IMAGE MOTION BLURRING

• US 20120293538A1
• Filed: 05/18/2012
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ording, Bas
• Granted Patent: US 8,749,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/592
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites

Abstract

The disclosed systems and methods make the motion of an object in an animation appear smooth by blending a number of subframes of visually adjusted images of the object for each frame of the animation. A request to animate an object along a motion path can be received by a graphics processing system of a device, where the motion path traverses at least a portion of a user interface presented on a display of the device. For each frame of the animation, the graphics processing system blends N subframes of visually adjusted images of the object to create a final blurred image which is rendered on the display. The graphics processing system can determine whether there is more processing time to perform additional blending of subframes prior to rendering a final frame for display, and then blending more subframes of images prior to rendering the final frame for display.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to animate an object along a motion path, the motion path traversing at least a portion of a user interface presented on a display of a device;

responsive to the request, and for each image frame of the object rendered along the motion path;

determining a time period t_R available to render the image frame;

blending N subframe images of the object during the time period t_R, where N is a positive integer and each subframe consumes a t_R/N portion of the time period t_R, and the blending includes adjusting at least one visual property of each subframe prior to blending;

determining if there is enough time left in the time period t_R to render more than N subframes images of the object;

determining that N+M subframe images of the object can be blended during the time period t_R, where M is a positive integer;

blending N+M subframe images of the object during the time period t_R, where each subframe image consumes a t_R/(N+M) portion of the time period t_R, and the blending includes adjusting at least one visual property of each subframe prior to blending;

determining that there is no time left in the time period t_R to render more than N+M subframe images of the object; and

displaying the blended N+M subframe images of the object as the rendered frame image on the motion path within the time period t_R.

2. The method of claim 1, where the request is made in response to a user interaction with the object on the user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, where the request is made by an application or operating system in response to a trigger event.

4. The method of claim 1, where the at least one visual property is color, opacity, size, shape, rotation or brightness.

5. The method of claim 1, where the at least one visual property of at least one subframe image is adjusted to contribute a percentage of the visual property to the blended image.

6. A system for image motion blurring comprising:

a frame buffer;

a processor coupled the frame buffer, the processor programmed for;

receiving a request to animate an object along a motion path, the motion path traversing at least a portion of a user interface presented on a display of a device;

responsive to the request, and for each image frame of the object rendered along the motion path;

determining a time period t_R available to render the image frame;

blending N subframe images of the object during the time period t_R, where N is a positive integer and each subframe consumes a t_R/N portion of the time period t_R, and the blending includes adjusting at least one visual property of each subframe prior to blending;

determining if there is enough time left in the time period t_R to render more than N subframes images of the object;

determining that N+M subframe images of the object can be blended during the time period t_R, where M is a positive integer;

blending N+M subframe images of the object during the time period t_R, where each subframe image consumes a t_R/(N+M) portion of the time period t_R, and the blending includes adjusting at least one visual property of each subframe prior to blending;

determining that there is no time left in the time period t_R to render more than N+M subframe images of the object; and

displaying the blended N+M subframe images of the object as the rendered frame image on the motion path within the time period t_R.

7. The system of claim 6, where the at least one visual property is color, opacity, size, shape, rotation or brightness.

8. The system of claim 6, where the at least one visual property of at least one subframe image is adjusted to contribute a percentage of the visual property to the blurred image.

9. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request to animate an object along a motion path, the motion path traversing at least a portion of a user interface presented on a display of a device;

responsive to the request, and for each image frame of the object rendered along the motion path;

determining a time period t_R available to render the image frame;

blending N subframe images of the object during the time period t_R, where N is a positive integer and each subframe consumes a t_R/N portion of the time period t_R, and the blending includes adjusting at least one visual property of each subframe prior to blending;

determining if there is enough time left in the time period t_R to render more than N subframes images of the object;

determining that N+M subframe images of the object can be blended during the time period t_R, where M is a positive integer;

blending N+M subframe images of the object during the time period t_R, where each subframe image consumes a t_R/(N+M) portion of the time period t_R, and the blending includes adjusting at least one visual property of each subframe prior to blending;

determining that there is no time left in the time period t_R to render more than N+M subframe images of the object; and

displaying the blended N+M subframe images of the object as the rendered frame image on the motion path within the time period t_R.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, where the at least one visual property is color, opacity, size, shape, rotation or brightness.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, where the at least one visual property of at least one subframe image is adjusted to contribute a percentage of the visual property to the blended image frame.