Pipeline for network based server-side 3D image rendering

A computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

• asynchronously communicating with a server for interacting with image data hosted by the server;
• and
• processing in separate threads corresponding to respective pipeline stages:
• an interaction with the image data, a transmission of requests corresponding to the interaction, image data received in responses from the server, and a display of image data;
• wherein the requests corresponding to the interaction are queued sequentially and communicated to the server periodically based on a combine interval that specifies an interval between sending consecutive requests, each request includes information representing a manipulation mode and a rendering quality, queued requests are combined if the queued requests are generated within the combine interval and if the queued requests have the same manipulation mode and the same rendering quality, and the combine interval is adjusted by:
• calculating a request interval between consecutive requests and a response interval between responses to the consecutive requests,
• increasing the combine interval with an increment step if the request interval is less than the response interval,
• decreasing the combine interval with a minimum of a decrement step and a difference between the request interval and the response interval if the request interval is not less than the response interval,
• setting the combine interval to a maximum value if the combine interval is greater than a maximum value, and
• setting the combine interval to a minimum value if the combine interval is less than the minimum value.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• asynchronously communicating with a server for interacting with image data hosted by the server;
• and
• processing in separate threads corresponding to respective pipeline stages:
• an interaction with the image data, a transmission of requests corresponding to the interaction, image data received in responses from the server, and a display of image data;
• wherein the requests corresponding to the interaction are queued sequentially and communicated to the server periodically based on a combine interval that specifies an interval between sending consecutive requests, each request includes information representing a manipulation mode and a rendering quality, queued requests are combined if the queued requests are generated within the combine interval and if the queued requests have the same manipulation mode and the same rendering quality, and the combine interval is adjusted by:
• calculating a request interval between consecutive requests and a response interval between responses to the consecutive requests,
• increasing the combine interval with an increment step if the request interval is less than the response interval,
• decreasing the combine interval with a minimum of a decrement step and a difference between the request interval and the response interval if the request interval is not less than the response interval,
• setting the combine interval to a maximum value if the combine interval is greater than a maximum value, and
• setting the combine interval to a minimum value if the combine interval is less than the minimum value.