System and method for managing off-screen buffers for electronic images

• US 20030179207A1
• Filed: 03/21/2002
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Discovery Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Broussard, Scott J., Ravisankar, Ravi, Wong, Wai Yee, Emrick, Samuel L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,915,401 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/531
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/12 Frame memory handling
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

An off-screen buffer manager controls when the off-screen buffer is destroyed and re-created improving system performance. A screen request is received for a Java screen component and a determination is made whether there is already an off-screen buffer. If there is not an off-screen buffer, a new off-screen buffer is created and the component requesting the screen request is associated with the off-screen buffer. If an off-screen buffer already exists, a determination is made as to whether the off-screen buffer is large enough to handle the incoming request. If the off-screen buffer is large enough to handle the request, the existing off-screen buffer is used to handle the request, otherwise, the existing off-screen buffer is deleted and a new off-screen buffer is created and the component identifier of the deleted off-screen buffer is associated with the new off-screen buffer.

Claims

1. A method for managing a Java off-screen buffer on a computer system, said method comprising:

receiving a Java display request from an application, the request including a component identifier;

comparing the request to a current off-screen buffer environment;

creating a new off-screen buffer environment in response to the comparison; and

associating the component identifier with the new off-screen buffer.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the comparing further comprises:

determining whether a current off-screen buffer exists in the current off-screen buffer environment; and

determining whether the current off-screen buffer is large enough to store a graphic image corresponding to the request.

3. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a component destroy request following the associating, the component destroy request including a second identifier corresponding with a component image currently included in the new off-screen buffer;

comparing the second identifier with the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer;

deleting the new off-screen buffer in response to the second identifier being the same as the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer.

4. The method as described in claim 3 further comprising:

removing the component image from the new off-screen buffer in response to the second identifier not being the same as the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the Java display request is selected from the group consisting of a create request, a resize request, and paint request.

6. The method as described in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a second Java display request following the associating;

comparing the request to the new off-screen buffer environment corresponding to the new off-screen buffer;

determining that the new off-screen buffer exists and that the new off-screen buffer is large enough to store an image corresponding to the second Java display request; and

including the image in the new off-screen buffer.

7. The method as described in claim 6 wherein the second Java display request includes a Java heavyweight component request.

8. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory accessible by the processors;

a nonvolatile storage device managed by a file system, the nonvolatile storage device including one or more directories that include one or more files;

an buffer management tool for managing a Java off-screen buffer, the buffer management tool including;

means for receiving a Java display request from an application, the request including a component identifier;

means for comparing the request to a current off-screen buffer environment;

means for creating a new off-screen buffer environment in response to the comparison; and

means for associating the component identifier with the new off-screen buffer.

9. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the means for comparing further comprises:

means for determining whether a current off-screen buffer exists in the current off-screen buffer environment; and

means for determining whether the current off-screen buffer is large enough to store a graphic image corresponding to the request.

10. The information handling system as described in claim 8 further comprising:

means for receiving a component destroy request following the associating, the component destroy request including a second identifier corresponding with a component image currently included in the new off-screen buffer;

means for comparing the second identifier with the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer;

means for deleting the new off-screen buffer in response to the second identifier being the same as the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer.

11. The information handling system as described in claim 10 further comprising:

means for removing the component image from the new off-screen buffer in response to the second identifier not being the same as the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer.

12. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the Java display request is selected from the group consisting of a create request, a resize request, and paint request.

13. The information handling system as described in claim 8 further comprising:

means for receiving a second Java display request following the means for associating;

means for comparing the request to the new off-screen buffer environment corresponding to the new off-screen buffer;

means for determining that the new off-screen buffer exists and that the new off-screen buffer is large enough to store a graphical image corresponding to the second Java display request; and

means for including the graphical image in the new off-screen buffer.

14. A computer program product stored in a computer operable media for managing a Java off-screen buffer, said computer program product comprising:

means for receiving a Java display request from an application, the request including a component identifier;

means for comparing the request to a current off-screen buffer environment;

means for creating a new off-screen buffer environment in response to the comparison; and

means for associating the component identifier with the new off-screen buffer.

15. The computer program product as described in claim 14 wherein the means for comparing further comprises:

means for determining whether a current off-screen buffer exists in the current off-screen buffer environment; and

means for determining whether the current off-screen buffer is large enough to store a graphic image corresponding to the request.

16. The computer program product as described in claim 14 further comprising:

means for receiving a component destroy request following the associating, the component destroy request including a second identifier corresponding with a component image currently included in the new off-screen buffer;

means for comparing the second identifier with the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer;

means for deleting the new off-screen buffer in response to the second identifier being the same as the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer.

17. The computer program product as described in claim 16 further comprising:

means for removing the component image from the new off-screen buffer in response to the second identifier not being the same as the identifier associated with the new off-screen buffer.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 14 wherein the Java display request is selected from the group consisting of a create request, a resize request, and paint request.

19. The computer program product as described in claim 14 further comprising:

means for receiving a second Java display request following the means for associating;

means for comparing the request to the new off-screen buffer environment corresponding to the new off-screen buffer;

means for determining that the new off-screen buffer exists and that the new off-screen buffer is large enough to store a graphical image corresponding to the second Java display request; and

means for including the graphical image in the new off-screen buffer.

20. The computer program product as described in claim 19 wherein the second Java display request includes a Java heavyweight component request.