Provision and use of device images that are associated with one or more relationships specifying how to navigate between the images

• US 20070097398A1
• Filed: 10/27/2005
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Walton, Andrew, Jacquot, Bryan, Lyle, Steve
• Application Number:
  US11/261,188
• Publication Number:
  US 20070097398A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/205 Image-based rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics

Abstract

In one embodiment, a device is provided with a non-volatile memory that stores a plurality of vector images illustrating different views of the device, and one or more relationships specifying how to navigate between the vector images. The device is also provided with an interface to provide access to the vector images. In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes: 1) retrieving at least a first image from a set of images stored in a device; 2) causing the first image to be displayed to a user; and 3) in response to the user'"'"'s interaction with the first image, causing a second image retrieved from the device to be displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a non-volatile memory storing i) a plurality of vector images illustrating different views of at least a portion of the device, and ii) one or more relationships specifying how to navigate between the vector images; and

an interface to provide access to the vector images.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more relationships are embedded in the vector images.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein at least one of the vector images comprises an image navigation cue for display to a user, the image navigation cue being associated with a navigation tag that links to a second of the vector images.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein a first of the vector images comprises an embedded navigation tag that links a portion of the vector image to a second of the vector images.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the portion of the vector image linked to the second of the vector images is a removable unit of the device.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more relationships are defined by an application programming interface (API).

7. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the vector images comprises an image navigation cue for display to a user, the image navigation cue being associated with a navigation tag that links to a second of the vector images.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein at least one of the navigation cues comprises fly-over text.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more relationships specify one or more paths for drilling up/down through the vector images.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more relationships relate alternate views of at least a portion of the device.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more relationships relate physical and logical views of at least a portion of the device.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein a first of the images is identified as providing a default view of the device, and wherein the first image provides a default entry point into an image navigation structure defined by the one or more relationships that specify how to navigate between the vector images.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the first image is identified by its filename.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein different ones of the images are identified as providing default views for different subsystems of the device, and wherein the images that provide default views provide various entry points into an image navigation structure defined by the one or more relationships that specify how to navigate between the vector images.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the images are identified by their respective filenames.

16. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

retrieving at least a first image from a set of images stored in a device, the first image illustrating at least a portion of the device;

causing the first image to be displayed to a user; and

in response to the user'"'"'s interaction with the first image, causing a second image retrieved from the device to be displayed to the user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the images are vector images.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

correlating the user'"'"'s interaction with a navigation tag embedded in the first image; and

identifying the second image based on the navigation tag.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising, in response to the user'"'"'s interaction with the first image, accessing an application programming interface (API) of the device to identify the second image.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

retrieving the first image in response to an image request that specifies a desired view; and

identifying the first image by comparing the desired view type to one or more view type indicators, each of which is associated with one of the images in the set of images.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

retrieving the first image in response to an image request; and

identifying the first image based on one or more default view indicators, each of which is associated with one of the images in the set of images.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein causing the first image to be displayed comprises causing an image navigation cue that is embedded within the first image to be displayed;

the image navigation cue being associated with a navigation tag that links to the second image.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the first image is retrieved while retrieving the set of images;

the method further comprising;

storing the set of images in off-device storage; and

retrieving the second image for display from the off-device storage.

24. A computer program, comprising:

code to retrieve at least a first image from a set of images stored in a device, the first image illustrating at least a portion of the device;

code to display the first image to a user; and

code to, in response to the user'"'"'s interaction with the first image, display a second image retrieved from the device to the user.

25. An article of manufacture, comprising:

computer-readable media; and

computer-readable code, stored on the computer-readable media, including;

code to retrieve at least a first image from a set of images stored in a device, the first image illustrating at least a portion of the device;

code to display the first image to a user; and

code to, in response to the user'"'"'s interaction with the first image, display a second image retrieved from the device to the user.