Approximating uniform rational B-spline curves by polynomial B-spline curves (Q1936132)

The approximation of rational curves by polynomial curves is an important issue in Computer Aided Geometric Design. Most of the research was focused on the approximation of rational Bézier curves and a little has been made in the approximation of rational B-spline curves. The paper presents a method of approximating a uniform rational B-spline curve by polynomial B-spline curves. Firstly, the authors give a definition of the B-spline basis function of \(k\)th degree together with some technical lemmas. Using these lemmas, they are able to derive an algorithm for degree elevation of B-spline functions. Next, using the mathematical induction, the authors prove three lemmas about some properties of the coefficients of high order derivatives of uniform B-spline functions. Then, they give a definition of a uniform rational B-spline curve of degree \(k\) and the definition of an extended knot vector of a uniform rational B-spline curve. Later, a simple method of the approximation of uniform rational B-spline curves by uniform B-spline curves is given. The method starts with the degree elevation of the given rational B-spline curve from \(k\) to \(L\), where \(L > k\). Next, a sequence of uniform B-spline curves is defined. The curves are defined on the extended knot vector of the original rational curve and have the same control points and degrees as the degree-elevated rational curves. The curve sequence converges to the original rational B-spline curve when \(L \rightarrow \infty\). To prove the convergence of the sequence, the authors use lemmas presented earlier in the paper.