Method and apparatus for producing animation

• US 20050134598A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Clifford, William H., Baxter, Brent S., Brown, Paul M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,382,373 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/582
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/04 Texture mapping

Abstract

In some embodiments, a method includes generating blurred copies of an object by applying multi-texturing to the object during one pass through a graphics processing pipeline. In some embodiments, a graphics pipeline includes a texture memory and a graphics processor coupled to the texture memory. The texture memory provides a location to store texture information. The graphics processor provides processor to process the texture information by shifting and blending the texture information in one pass through the graphics processor to obtain shifted and blended texture information.

Claims

1. A method comprising

generating blurred copies of an object by applying multi-texturing to the object during one pass through a graphics processing pipeline.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating blurred copies of the object by applying multi-texturing to the object during one pass through the graphics processing pipeline comprises:

generating a texture and shifting the texture with respect to the object before applying the texture to the object.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising displaying the blurred copies of the object on a visual display.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating blurred copies of the object by applying multi-texturing to the object during one pass through the graphics processing pipeline, comprises applying bump texturing to the object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating blurred copies of the object by applying multi-texturing to the object during one pass through the graphics processing pipeline further comprises displaying the blurred copies of the object on a visual display coupled to a communication device.

6. A method comprising:

acquiring a graphical user interface object including associated texture;

generating one or more shifted instances of the associated texture;

blending the one or more shifted instances of the associated texture to produce a blended texture;

shifting the blended texture to obtain a blended and shifted texture;

applying the blended and shifted texture to the graphical user interface object; and

blending the graphical user object with a background.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein acquiring a graphical user interface object comprises acquiring a graphical user interface window.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein blending the graphical user object with the background, comprises blending the graphical user interface window with one or more background windows.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein blending the graphical user interface window with one or more background windows, comprises blending the graphical user interface window with one or more web page windows.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein blending the graphical user object with the background comprises adding the graphical user object to the background.

11. A machine readable medium having machine executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

generating one or more shifted instances of an object; and

blending the object and the one or more shifted instances of the object to obtain a blended object.

12. The machine readable medium having machine executable instructions for performing the method of claim 11, further comprising displaying the blended object on a visual display.

13. The machine readable medium having machine executable instructions for performing the method of claim 11, further comprising blending the blended object with a background.

14. The machine readable medium having machine executable instructions for performing the method of claim 11, further comprising displaying the blended object with a background.

15. The machine readable medium having machine executable instructions for performing the method of claim 14, wherein displaying the blended object with a background comprises displaying the blended object with a background on a communication device.

16. A graphics pipeline comprising:

a texture memory in which to store texture information; and

a graphics processor coupled to the texture memory, the graphics processor to process the texture information by shifting and blending the texture information in one pass through the graphics processor to obtain shifted and blended texture information.

17. The graphics pipeline of claim 16, wherein the shifted and blended texture information is applied to a graphical user interface object.

18. The graphics pipeline of claim 17, wherein the graphical user interface object comprises a graphical user interface window.

19. The graphics pipeline of claim 16, wherein the graphical user interface object when displayed on a visual display provides the illusion of motion.

20. The graphics pipeline of claim 17, wherein the graphical user interface window when displayed on a visual display provides the illusion of motion.