APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE SUPPORTING MIXED TWO AND THREE DIMENSIONAL DISPLAYS

• US 20110164034A1
• Filed: 12/30/2010
• Published: 07/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bennett, James D., Karaoguz, Jeyhan
• Granted Patent: US 9,143,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/00 Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 35/24 using apertured or refractive resolving means on screens or between screen and eye
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• 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: G09G 2300/023 Display panel composed of stacked panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/028 by changing the viewing angle properties, e.g. widening the viewing angle, adapting the viewing angle to the view direction
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/04 Exchange of auxiliary data, i.e. other than image data, between monitor and graphics controller
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/003 to produce spatial visual effects
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/00 Stereoscopic video systems; Multi-view video systems; Details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/139 Format conversion, e.g. of frame-rate or size
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/161 Encoding, multiplexing or demultiplexing different image signal components for multi-view video sequence encoding H04N19/597
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/189 Recording image signals; Reproducing recorded image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/194 Transmission of image signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/305 using lenticular lenses, e.g. arrangements of cylindrical lenses
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/31 using parallax barriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/312 the parallax barriers being placed behind the display panel, e.g. between backlight and spatial light modulator [SLM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/315 the parallax barriers being time-variant
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/332 : Displays for viewing with the aid of special glasses or head-mounted displays [HMD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/351 : for displaying simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/359 : Switching between monoscopic and stereoscopic modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/361 : Reproducing mixed stereoscopic images; Reproducing mixed monoscopic and stereoscopic images, e.g. a stereoscopic image overlay window on a monoscopic image background
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/366 : using viewer tracking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/383 : for tracking with gaze detection, i.e. detecting the lines of sight of the viewer's eyes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/398 : Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/403 : the images being monoscopic
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2013/405 : the images being stereoscopic or three dimensional
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 : Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4122 : additional display device, e.g. video projector digital output for controlling a plurality of local displays G06F3/1423
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 : Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/303 : Tracking of listener position or orientation

Abstract

Application programming interfaces (APIs) are provided that enable applications to display two-dimensional and three-dimensional content in regions of a display screen. A first command is received from an application directing at least in part a first configuration of a first region of the screen to support the three-dimensional content. The first command is responded to by sending a first configuration request to place the screen in a three-dimensional mode within the first region. A second command is received directing at least in part a second configuration of a second region of the screen to support the two-dimensional content. The second command is responded to by sending a second configuration request to place the screen in mode corresponding to a two-dimensional mode within the second region.

Claims

1. A method used by an application programming interface (API) to enable applications to display both first content and second content on a screen, the first content being three-dimensional content, the method comprising:

receiving a first command from an application directing at least in part a first configuration of a first region of the screen to support the first content, the first configuration being a first three-dimensional configuration;

responding to the first command by sending a first configuration request to place the screen in a three-dimensional mode within the first region;

receiving a second command directing at least in part a second configuration of a second region of the screen to support the second content; and

responding to the second command by sending a second configuration request to place the screen in mode corresponding to the second configuration within the second region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second configuration is a two-dimensional configuration.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second configuration is a second three-dimensional configuration, and the first configuration and the second configuration differing by at least one three-dimensional characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the three-dimensional content in the form of first primitives; and

rendering three-dimensional pixel data in a graphics pipeline based on the first primitives.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the three-dimensional content in a first form; and

translating at least a portion of the three-dimensional content into a second form.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

accessing a three-dimensional region rendering programming sequence when rendering the three-dimensional pixel data to perform a three-dimensional screen region rendering task.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

directing a visual presentation of a calling convention of the first command.

8. An application programming interface (API) that supports both a plurality of software applications and at least a first of a plurality of displays, the first of the plurality of displays supporting both two-dimensional content viewing and three-dimensional content viewing, the API comprising:

a first program sequence that, in response to a first request from a first of the plurality of software applications, at least in part causes a first screen region of the first of the plurality of displays to enter a first configuration, the first configuration supporting the three-dimensional content viewing;

a second program sequence that, in response to a second request, at least in part causes a second screen region of the first of the plurality of displays to enter a second configuration, the second configuration supporting the two-dimensional content viewing; and

at least one of the first screen region and the second screen region being less than a full-screen region of the first of the plurality of displays.

9. The API of claim 8, wherein the first request from the first software application includes a three-dimensional indicator such that first program sequence causes the first screen region to enter the first configuration to support the display of three-dimensional content.

10. The API of claim 8, wherein the second request includes a two-dimensional indicator such that the second program sequence causes the second screen region to enter the second configuration to support the display of two-dimensional content.

11. The API of claim 10, further comprising:

a graphics pipeline that receives three-dimensional content in the form of first primitives, that renders three-dimensional pixel data based on the first primitives, and that sends the three-dimensional pixel data to cause a display of the three-dimensional content in the first screen region.

12. The API of claim 11, wherein the graphics pipeline receives two-dimensional content in the form of second primitives, renders two-dimensional pixel data based on the second primitives, and sends the two-dimensional pixel data to cause display of the second content in the second screen region concurrently with the display of the three-dimensional content in the first screen region.

13. The API of claim 12, wherein the graphics pipeline accesses a first library module when rendering the three-dimensional pixel data to perform a three-dimensional screen region rendering task, and accesses a second library module when rendering the two-dimensional pixel data to perform a two-dimensional screen region rendering task.

14. The API of claim 8, further comprising:

an API description document that defines a plurality of calling conventions of the API, the plurality of calling conventions including a first calling convention for a request to configure a screen region to display three-dimensional content and a second calling convention for a request to configure a screen region to display two-dimensional content.

15. An application programming interface (API) that supports both a plurality of software applications and a display, the display having a full-screen region, the API comprising:

a library of programming elements, each element of the library of programming elements having a calling convention;

a first programming sequence triggered by a first call from a first of the plurality of software applications, the first call corresponding to a first element of the library of programming elements, and the first programming sequence at least in part causes placement of a first screen region of the display in a first configuration; and

a second programming sequence, triggered by a second call, that at least in part causes placement of a second screen region of the display in a second configuration;

at least one of the first screen region and the second screen region being less than the full-screen region, at least one of the first configuration and the second configuration being a three-dimensional configuration, and the first configuration being different from that of the second configuration.

16. The API of claim 15, wherein the second call is from a second of the plurality of software applications.

17. The API of claim 15, wherein the second call is from the first of the plurality of software applications.

18. The API of claim 15, wherein at least a portion of the first programming sequence is within the first programming element of the library of programming elements.

19. The API of claim 15, wherein the first programming sequence at least in part causes placement of the first screen region of the display in the first configuration by directing a display driver.

20. The API of claim 15, wherein the first configuration is a three-dimensional configuration and the second configuration is a two-dimensional configuration.

21. The API of claim 15, wherein the first configuration is a first three-dimensional configuration and the second configuration is a second three-dimensional configuration.