Method, system and program for topographically aware operating system

A data processing system comprising:

• means for accepting topographical and two-dimensional (2D) input, wherein said topographical input includes one or more attributes from among:
• three dimension (3D) representation, intensity, heat, illumination, light source, shadowing, color, height, springiness, and roughness;
• means for rendering said topographical input into a respective topographical output, independent of program applications and platforms running on said data processing system;
• means for outputting said topographical output.

A data processing system comprising:

• a 2D and 3D module;
• a clip region for enabling interaction between said 2D and 3D modules;
• topographically aware device drivers;
• means for converting input/output (I/O) information from a first dimensional space to a second dimensional space, wherein 2D data may be converted to 3D data and vice versa;
• means for sending calls within said framework to particular device drivers and Operating System (OS) calls;
• means for providing user global setup inputs including zoom, frequency, clip region and user movement;
• and
• I/O means for sending and receiving topographical user data on a topographical render surface, wherein said topographical user data includes one or more attributes from among:
• three dimension (3D) representation, intensity, heat, illumination, light source, shadowing, color, height, springiness, and roughness.

A data processing system, comprising:

• a 2D and 3D module;
• a clip region for enabling interaction between said 2D and 3D modules;
• topographically aware device drivers;
• means for converting input/output (I/O) information from a first dimensional space to a second dimensional space, wherein, said converting means includes:
• means for determining which one of a plurality of topographical converters is required to render a particular topographical attribute;
• means for directing a topographical input to said converter, wherein a topographical output is rendered;
• and
• means for providing said topographical output to a particular device driver, wherein said device driver permits said topographical output to be outputted to a particular output device
• means for sending calls within said framework to particular device drivers and Operating System (OS) calls;
• means for providing user global setup inputs including zoom, frequency, clip region and user movement;
• and
• I/O means for sending and receiving topographical user data on a topographical render surface.

An operating system (OS)-supported graphical user interface (GUI) comprising:

• means for selecting a topographical attribute to apply to an object, wherein said attribute is selected from among three dimension (3D) representation, intensity, heat, illumination, light source, shadowing, color, height, springiness, and roughness;
• means for choosing an output device, wherein said output device is chosen from among two-dimensional (2D) devices and topographical devices;
• and
• means for electing a transport mechanism for sending said object to said chosen output device.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable medium;
• and
• program instructions on said computer readable medium for:
• an operating system having means to render 2D data into 3D data to a given application layer, wherein said 2D data originates from at least one of 2D application, 3D application, 2D Operating System (OS) and 3D OS;
• and
• means for enabling output to a topographical (3D) device independently of the given application layer.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable medium;
• and
• program instructions on said computer readable medium for:
• an operating system having means to render 3D data into 2D data to a given application layer, wherein said 3D data originates from at least one of 2D application, 3D application, 2D Operating System (OS) and 3D OS;
• and
• means for enabling output to a topographical (2D) device independently of the given application layer.