Return to BSD News archive
Xref: sserve comp.org.eff.talk:9550 misc.int-property:617 comp.unix.bsd:6877
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,misc.int-property,alt.suit.att-bsdi,comp.unix.bsd
Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!darwin.sura.net!haven.umd.edu!uunet!mcsun!Germany.EU.net!news.netmbx.de!mailgzrz.TU-Berlin.DE!math.fu-berlin.de!news.th-darmstadt.de!backus.pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de!wallmann
From: wallmann@backus.pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de (Natuerlich!)
Subject: Re: Patents: What they are. What they aren't. Other factors.
Sender: news@news.th-darmstadt.de (The News System)
Message-ID: <1992Oct21.165100.73612@news.th-darmstadt.de>
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1992 16:51:00 GMT
References: <1992Oct13.055638.23596@netcom.com> <1992Oct14.033523.13036@u.washington.edu> <Bw6w0D.D0t@research.canon.oz.au>
Nntp-Posting-Host: backus.pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de
Organization: MSD software vault #9 @THD
Lines: 26
In article <Bw6w0D.D0t@research.canon.oz.au> andy@research.canon.oz.au (Andy Newman) writes:
>Pike's method stores only the occluded areas in off-screen memory. His
>rendering code can traverse a list of rectangular "framebuffer" areas
>when putting pixel values into memory. Apple did indeed overlook his
>technique, they used a method that doesn't use any memory to save
>occluded memory by forcing the program to redraw "damaged" areas.
>Commodore, in the Amiga, DO use Pikes technique, they even use the
>same names for the basic data structures (the Amiga's window system
>can also do Mac-style forced redraw to save more memory). I don't know
>what Microsoft do in Windows.
>
Hmm, I -think- (<- not "know") that you can't patent something that is
considered trivial. It seems to me that above method is trivial, certainly
something a CS-student can come up with, given a day to scratch his head.
Maybe a lot of software patents would just wither away, if the level of
triviality is raised to a more appropriate standard.
Just rambling along...
Nat!
--
----- Email: wallmann@backus.pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de -----
"Bang that bit that doesn't bang"
Album of the month: "The plague that.." Infectious Grooves (an oldie)