Simulation of an object system formed by polygon faces having a series of fundamental shapes and dimension

Claim 1

An image data system for providing a two dimensional perspective display of object items within a three dimensional object coordinate system formed by polygon faces, each face of which incorporates a fundamental object shape from a series of predetermined fundamental object shapes having various dimensions and orientations from a series of predetermined dimensions and orientations, and each face of which has an initial point, comprising: data source means for providing image data in accordance with a predetermined data format including the following types of image data initial position data for defining the position of the initial point for each polygon face with respect to the object coordinate system, shape data for defining the relative positions of the vertices of each object shape of the series of predetermined fundamental object shapes, with respect to the initial point for faces incorporating that object shape, each fundamental object shape being formed by straight edges of predetermined dimensions and orientations extending between the vertices of that object shape, shape data associated with each initial point for modifying the dimensions of the incorporated fundamental shape to provide the vertices of the face for that initial point, and other data associated with the initial points for defining other visual parameters for the face thereof, the image data having codes bits associated therewith for distinguishing between the initial positional data and the shape data and the other data; image data decoder means responsive to the code bits for processing each type of image data; random access memory means for receiving shape data at predetermined address locations in response to the image data decoder means; scalor means responsive to the shape data in the random access memory and to the scale data for changing the dimensions of the edges of the fundamental object shape incorporated by each face; accumulator means which receives the initial position data for each initial point in response to the image data decoder means and receives the scaled shape data for that initial point from the scalor means in response to the image data decoder means for combining each initial point with the scaled shape data therefor to provide the position data of the remaining vertices of each object face; image data processor means for providing two dimensional display coordinates for each face vertex which maintains the three dimensional perspective of the object faces; and display means for receiving the display coordinates and generating a two dimensional visual display of the object face system in perspective.