US 9,852,535 B2Granted

Framework for graphics animation and compositing operations

AssigneeApple Inc.

InventorsRalph Brunner, John Harper, Peter Graffagnino

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A graphics animation and compositing operations framework has a layer tree for interfacing with the application and a render tree for interfacing with a render engine. Layers in the layer tree can be content, windows, views, video, images, text, media or other type of objects for an application's user interface. The application commits state changes of the layers of the layer tree. The application does not need to include explicit code for animating the changes to the layers. Instead, after a synchronization threshold has been met, an animation is determined for animating the change in state by the framework which can define a set of predetermined animations based on motion, visibility and transition. The determined animation is explicitly applied to the affected layers in the render tree. A render engine renders from the render tree into a frame buffer, synchronized with the display. Portions of the render tree changing relative to prior versions can be tracked to improve resource management.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of rendering a user interface of an application on a computer system, comprising:

receiving, from an application, a notification of a change to at least one first object, the at least one first object being associated with a user interface of the application;
changing at least one second object of a render tree structure responsive to the changing of at least one first property, the at least one second object being associated with the at least one first object;
determining at least one implicit animation from a plurality of implicit animations for animating the at least one second object, wherein the at least one implicit animation is automatically determined independent of the application;
receiving, from the application, a notification of an explicit transaction changing at least one third object, the at least one third object being associated with a user interface of the application;
changing at least one fourth object of the render tree structure responsive to the changing of at least one second property, the at least one fourth object associated with the at least one third object;
rendering the at least one second object from the render tree structure on a display of a computer system, wherein the rendering of the at least one second object occurs independently of the application;
and
rendering the at least one fourth object from the render tree structure, wherein the rendering of the at least one fourth object is based on a notification committing the explicit transaction.

5 more elements

A computer system, comprising:

a display device;
a memory storing instructions of an application programming interface for rendering a user interface of an application;
and
a processor operatively coupled to the memory and the display device and adapted to execute the instructions stored in the memory to cause the processor to:
receive, from the application, a notification of a change to at least one first object, the at least one first object being associated with a user interface of the application;
change at least one second object of a render tree structure responsive to the changing of at least one first property, the at least one second object being associated with the at least one first object;
determine at least one implicit animation from a plurality of implicit animations for animating the at least one second object, wherein the at least one implicit animation is automatically determined independent of the application;
receive, from the application, a notification of an explicit transaction changing at least one third object, the at least one third object being associated with a user interface of the application;
change at least one fourth object of the render tree structure responsive to the changing of at least one second property, the at least one fourth object associated with the at least one third object;
render the at least one second object from the render tree structure on a display of a computer system, wherein the rendering of the at least one second object occurs independently of the application;
and
render the at least one fourth object from the render tree structure, wherein the rendering of the at least one fourth object is based on a notification committing the explicit transaction.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/428,718Filed 9 Feb 2017 · continuation
Priority: 4 Aug 2006
Published: US 2017/0309054 A126 Oct 2017
Granted: 26 Dec 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

G06T 13/80
Animation: two-dimensional [2D] animation, e.g. using sprites
G06T 1/20
General purpose image data processing: processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
G06T 13/00
Animation
G06T
Image data processing or generation, in general

Family

Application11/500,154Parent of this continuation · filed 4 Aug 2006
Application14/665,975Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 23 Mar 2015
Application15/242,074Parent of this continuation · filed 19 Aug 2016
US 2017/0309054 A1Pre-grant publication · published 26 Oct 2017
US 9,576,388 B2Parent of this continuation
US 9,424,675 B2Parent of this continuation-in-part
Application15/242,074Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 9,019,300 B2Parent of this continuation
Application14/665,975Parent of this continuation
US 2008/0034292 A1Published application
US 2015/0193958 A1Published application
US 2016/0358368 A1Published application
US 9,852,535 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.