Visual content browsing using rasterized representations
First Claim
1. 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; and
transmitting the bitmap to the client device for display thereon.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to display of visual content on a client device using server-side rasterization of visual content. Visual content is rendered on a server system, transformed into bitmaps compatible with the display attributes of a client device, and transmitted for display on the client device. The invention allows the server to perform, in effect, as a remote browser for displaying Web pages, e-mail, e-mail attachments, electronic document and forms, database queries and results, drawings, presentations, and images at the client device. The approach is “remote” because the server does the rendering and the client provides the interface; “multi-level” because rendered visual content is represented as a multi-level set of raster representations; and constitutes a “browsing system” because the client and server share data about the source visual content element being browsed, and the client performs a specific browsing function assisted by the server.
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Citations
59 Claims
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1. A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:
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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; and
transmitting the bitmap to the client device for display thereon. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49)
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2. A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a communications link between the client device and a server;
determining a display attribute of the client device;
rasterizing a visual content element on a proxy display surface of the server as a bitmap based on the display attribute of the client device; and
transmitting the bitmap to the client device for display thereon.
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22. A method for generating on a server a multi-level set of bitmaps from an input bitmap, comprising the steps of:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 47, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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24. A method for generating on a server a multi-level set of bitmaps from an input bitmap, comprising the steps of:
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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.
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31. A server for providing a visual content element to a client device comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41)
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38. A server for generating a multi-level set of bitmaps from an input bitmap comprising:
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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.
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42. A method for generating on a server a multi-level set of bitmaps from an input bitmap, comprising the steps of:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (43)
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55. A method for generating on a server a composite rasterized image from a set of input images, comprising the steps of:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58)
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56. A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:
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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.
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59. A method of displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:
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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.
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Specification