Animation system having variable video display rate
First Claim
1. An animation display system comprising:
- a video cell storage device;
a plurality of video cells stored in the video cell storage device, said video cells defining an animation sequence;
a display device having an update period, said display device connected to the video cell storage device so as to display one or more of the plurality of video cells for periods of time defined by the display device update period; and
,a display controller connected to the storage device and to the display device so as to control the amount of time individual ones of the video cells are displayed on said display device such that the animation sequence is displayed in a pre-determined time period and wherein, if the pre-determined time period is less than the time required to display each cell of the sequence for one update period, then said display controller processes at least one selected cell at a rate faster than the update rate of the display device so that the selected cell is not displayed, such that the total number of update periods for the cells in the animation sequence that are displayed produces a sequence display period that is substantially equal to the predetermined time period.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for finely controlling the rate of animation display in applications such as a video game or simulator. In one embodiment, a floating point animation timer selectively varies or eliminates the number of update periods a video cell is to be displayed to match the display time of the script to a determined time. The determined time can be empirically chosen or dynamically calculated based on the user'"'"'s input. In another embodiment a sequence table provides an array of update times corresponding to the cells in a script. The number of update times a video cell is displayed can be varied to emphasize certain actions in the animation sequence. This provides a programmer with the ability to create a variety of animation sequences from a limited number of video cells and to finely manipulate the animated character to achieve a specific action.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. An animation display system comprising:
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a video cell storage device; a plurality of video cells stored in the video cell storage device, said video cells defining an animation sequence; a display device having an update period, said display device connected to the video cell storage device so as to display one or more of the plurality of video cells for periods of time defined by the display device update period; and
,a display controller connected to the storage device and to the display device so as to control the amount of time individual ones of the video cells are displayed on said display device such that the animation sequence is displayed in a pre-determined time period and wherein, if the pre-determined time period is less than the time required to display each cell of the sequence for one update period, then said display controller processes at least one selected cell at a rate faster than the update rate of the display device so that the selected cell is not displayed, such that the total number of update periods for the cells in the animation sequence that are displayed produces a sequence display period that is substantially equal to the predetermined time period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An animation system comprising:
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a video cell storage device; a plurality of video cells stored in the video cell storage device, said video cells defining an animation sequence; a display device having an update period, said display device connected to the video cell storage device so as to display one or more of the plurality of video cells for periods of time defined by the display device update period; and
,a display controller connected to the storage device and to the display device so as to variably control the amount of time individual video cells are displayed on the display device and wherein said display controller processes at least one selected cell at a rate faster than the update rate of the display device so that the selected cell is not displayed. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method of displaying an animation sequence comprising the steps of:
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storing a plurality of video cells in a storage device, said video cells defining an animation sequence; displaying individual ones of the video cells on a display device having an update period wherein video cells are displayed for periods of time defined by the display device update period; and controlling the amount of time individual ones of the video cells are displayed on the display device such that the animation sequence is displayed in a pre-determined time period and such that, if the pre-determined time period is less than the time required to display each cell of the sequence for one update period, at least one selected cell is processed at a rate faster than the update rate of the display device so that the selected cell is not displayed, and so that the total number of update periods for the cells in the animation sequence that are displayed produces a sequence display period that is substantially equal to the predetermined time period. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of displaying an animation sequence comprising the steps of:
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storing a plurality of video cells in a storage device, said video cells defining an animation sequence; displaying individual ones of the video cells on a display device having an update period wherein video cells are displayed for periods of time defined by the display device update period; and variably controlling the amount of time individual ones of the video cells are displayed on the display device such that at least one selected cell is processed at a rate faster than the update rate of the display device so that the selected cell is not displayed. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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Specification