METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PARALLEL COMPUTING AND VOLUME VISUALIZATION.

摘要

A parallel computing system for volume visualization, numeric, symbol and other computing applications. The system is made up of a memory storage device (4), local computing units (5), a control computing unit (3) and a user interface and display computing unit (2). The memory storage device (4) comprises memory storage elements which represent a three dimensional memory storage array arranged in 3-D Cartesian Space. Each local computing unit (5) is assigned to a group of memory storage elements for accessing in parallel. The control computing unit (3) controls and coordinates each of the local computing units. Local and global data transfer mechanisms facilitate transfer of data elements among the memory storage elements. The system can be used to internally generate voxel-based representations of 3-D objects in a parallel fashion. It can also be used to display 2-D images of such voxel-based objects along any viewing direction by simulating either parallel or perspective viewing ray processes within the parallel computing system.