Visual content browsing using rasterized representations

A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a communications link between the client device and a server;
• determining a display attribute of the client device;
• representing a visual content element on a proxy display surface of the server;
• transforming the represented visual content element to a bitmap based on the display attribute of the client device, the attribute comprising data describing a constituent component of the visual content element, wherein the data describing the constituent component comprises location coordinates in the proxy display surface;
• and
• transmitting the bitmap to the client device for display thereon.

A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a communications link between the client device and a server;
• determining a display attribute of the client device;
• representing a visual content element on a proxy display surface of the server;
• defining a data element describing an attribute of the visual content element;
• transforming the represented visual content element to a bitmap based on the display attribute of the client device;
• transmitting the bitmap to the client device for display thereon;
• receiving the bitmap and the data element at the client device;
• and
• generating a display surface in a display memory at the client device in response to the bitmap and the data element.

A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a communications link between the client device and a server;
• determining a display attribute of the client device;
• representing a visual content element on a proxy display surface of the server;
• defining a data element describing an attribute of the visual content element;
• transforming the represented visual content element to a bitmap based on the display attribute of the client device;
• transmitting the bitmap to the client device for display thereon;
• receiving the bitmap and the data element at the client device;
• and
• generating a display surface in an allocated client viewport at the client device in response to the bitmap and the data element.

A method for generating on a server a multi-level set of bitmaps from an input bitmap, comprising the steps of:

• determining a display attribute of a client device;
• selecting a pixel region of an input bitmap;
• in response to the display attribute of the client device, performing a first transform operation on the pixel region to generate a first bitmap;
• defining a data element corresponding to a second bitmap, the data element defining a relationship of the first bitmap to the second bitmap;
• and
• transmitting to the client the first bitmap, the second bitmap representation, and the data element.

A method for generating on a server a multi-level set of bitmaps from an input bitmap, comprising the steps of:

• determining a display attribute of a client device;
• identifying a plurality of pixel regions of an input bitmap;
• in response to the display attribute of the client device, performing a first transform operation on each of the plurality of pixel regions to generate a plurality of bitmaps;
• defining a plurality of data elements, each data element corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of bitmaps, each of the data elements defining a relationship of the respective bitmap to the input bitmap;
• and
• transmitting to the client the plurality of bitmaps and the plurality of data elements.

A server for providing a visual content element to a client device comprising:

• a proxy module for representing a proxy display;
• a transformation module in communication with the proxy module, the transformation module generating a bitmap in response to an input bitmap and a display attribute of the client device;
• and
• a communications module in communication with the transformation module, the communications module transmitting the bitmap to the client device for display thereon.

A server for generating a multi-level set of bitmaps from an input bitmap comprising:

• a proxy module for representing a proxy display;
• a communications module configured to receive pixel region selection data from a client device;
• and
• a transformation module in communication with the proxy module and the communications module, the transformation module performing a transform operation on a pixel region of the input bitmap to generate a first bitmap in response to the pixel region selection data, the transformation module generating a data element corresponding to a second bitmap, the data element defining a relationship of the first bitmap to the second bitmap.

A method for generating on a server a multi-level set of bitmaps from an input bitmap, comprising the steps of:

• receiving an input bitmap at a client device;
• selecting a pixel region of the input bitmap;
• determining a display attribute of the client device;
• in response to the display attribute of the client device, performing a first transform operation on the pixel region to generate a first bitmap;
• and
• transmitting to the client device the first bitmap.

A method for generating on a server a composite rasterized image from a set of input images, comprising the steps of:

• determining a display attribute of a client device;
• selecting a pixel region of a first input bitmap;
• selecting a pixel region of a second input bitmap;
• in response to the display attribute of the client device, performing a transform operation on the first and second input bitmaps to generate a composite bitmap;
• and
• transmitting the composite bitmap to the client device for display thereon.

A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a communications link between the client device and a server;
• determining a display attribute of the client device;
• representing a visual content element on a proxy display surface of the server;
• transforming a first part of the represented visual content element to a first bitmap based on the display attribute of the client device;
• transmitting the first bitmap to the client device for display thereon;
• transmitting a second part of the represented visual content element to the client device;
• and
• transforming the second part of the represented visual content element to a second bitmap at the client device for display thereon.

A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a communications link between the client device and a server;
• determining a display attribute of the client device;
• representing a visual content element on a proxy display surface of the server;
• performing a first transformation on a first portion of the represented visual content element to generate a first bitmap based on the display attribute of the client device;
• performing a second transformation on a second portion of the represented visual content element to generate a second bitmap based on the display attribute of the client device;
• and
• transmitting the first and second bitmaps to the client device for display thereon.