PROCESSING AN ANIMATION FILE TO PROVIDE AN ANIMATED ICON

• US 20090089710A1
• Filed: 10/01/2007
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wood, Justin, Goossens, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 8,004,529 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/835
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence

Abstract

A method for processing an animation file to provide an animated icon to an instant messaging environment is presented. An animation file is reformatted to generate the animated icon to satisfy a pre-defined size requirement of the instant messaging environment. The animated icon is stored for distribution to the instant messaging environment.

Claims

1. A computer program product tangibly embodied in one or more information carriers, the computer program product comprising instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to:

reformat an animation file to generate an animated icon to satisfy a pre-defined size requirement of an instant messaging environment; and

store the animated icon for distribution to the instant messaging environment.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein reformatting the animation file is performed to limit image degradation in the animated icon.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the animation file comprises frames.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, further comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to:

apply a user-selected image editing operation across two or more frames of the animation file.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein applying the user-selected image editing operation comprises applying image altering effects across two or more frames of the animation file.

6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein applying the user-selected image editing operation comprises applying image filters across two or more frames of the animation file.

7. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein applying the user-selected image editing operation comprises:

applying image altering effects and image filters across two or more frames of the animation file;

wherein the image altering effects comprise at least one of stretching the image, squeezing the image, mirroring the image, or otherwise warping the image; and

wherein the image filters comprise at least one of recoloring the image, restyling the image, or copying the image.

8. The computer program product of claim 3, further comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to:

form the animation file from one or more frames in accordance with instructions received from a user.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions that are executable by the one or more processing devices to:

distribute the animated icon over a communications network to the instant messaging environment;

wherein the animated icon uniquely identifies a user in the instant messaging environment; and

wherein the instant messaging environment is provided by an instant messaging service provider.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined size requirement comprises a maximum file size requirement.

11. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein reformatting the animation file to generate the animated icon comprises:

removing individual frames of the animation file;

compressing the animation file; and

repeating removing and compressing until the animated icon satisfies the pre-defined size requirement.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the animation file further comprises delay values corresponding to the frames of the animation file;

and

wherein removing individual frames comprises removing individual frames having corresponding delay values that are less than a pre-defined delay value.

13. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein reformatting the animation file to generate the animated icon comprises:

resizing the frames of the animation file;

compressing the animation file; and

repeating resizing and compressing until the animated icon satisfies the pre-defined size requirement, wherein the pre-defined size requirement comprises a maximum frame size requirement.

14. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein reformatting the animation file to generate the animated icon comprises:

removing individual frames of the animation file;

resizing the frames of the animation file;

dropping a color palette from the animation file;

compressing the animation file; and

repeating removing, resizing, dropping, and compressing until the animated icon satisfies the pre-defined size requirement.

15. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein reformatting the animation file to generate the animated icon comprises:

removing individual frames of the animation file;

compressing the animation file;

comparing the animation file with the pre-defined size requirement; and

if the animation file exceeds the pre-defined size requirement, eating removing, compressing, and comparing until the pre-defined size requirement is satisfied; and

if the animation file does not exceed the pre-defined size requirement, generating the animated icon.

16. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the instant messaging environment comprises one of multiple instant messaging environments;

and

wherein the pre-defined size requirement comprises a single maximum file size requirement that represents a least common denominator value acceptable to the multiple instant messaging environments, wherein the multiple instant messaging environments are provided by multiple instant messaging service providers.

17. An instant messaging client configured to process an animation file to provide an animated icon to an instant messaging environment, the instant messaging client comprising:

memory configured to store the animated icon for distribution to the instant messaging environment and to store instructions for execution; and

a processing device configured to execute the instructions to process the animation file, the instructions for causing the processing device to;

reformat the animation file to generate the animated icon to satisfy a pre-defined size requirement of the instant messaging environment.

18. The instant messaging client of claim 17, further comprising instructions for causing the processing device to:

form the animation file from one or more frames; and

apply a user-selected image editing operation across two or more frames.

19. The instant messaging client of claim 17, wherein the animation file comprises frames and delay values corresponding to the frames;

and

wherein the instructions for causing the processing device to reformat the animation file to generate the animated icon comprise causing the processing device to remove individual frames of the animation file, the individual frames having corresponding delay values that are less than a pre-defined delay value.

20. The instant messaging client of claim 17, further comprising instructions for causing the processing device to:

generate a graphical user interface;

wherein the graphical user interface is configured to provide a user with access to and at least some control over the instructions that the processing device is configured to execute.

21. A method for processing an animation file to provide an animated icon to an instant messaging environment, the method comprising:

reformatting the animation file to generate the animated icon to satisfy a pre-defined size requirement of the instant messaging environment; and

storing the animated icon for distribution to the instant messaging environment.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

forming the animation file from one or more frames; and

applying a user-selected image editing operation across two or more frames of the animation file.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein reformatting the animation file to generate the animated icon comprises:

removing individual frames of the animation file;

compressing the animation file; and

repeating removing and compressing until the animated icon satisfies the pre-defined size requirement.

24. An animated icon editor integrated within an instant messaging application for reformatting and modifying an animation file comprising frames, the icon editor comprising:

a reformatting process configured to automatically manipulate one or more frames of the animation file to satisfy sizing parameters;

a modifying process configured to apply image editing operations to two or more frames of the animation file; and

a storage process configured to store an animated icon generated by the reformatting process and the modifying process from the animation file.

25. The animated icon editor of claim 24, wherein the animated icon editor further comprises:

a formation process configured to build the animation file from the frames.