METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING TWO AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL COMPUTER APPLICATIONS WITHIN A 3D META-VISUALIZATION

• US 20010040571A1
• Filed: 08/26/1998
• Published: 11/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: MILLER, JOHN DAVID
• Granted Patent: US 6,597,358 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/10 Geometric effects
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

A method and apparatus for organizing two and/or three-dimensional computer applications on a display in a three-dimensional viewing perspective. A two-dimensional bitmap is created for each respective computer application and applied to a three-dimensional geometry (i.e., primitive). In one embodiment, the three-dimensional geometry is a cube and each respective computer application is mapped onto a respective surface of the cube. The computer user has the ability to manipulate the orientation of the cube, via a computer mouse, for example, to view the different surfaces, and, thus, different computer applications mapped thereon. The user is further given the capability to manipulate or interact with each computer application on each respective surface of the cube. In another embodiment, two or more cubes could be employed for displaying the various computer applications running on the computer'"'"'s processor. The user could also allocate a particular group or category of applications to each respective cube to accomplish different tasks.

Claims

1. A method for organizing computer applications in a three-dimensional perspective, said method comprising:

creating at least one two-dimensional bitmap for at least one computer application;

creating at least one three-dimensional geometry;

mapping bits from said at least one two-dimensional bitmap to said at least one three-dimensional geometry; and

displaying said at least one three-dimensional geometry with said bits mapped thereon.

2. The method of

claim 1

, further comprising:

issuing a command to said at least one computer application on said three-dimensional geometry via a user-input device; and

translating said command from a coordinate space of said three-dimensional geometry to a coordinate space of said two-dimensional bitmap.

3. The method of

claim 2

, further comprising:

sending said translated command to said at least one computer application.

4. The method of

claim 1

, further comprising:

altering the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry from a first orientation to a second orientation in response to a first predetermined input received by a user-input device.

5. The method of

claim 1

, wherein said creating at least one three-dimensional geometry further comprises creating a 3D geometry selected from the group of a cube and a plane-like shaped geometry.

6. The method of

claim 5

, further comprising:

mapping bits from said at least one bitmap to each respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry such that each of said at least one computer applications occupies a respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry.

7. A method for displaying a user-interface for a software application, comprising:

rendering a two-dimensional bitmap for the software application onto a three-dimensional geometry; and

displaying the rendered three-dimensional geometry.

8. The method of

claim 7

, further comprising:

issuing a command to said software application on said three-dimensional geometry via a user-input device; and

translating said command from a coordinate space of said three-dimensional geometry to a coordinate space of said two-dimensional bitmap.

9. The method of

claim 8

, further comprising:

sending said translated command to said at least one computer application.

10. The method of

claim 7

, further comprising:

altering the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry from a first orientation to a second orientation in response to a first predetermined input received by a user-input device.

11. The method of

claim 7

, wherein said rendering a two-dimensional bitmap for the software application onto a three-dimensional geometry further comprises rendering said two-dimensional bitmap onto a 3D geometry selected from the group of a cube and a plane-like shaped 3D geometry.

12. The method of

claim 11

, further comprising:

mapping bits from said two-dimensional bitmap to a respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry such that said software application occupies the respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor capable of running at least one computer application;

a sub-processor capable of creating at least one two-dimensional bitmap for at least one computer application running on said processor, creating at least one three-dimensional geometry, and mapping bits from said at least one two-dimensional bitmap to said at least one three-dimensional geometry; and

a display capable of displaying said at least one three-dimensional geometry with said at least one computer application mapped thereon.

14. The apparatus of

claim 13

, wherein said processor is further capable of:

issuing a command to said at least one computer application on said three-dimensional geometry, and translating said command from a coordinate space of said three-dimensional geometry to a coordinate space of said two-dimensional bitmap.

15. The apparatus of

claim 14

, wherein said processor is further capable of:

sending said command to said at least one computer application corresponding to said computer application displayed on said three-dimensional geometry in which said command was issued to.

16. The apparatus of

claim 13

, further comprising a user-input device and wherein said sub-processor is further capable of:

changing the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry in response to a first predetermined input received by said processor via said user-input device.

17. The apparatus of

claim 13

, wherein said at least one three-dimensional geometry comprises at least one from the group of a plane-like shaped 3D geometry and a cube-shaped geometry.

18. The apparatus of

claim 17

, wherein said sub-processor is further capable of:

applying bits from said at least one bitmap to each respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry such that each of said at least one computer applications occupies a respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

means for creating at least one two-dimensional bitmap for at least one computer application;

means for creating at least one three-dimensional geometry;

means for mapping bits from said at least one two-dimensional bitmap to said at least one three-dimensional geometry; and

means for displaying said at least one three-dimensional geometry with said bits mapped thereon.

20. A program storage device programmed with instructions that, when executed by a computer, performs the method comprising:

creating at least one two-dimensional bitmap for at least one computer application;

creating at least one three-dimensional geometry;

mapping bits from said at least one two-dimensional bitmap to said at least one three-dimensional geometry; and

displaying said at least one three-dimensional geometry with said bits mapped thereon.

21. The program storage device of

claim 20

, further comprising:

issuing a command to said at least one computer application on said three-dimensional geometry via a user-input device; and

translating said command from a coordinate space of said three-dimensional geometry to a coordinate space of said two-dimensional bitmap.

22. The program storage device of

claim 21

, further comprising:

sending said translated command to said at least one computer application.

23. The program storage device of

claim 20

, further comprising:

altering the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry from a first orientation to a second orientation in response to a first predetermined input received by a user-input device.

24. The program storage device of

claim 20

, wherein said creating at least one three-dimensional geometry further comprises creating a 3D geometry selected from the group of a cube and a plane-like shaped geometry.

25. The program storage device of

claim 24

, further comprising:

mapping bits from said at least one bitmap to each respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry such that each of said at least one computer applications occupies a respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry.