Techniques for pointing to locations within a volumetric display

A volumetric display method, comprising:

• producing a three-dimensional scene in a volumetric display;
• and
• producing a three dimensional pointer in the display, comprising:
• determining a device position of a input device moving in two dimensions in association with the display;
• determining a position of a surface cursor on a surface of the display responsive to the device position;
• and
• producing a ray in the display projected from the position of the surface cursor and orthogonal to the surface at the position;
• and
• selecting a first object intersected by the ray.

A volumetric display method, comprising:

• producing a three-dimensional scene in a volumetric display;
• and
• producing a three dimensional pointer in the display, comprising:
• determining a device position of a input device moving in two dimensions in association with the display;
• and
• determining a position of a surface cursor on a surface of the display responsive to the device position;
• and
• tumbling the scene responsive to the position.

A volumetric display method, comprising:

• producing a three-dimensional scene in a volumetric display;
• and
• producing a three dimensional pointer in the display, comprising:
• determining a device position and an orientation vector of an input device positioned in association with the display;
• determining an intersection point of the vector with the display;
• determining a length of the pointer from a length setting;
• and
• producing a ray in the display projected from the intersection point along the vector to an end point with the end point being located along the vector from the device responsive to the length.

A display apparatus, comprising:

• a volumetric display system;
• an input device inputting position coordinates;
• and
• a computer producing a three-dimensional scene displayed by the display system and producing a three-dimensional volumetric pointer positioned in the scene responsive to the position coordinates.

A method, comprising:

• simulating a line segment in three dimensional space;
• moving the simulated line segment in three dimensional space by manipulating an input device;
• and
• displaying in a volumetric display an intersection of the simulated line segment with the volumetric display.