Method and system for a dynamic rendering protocol

• US 5,920,880 A
• Filed: 09/04/1996
• Issued: 07/06/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Beaman, Alexander B., Dowdy, Thomas E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Powell, Mark R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Harrison, Chante E.
• Application Number:
  US08/707,669
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• Field of Search: 345/433, 707/523, 707/542, 395/110
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation

Abstract

The present invention includes a method of dynamic rendering protocol for display of glyphs used in a data processor comprising the steps of listing output image formats of font scalers which can be outputted to a graphics system and listing input image formats which can be inputted to a blitter function. These input image formats and output image formats are intersected, and an ordered list of the intersecting input image formats with output image formats are generated based upon a predetermined criteria. The first of the ordered list can then be selected for use.

Claims

1. A method for providing a dynamic rendering protocol for display of font scalers used in a data processor comprising the steps of:

(a) listing output image formats which can be provided to a graphics system by at least one font scaler;

(b) listing input image formats which can be provided to a plurality of blitter functions;

(c) intersecting the input image formats with the output image formats, wherein at least one blitter function supports the intersecting output image formats; and

(d) generating an ordered list of the intersecting input formats with output formats based upon a predetermined criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on hardware information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on hardware performance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on size of memory required for a data format.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on options chosen by an application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on the requirement of data compression.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on preferred formats of at least one font scaler.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a first member of the ordered list is selected.

9. A system of dynamic rendering protocol for display of font scalers used in a data processor comprising:

at least one font scaler having output image formats;

a plurality of blitter functions having input image formats of the at least one font scaler which can be inputted to the blitter functions;

a graphics system coupled to the font scaler and the plurality of blitter functions, the graphics system receiving the output image formats of the font scaler;

the graphics system intersecting the input image formats with the output image formats, wherein at least one blitter function supports the intersecting output image formats, and generating an ordered list of the intersecting input image formats with output image formats based upon a predetermined criteria.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a glyph server coupled to the graphics system and the font scaler, the glyph server receiving requests from the graphics system and describing the request to the font scaler.

11. A system of dynamic rendering protocol for display of glyphs used in a data processing comprising:

means for generating glyph renderings having output image formats of at least one font scaler;

means for facilitating display of glyphs, the facilitating means having input image formats which can be inputted to a plurality of blitter functions;

means for coordinating graphics for display coupled to the generating means and the facilitating means, the coordinating means intersecting the input image formats with the output image formats, wherein at least one blitter function supports the intersecting output image formats, and generating an ordered list of the intersecting input image formats with output image formats based upon a predetermined criteria.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a glyph server coupled to the graphics system and the font scaler, the glyph server receiving requests from the graphics system and describing the request to the font scaler.

13. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions for dynamic rendering protocol for display of glyphs used in a data processor comprising the steps of:

(a) listing output image formats which can be outputted to a graphics system by at least one font scaler;

(b) listing input image formats which can be inputted to a plurality of blitter functions;

(c) intersecting the input image formats with the output image formats, wherein at least one blitter function supports the intersecting output image formats; and

(d) generating an ordered list of the intersecting input image formats with output image formats based upon a predetermined criteria.

14. The computer-readable medium containing program instructions claim 13, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on hardware information.

15. The computer-readable medium containing program instructions claim 13, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on hardware performance.

16. The computer-readable medium containing program instructions claim 13, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on size of memory required for a data format.

17. The computer-readable medium containing program instructions claim 13, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on options chosen by an application.

18. The computer-readable medium containing program instructions claim 13, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on the requirement of data compression.

19. The computer-readable medium containing program instructions claim 13, wherein the predetermined criteria is based on preferred formats of the font scaler.

20. The computer-readable medium containing program instructions of claim 13, wherein a first member of the ordered list is selected.