US 9,542,724 B1Granted

Systems and methods for stroke rendering on digital maps

AssigneeGoogle Inc.

InventorsJohn Rosasco, Travis McPhail, Paul Vincent Byrne, Daniel Jared Epstein, Jim Brooks

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

To provide smoothly scaleable map features on interactive digital maps, a first and a second sets of style parameters for rendering a map feature at a first zoom level and a second zoom level, respectively, are received. The first and second sets of style parameters are provided to a vertex shader. The vertex shader is configured to interpolate the first set of style parameters and the second set of style parameters to generate an interpolated set of style parameters for a certain zoom level between the first zoom level and the second zoom level, and render the map feature at the certain zoom level in accordance with the interpolated set of style parameters.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for providing smoothly scaleable map features on interactive digital maps, the method comprising:

receiving by one or more general-purpose processors from a server:
(i) map data for a map feature, and (ii) style parameters corresponding to a plurality of styles for rendering map features at each of a plurality of zoom levels;
selecting from among the received style parameters (i) a first plurality of style parameters, associated with a particular style, for rendering the map feature at a first zoom level, and (ii) a second plurality of style parameters, associated with the particular style, for rendering the map feature at a second zoom level;
forming a container defining the particular style at multiple zoom levels by:
(i) encoding first style vertex attributes with (a) the first plurality of style parameters for rendering the map feature at the first zoom level, and (b) spatial parameters for the map feature,
(ii) encoding second style vertex attributes with (a) the second plurality of style parameters for rendering the map feature at the second zoom level, and (b) spatial parameters for the map feature;
and
(iii) grouping the first and second style vertex attributes to form the container;
passing the container from the one or more general-purpose processors to a graphics processor by providing the container to a vertex shader implemented by the graphics processor;
configuring the vertex shader to generate from the container an interpolated set of style parameters for rendering the map feature at a certain zoom level between the first zoom level and the second zoom level by interpolating between the first plurality of style parameters encoded to the first style vertex attributes and the second plurality of style parameters encoded to the second style vertex attributes;
and
rendering the map feature at the certain zoom level in accordance with the interpolated set of style parameters.

9 more elements

A computing device comprising:

one or more general-purpose processors;
a graphics processor;
a network interface for receiving:
(i) map data for a map feature, and (ii) style parameters corresponding to a plurality of styles for rendering map features at each of a plurality of zoom levels, the style parameters including (a) a first plurality of style parameters, associated with a particular style, for rendering the map feature at a first zoom level, and (b) a second plurality of style parameters, associated with the particular style, for rendering the map feature at a second zoom level;
a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing thereon:
first instructions that implement a mapping module which, when executed on the one or more general-purpose processors:
(A) selects from among the received style parameters the first plurality of style parameters and the second plurality of style parameters;
(B) forms a container defining the particular style at multiple zoom levels by:
(i) encoding first style vertex attributes with (a) the first plurality of style parameters for rendering the map feature at the first zoom level, and (b) spatial parameters for the map feature,
(ii) encoding second style vertex attributes with (a) the second plurality of style parameters for rendering the map feature at the second zoom level, and (b) spatial parameters for the map feature;
and
(iii) grouping the first and second style vertex attributes to form the container;
and
(C) passes the container to the graphics processor, and
second instructions that implement a vertex shader which, when executed on the graphics processor:
(A) generates from the container an interpolated set of style parameters for rendering the map feature at a certain zoom level between the first zoom level and the second zoom level by interpolating between the first plurality of style parameters encoded to the first style vertex attributes and the second plurality of style parameters encoded to the second style vertex attributes, and
(B) renders the map feature at the certain zoom level in accordance with the interpolated set of style parameters.

14 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/153,951Filed 13 Jan 2014 · us provisional application
Priority: 9 Jul 2013
Granted: 10 Jan 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

G06T 3/4007
Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting: based on interpolation, e.g. bilinear interpolation
G06T 11/23
Drawing from basic elements: using straight lines or curves
G06T 11/40
Two-dimensional [2D] image generation: filling planar surfaces by adding surface attributes, e.g. adding colours or textures
G06T 15/04
Three-dimensional [3D] image rendering: texture mapping