patent  protection is: in a
data strcture (read: model file format) the location of a piece is
represented by *integer* coordinates, plus a compact set of numbers
indicating a transformation of that coordinate system.


[ ... snipped ... ]

Storing database coordinates in integer format is pretty common in CAD
tools, at least in my industry (Electronic Design Automation).  My company
(Mentor Graphics) sells one tool suite where the database in stored in
tenths of nanometers.  Every coordinate is an integer (or series of
integers), just really big ones!

Mike


--
Mike Walsh - mike_walsh at mindspring.com
http://www.ncltc.cc - North Carolina LEGO Train Club
http://www.carolinatrainbuilders.com - Carolina Train Builders
http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=mpw - CTB/Brick Depot



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Lego patent issued
 
(...) I forced myself to read some more claims in the patent last night. Yuck! Look at claim number 19. They seem to be attempting to patent fetching parts on the fly over the internet. Something has to be done about this foolishness! How old is the (...) (22 years ago, 4-Sep-02, to lugnet.cad)

Message is in Reply To:
  Lego patent issued
 
Well folks, this is not cause for alarm, but Lego have got their software patent on how they store model files: US6389375: Virtual reality modelling Published 5/14/02 Filed 1/14/99 The "novel idea" for which they have received patent protection is: (...) (22 years ago, 3-Sep-02, to lugnet.cad)

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