Resolution independent image resource

• US 20070052732A1
• Filed: 08/01/2005
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Goel, Rajat, Subramanian, Sriram, Smith, Adam, Schechter, Greg, Blanco, Leonardo
• Granted Patent: US 7,626,595 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/660
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting

Abstract

In aspects, a class hierarchy is defined that provides definitions of methods for operating on at least bitmaps and vector graphics. A software developer may instantiate an object according to a class definition of the class hierarchy and assign it to any variable (e.g., a control'"'"'s property) having a type of an ancestor class of the class. The object may be associated with an image internally represented as bitmap, vector graphics, or some other representation. The control does not need to be aware of how the image is represented. Rather, to draw an image associated with the object, a draw method associated with the object may be called.

Claims

1. At least one computer-readable medium containing instructions which when executed by a computer, perform actions, comprising:

receiving at an interface a height parameter and a width parameter that indicate a height and width with which to display an image, wherein the interface is defined according to a class hierarchy defining operations at least capable of operating on images associated with bitmaps and images associated with vector graphics; and

in response thereto, providing at least one output from a function that operates on the height and width parameters to display the image.

2. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising receiving at the interface an area of interest parameter that indicates area within the image and a mapping mode that indicates whether the area of interest parameter is given in relative or absolute coordinates.

3. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the height and width parameters are specified in physical dimensions.

4. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein additional height and width parameters specify pixel dimensions when the image comprises a bitmap.

5. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the class hierarchy further defines operations capable of operating with an image of a window of a program to display content that is currently in the window.

6. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the class hierarchy further defines operations capable of operating on a video image.

7. The at least computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the class hierarchy further defines operations capable of operating on a bitmap image created by a program that periodically generates new bitmap images.

8. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the class hierarchy further defines operations capable of obtaining images from controls managed by a graphics framework and creating derivative images therefrom.

9. In a computing environment, a method, comprising:

instantiating an object that is defined according to classes of a class hierarchy, wherein the classes provide definitions of methods for operating on at least bitmaps and vector graphics;

calling a drawing method of the object and providing a height and with; and

drawing an image associated with the object via the drawing method in accordance with the height and width.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising assigning the object to a property of a control, wherein the control is unaware of an internal representation of the image.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the control comprises a drawing brush and further comprising filling a region with the image via the drawing brush.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the bitmaps and vector graphics are associated with a control and wherein the image associated with the object is derived by an operation on an image associated with the control.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the image associated with the object is updated in response to the image associated with the control being updated.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the height and width are specified in units other than pixels.

15. In a computing environment, a graphics framework comprising:

a first component arranged to expose an interface arranged to receive requests related to images, wherein the interface is defined via a class hierarchy, wherein the class hierarchy provides definitions of methods operable on at least bitmaps and vector graphics; and

A second component arranged to fulfill the requests at least in part via objects instantiated in accordance with the class hierarchy.

16. The graphics framework of claim 15, wherein the class hierarchy provides a definition of a class that treats information available in a window as an image source.

17. The graphics framework of claim 15, wherein the class hierarchy provides a definition of a class that treats a cropped bitmap as an image source.

18. The graphics framework of claim 17, wherein a first object instantiated in accordance with the class includes a reference to second object instantiated in accordance with a class of the class hierarchy, and wherein the first object works in conjunction with the second object to render the cropped bitmap.

19. The graphics framework of claim 15, wherein the class hierarchy provides a definition of a class that treats a video image as an image source.