Method and apparatus for presenting two and three-dimensional computer applications within a 3D meta-visualization

• US 6,597,358 B2
• Filed: 08/26/1998
• Issued: 07/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Miller, John David
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Santiago, Enrique L
• Application Number:
  US09/139,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20010040571A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,791 Days
• Field of Search: 345/348, 345/342, 345/425, 345/419, 345/355, 345/771, 345/778, 345/779, 345/782, 345/788, 345/810, 345/836, 345/848, 345/427
• US Class Current: 345/427
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/10 Geometric effects
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

A method and apparatus for organizing two and/or three-dimensional computer applications on a display in a three-dimensional viewing perspective. A two-dimensional bitmap is created for each respective computer application and applied to a three-dimensional geometry (i.e., primitive). In one embodiment, the three-dimensional geometry is a cube and each respective computer application is mapped onto a respective surface of the cube. The computer user has the ability to manipulate the orientation of the cube, via a computer mouse, for example, to view the different surfaces, and, thus, different computer applications mapped thereon. The user is further given the capability to manipulate or interact with each computer application on each respective surface of the cube. In another embodiment, two or more cubes could be employed for displaying the various computer applications running on the computer'"'"'s processor. The user could also allocate a particular group or category of applications to each respective cube to accomplish different tasks.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

launching at least one computer application in a windowing graphical user interface environment comprising three-dimensional windows;

creating at least one two-dimensional bitmap of the at least one launched computer application;

creating at least one three-dimensional geometry comprising a number of surfaces; and

mapping bits from said at least one two dimensional bitmap of the at least one launched computer application onto at least one of the number of surfaces of said at least one three-dimensional geometry;

displaying, as a three-dimensional window in the windowing graphical user interface environment, said at least one three-dimensional geometry with the bits from the at least one two-dimensional bitmap of the at least one launched computer application mapped onto at least one surface of the three-dimensional geometry; and

editing data of the at least one launched computer application, wherein the editing is performed on the at least one surface on which the at least one launched computer application was mapped.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the editing comprises:

issuing a command to said at least one launched computer application via a user-input device; and

translating said command from a coordinate space of said three-dimensional geometry to a coordinate space of said two-dimensional bitmap.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

sending said translated command to said at least one launched computer application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

altering the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry from a first orientation to a second orientation in response to a first predetermined input received by a user-input device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating at least one three-dimensional geometry further comprises creating a three-dimensional geometry selected from the group of a cube and a plane-like shaped geometry.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said mapping bits is performed such that each of said at least one launched computer applications occupies a respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry.

7. A method comprising:

rendering a two-dimensional bitmap of a launched software application onto a three-dimensional geometry;

displaying the rendered three-dimensional geometry of the launched software application;

issuing an interactive editing command to said launched software application while said launched software application is displayed on the three-dimensional geometry, wherein the issuing is performed by placing a user input pointer over a portion of the displayed three-dimensional geometry; and

editing data of the at least one launched computer application based on the interactive editing command, wherein the editing is performed on the at least one surface on which the at least one launched computer application was mapped.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

translating said interactive editing command from a coordinate space of said three-dimensional geometry to a coordinate space of said two-dimensional bitmap.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending said translated command to said at least one launched computer application.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

altering the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry from a first orientation to a second orientation in response to a first predetermined input received by a user-input device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said rendering a two-dimensional bitmap for the launched software application onto a three-dimensional geometry further comprises rendering said two-dimensional bitmap onto a 3D geometry selected from the group of a cube and a plane-like shaped 3D geometry.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

mapping bits form said two-dimensional bitmap to a respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry such that said launched software application occupies the respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor to execute at least one launched computer application comprising data, and to create at least one two-dimensional bitmap of said at least one launched computer application;

a graphics rendering unit to create at least one three-dimensional geometry, and to map bits from said at least one two-dimensional bitmap of said at least one launched computer application onto at least one of the number of surfaces of said at least one three-dimensional geometry;

a display to display said at least one three-dimensional geometry with said at least one launched computer application mapped thereon; and

a user input device to receive input and to cause editing of said data of the at least one launched computer application, wherein the editing is performed on the at least one surface on which the at least one launched computer application was mapped.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said processor to issue a command to said at least one launched computer application on said three-dimensional geometry, and to translate said command from a coordinate space of said three-dimensional geometry to a coordinate space of said two-dimensional bitmap.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said processor to send said command to said at least one launched computer application displayed on said three-dimensional geometry.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a user-input device and wherein said sub-processor to change the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry in response to a first predetermined input received by said processor via said user-input device.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said at least one three-dimensional geometry comprises at least one from the group of a plane-like shaped 3D geometry and a cube-shaped geometry.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said graphics rendering unit to apply bits from said at least one bitmap to each respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry such that each of said at least one launched computer applications occupies a respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

means for launching at least one computer application in a windowing graphical user interface environment;

means for creating at least one two-dimensional bitmap of the at least one launched computer application;

means for creating at least one three-dimensional geometry comprising a number of surfaces;

means for mapping bits from said at least one two-dimensional bitmap of the at least one launched computer application onto at least one of the number of surfaces of said at least one three-dimensional geometry;

means for displaying, as a three-dimensional window in the windowing graphical user interface environment, said at least one three-dimensional geometry with the bits from the at least one two-dimensional bitmap of the at least one launched computer application mapped onto at least one surface of the three-dimensional geometry; and

means for editing data of the at least one launched computer application, wherein editing is performed on the at least one surface on which the at least one launched computer application was mapped.

26. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising means for altering the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry from a first orientation to a second orientation in response to a first predetermined input received by a user-input device.

20. A program storage device programmed with instructions that, when executed by a computer, performs the method comprising:

launching at least one computer application in a windowing graphical user interface environment;

creating at least one two-dimensional bitmap of the at least one launched computer application;

creating at least one three-dimensional geometry comprising a number of surfaces;

mapping bits from said at least one two-dimensional bitmap of the at least launched one computer application onto at least one of the number of surfaces of said at least one three-dimensional geometry;

displaying, as a three-dimensional window in the windowing graphical user interface environment, said at least one three-dimensional geometry with said bits from the at least one two-dimensional bitmap of the at least one launched computer application mapped onto at least one surface of the three-dimensional geometry; and

editing data of the at least one launched computer application, wherein the editing is performed on the at least one surface on which the at least one launched computer application was mapped.

21. The program storage device of claim 20, further comprising:

issuing an interactive editing command to said at least one launched computer application mapped on said three-dimensional geometry via a user-input device; and

translating said interactive command from a coordinate space of said three-dimensional geometry to a coordinate space of said two-dimensional bitmap.

22. The program storage device of claim 21, further comprising:

sending said translated command to said at least one launched computer application.

23. The program storage device of claim 20, further comprising:

altering the displayed orientation of said three-dimensional geometry from a first orientation to a second orientation in response to a first predetermined input received by a user-input device.

24. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein said creating at least one three-dimensional geometry further comprises creating a 3D geometry selected from the group of a cube and a plane-like shaped geometry.

25. The program storage device of claim 24, further comprising:

mapping bits from said at least one bitmap to each respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry such that each of said at least one launched computer applications occupies a respective surface of said cube-shaped geometry.