SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSPARENT OBJECT RENDERING

• US 20080297534A1
• Filed: 05/30/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: SEOW, Derek, LIU, Dakai, BOBROWSKI, Leopold, WEERASINGHE, Chaminda, RAJU, Thevan, MANDAL, Abhijit
• Granted Patent: US 7,928,992 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/629
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/62 Semi-transparency

Abstract

The subject application is directed to a system and method for transparent object rendering. An electronic document, inclusive of a plurality of objects, is first received. The electronic document is then parsed so as to generate a transparency table. The generated table includes entries corresponding to transparency characteristics of each of the objects. Each object of the received electronic document is then processed in accordance with a corresponding transparency table entry. The system further comprises means adapted for generating a scan-line representation of each of the plurality of objects, the scan-line representation including a scan-line corresponding to an associated backdrop and a scan-line corresponding to associated pixel data. The received electronic document is thereby rendered so as to generate a rendered document.

Claims

1. A transparent object rendering system comprising:

means adapted for receiving an electronic document inclusive of a plurality of objects;

parsing means adapted for parsing a received electronic document, the parsing means including means adapted for generating a transparency table having entries corresponding to transparency characteristics of each of the plurality of objects; and

means adapted for rendering the received electronic document by processing of each of the plurality of objects in accordance with a corresponding entry in the transparency table.

2. The transparent object rendering system of claim 1 further comprising means adapted for generating a scan-line representation of each of the plurality of objects, the scan-line representation including a scan-line corresponding to an associated backdrop and a scan-line corresponding to associated pixel data.

3. The transparent object rendering system of claim 1 further comprising:

means adapted for generating a first transparency group and a second transparency group; and

means adapted for rendering a plurality of opacity mask objects, wherein the first transparency group comprises at least one opacity value associated with the mask object and the second transparency group comprises at least one pixel color value of at least one object overlapping a corresponding opacity mask pixel location.

4. The transparent object rendering system of claim 1 further comprising means adapted for generating a first pixel map corresponding to color data of each object and means adapted for generating a second pixel map corresponding to opacity data of each object.

5. The transparent object rendering system of claim 4 further comprising:

status means adapted for receiving data representative of available memory associated with a document rendering operation; and

means adapted for selectively re-rendering objects in accordance with an output of the status means.

6. The transparent object rendering system of claim 5 further comprising:

tracking means adapted for tracking pixels for which a rendering function has been performed; and

means adapted for controlling a rendering operation in accordance with an output of the tracking means.

7. The transparent object rendering system of claim 1 wherein the transparency table is comprised of a stack, and wherein the parsing means includes means adapted for iteratively generating a stack entry for each object, including objects that are nested in another object of the plurality thereof.

8. A transparent object rendering method comprising the steps of:

receiving an electronic document inclusive of a plurality of objects;

parsing a received electronic document, including generating a transparency table having entries corresponding to transparency characteristics of each of the plurality of objects; and

rendering the received electronic document by processing of each of the plurality of objects in accordance with a corresponding entry in the transparency table.

9. The transparent object rendering method of claim 8 further comprising the step of generating a scan-line representation of each of the plurality of objects, the scan-line representation including a scan-line corresponding to an associated backdrop and a scan-line corresponding to associated pixel data.

10. The transparent object rendering method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

generating a first transparency group and a second transparency group; and

rendering a plurality of opacity mask objects, wherein the first transparency group comprises at least one opacity value associated with the mask object and the second transparency group comprises at least one pixel color value of at least one object overlapping a corresponding opacity mask pixel location.

11. The transparent object rendering method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of generating a first pixel map corresponding to color data of each object and generating a second pixel map corresponding to opacity data of each object.

12. The transparent object rendering method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

receiving data representative of available memory associated with a document rendering operation; and

selectively re-rendering objects in accordance with an output of the step of receiving data representative of available memory.

13. The transparent object rendering method of claim 12 further comprising the steps of:

tracking pixels for which a rendering function has been performed; and

controlling a rendering operation in accordance with an output of the step of tracking pixels.

14. The transparent object rendering method of claim 8 wherein the transparency table is comprised of a stack, and wherein the step of parsing includes iteratively generating a stack entry for each object, including objects that are nested in another object of the plurality thereof.

15. A computer-implemented method for transparent object rendering comprising the steps of:

receiving an electronic document inclusive of a plurality of objects;

parsing a received electronic document, including generating a transparency table having entries corresponding to transparency characteristics of each of the plurality of objects; and

rendering the received electronic document by processing of each of the plurality of objects in accordance with a corresponding entry in the transparency table.

16. The computer-implemented method for transparent object rendering of claim 15 further comprising the step of generating a scan-line representation of each of the plurality of objects, the scan-line representation including a scan-line corresponding to an associated backdrop and a scan-line corresponding to associated pixel data.

17. The computer-implemented method for transparent object rendering of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

generating a first transparency group and a second transparency group; and

rendering a plurality of opacity mask objects, wherein the first transparency group comprises at least one opacity value associated with the mask object and the second transparency group comprises at least one pixel color value of at least one object overlapping a corresponding opacity mask pixel location.

18. The computer-implemented method for transparent object rendering of claim 15 further comprising the steps of generating a first pixel map corresponding to color data of each object and generating a second pixel map corresponding to opacity data of each object.

19. The computer-implemented method for transparent object rendering of claim 18 further comprising the steps of:

receiving data representative of available memory associated with a document rendering operation; and

selectively re-rendering objects in accordance with an output of the step of receiving data representative of available memory.

20. The computer-implemented method for transparent object rendering of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

tracking pixels for which a rendering function has been performed; and

controlling a rendering operation in accordance with an output of the step of tracking pixels.

21. The computer-implemented method for transparent object rendering of claim 15 wherein the transparency table is comprised of a stack, and wherein the step of parsing includes iteratively generating a stack entry for each object, including objects that are nested in another object of the plurality thereof.