Towards robust broadcasting of geometry data

We present new algorithms for the robust transmission of geometric datasets, i.e. transmission which allows the receiver to recover (an approximation of) the original geometric object even if parts of the data get lost on the way. These algorithms can be considered as hinted point cloud triangulation schemes since the general manifold reconstruction problem is simplified by adding tags to the vertices and by providing a coarse base mesh which determines the global surface topology. Robust transmission techniques exploit the geometric coherence of the data and do not require redundant transmission protocols on lower software layers. As an example application scenario, we describe the teletext-like broadcasting of three-dimensional (3D) models. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.