Visual content browsing with zoom and pan features

• US 20070263007A1
• Filed: 06/06/2007
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DigiMedia Tech, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searchlite Advances LLC (Innovation Management Sciences, LLC)
• Inventors: Weiss, Howard, Johnson, Charles, Robotham, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,688,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/581
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• 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: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/39 Control of the bit-mapped memory
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

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.

Claims

1-4. -4. (canceled)

5. A method for displaying visual content on a client device, comprising the steps of:

providing a selection of versions of visual content wherein the versions represent individual views of common visual content at different resolutions;

determining a display attribute of the client device;

selecting a version of said visual content based on said display attribute of the client device;

preparing, in response to the selection of a version of said visual content, a rendering of said selected version of said visual content;

transforming said rendered version of said visual content into a bitmap; and

displaying said bitmap on the client device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the attribute comprises a display size of a viewport of the client device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the attribute comprises a selected resolution for the display of said visual content.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the attribute comprises a region of said visual content selected by the client device for display thereon.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of determining a display attribute further comprises determining said display attribute in response to the providing of a selection of versions of visual content.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein said display attribute is selectable at the client device.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the client device may be operated to pan and scroll within said selected version of said visual content displayed on the client device.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the visual content includes text, and said bitmap is formatted to provide word wrapping of said text when displayed on said client device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the font size of said text to be displayed on said client device is modifiable at said client device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said visual content comprises a Web page.

15. A method for displaying content on a client device, comprising the steps of:

providing a selection of versions of visual content wherein the versions represent individual views of common visual content at a different portion of said visual content;

determining a display attribute of the client device;

automatically selecting a version of said visual content based on said display attribute of the client device;

preparing, in response to the selection of a version of said visual content, a rendering of said selected version of said visual content;

transforming said rendered version of said visual content into a bitmap; and

displaying said bitmap on the client device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each different portion of said visual content overlaps with at least one other portion of said visual content.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the different portions of said visual content represent a tiling of said visual content with each said portion abutting at least one other portion of said visual content.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the attribute comprises a selection of a portion of said visual content.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of determining a display attribute further comprises determining said display attribute in response to the providing of a selection of versions of visual content.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein said display attribute is selectable at the client device.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the client device may be operated to pan and scroll within said selected version of said visual content displayed on the client device.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the visual content includes text, and said bitmap is formatted to provide word wrapping of said text when displayed on said client device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the font size of said text to be displayed on said client device is modifiable at said client device.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein said visual content comprises a Web page.

25. A method of preparing visual content for display on a client device, comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications link between the client device and a server;

providing a selection of versions of visual content on the server to the client, wherein the versions represent individual views of common visual content each at a different resolution;

determining a display attribute of the client device;

automatically selecting a version of said visual content based on said display attribute of the client device;

preparing, in response to the selection of a version of said visual content, a rendering of said selected version of said visual content;

transforming, at the server, said rendered version of said visual content into a bitmap; and

transmitting said bitmap to the client device for display thereon.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the attribute comprises a display size of a viewport of the client device.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the attribute comprises a selected resolution for the display of said visual content.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the attribute comprises a region of said visual content selected by the client device for display thereon.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein said step of determining a display attribute further comprises determining said display attribute in response to the providing of a selection of versions of visual content on the server to the client.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein said display attribute is selectable at the client device.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the client device may be operated to pan and scroll within said selected version of said visual content displayed on the client device following receipt of said bitmap by said client device.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the visual content includes text, and said bitmap is formatted to provide word wrapping of said text when displayed on said client device.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the font size of said text to be displayed on said client device is modifiable at said client device.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein said visual content comprises a Web page.

35. A method of preparing visual content for display on a client device, comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications link between the client device and a server;

providing a selection of versions of visual content on the server to the client, wherein the versions represent individual views of common visual content each a different portion of said visual content;

determining a display attribute of the client device;

automatically selecting a version of said visual content based on said display attribute of the client device;

preparing, in response to the selection of a version of said visual content, a rendering of said selected version of said visual content;

transforming, at the server, said rendered version of said visual content into a bitmap; and

transmitting said bitmap to the client device for display thereon.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein each different portion of said visual content overlaps with at least one other portion of said visual content.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the different portions of said visual content represent a tiling of said visual content with each said portion abutting at least one other portion of said visual content.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the attribute comprises a selection of a portion of said visual content.

39. The method of claim 35, wherein said step of determining a display attribute further comprises determining said display attribute in response to the providing of a selection of versions of visual content on the server to the client.

40. The method of claim 35, wherein said display attribute is selectable at the client device.

41. The method of claim 35, wherein the client device may be operated to pan and scroll within said selected version of said visual content displayed on the client device following receipt of said bitmap by said client device.

42. The method of claim 35, wherein the visual content includes text, and said bitmap is formatted to provide word wrapping of said text when displayed on said client device.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the font size of said text to be displayed on said client device is modifiable at said client device.

44. The method of claim 35, wherein said visual content comprises a Web page.

45. A method of displaying a Web page on a client display device, comprising the steps of:

receiving at a server a communication from said client device;

determining from said communication a display size and a display resolution for a display device forming a past of said client device;

preparing at the server, in response to the determined display size and display resolution, a selection of a plurality of versions of said Web page for display on said client device;

receiving from said client device a selection of one of said plurality of versions of said Web page;

preparing, in response to said selection, a rendering of said selected version of said Web page;

transforming, at the server, said rendered version of said Web page into a bitmap; and

transmitting said bitmap to the client device for display thereon.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein each said version represents a view of said Web page at a different resolution.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the resolution of each said version is selectable by the client device.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein each said version represents a different portion of said Web page, the number of versions and size of each portion being a function of the determined display size and a display resolution of said display device.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein which version is selectable by the client device.

50. The method of claim 45, wherein the client device may be operated to pan and scroll within said selected version of said visual content displayed on the client device following receipt of said bitmap by said client device.

51. The method of claim 45, wherein the Web page includes text, and said bitmap is formatted to provide word wrapping of said text when displayed on said client device.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the font size of said text to be displayed on said client device is modifiable at said client device.

53. A method for displaying visual Web content on a client device comprising:

presenting an overview of said visual Web content on said client device;

using said overview as a navigational map for the selection of a region of said visual Web content;

using said client device to select said region of said visual Web content;

preparing, in response to said selection, a rendering of said selected region of said visual Web content;

transforming said rendered region of said visual Web content into a bitmap; and

presenting said bitmap at the client device for display thereon.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein said step of preparing said rendering takes place on a server communicatively coupled to client device in response the receipt of said selection by said server from said client device.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein said step of transforming takes place at said server, and said bitmap is transmitted by said server to said client device for display thereon.