Animation of graphical objects

• US 7,941,758 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2007
• Issued: 05/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Tremblay, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US11/899,036
• Publication Number:
  US 20090064012A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,344 Days
• Field of Search: 715/700, 715/744, 715/764, 715/765, 715/781, 715/835, 715/846, 715/864, 715/866, 345/473, 345/169, 345/173
• US Class Current: 715/765
• 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 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A method for animating graphical objects is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a plurality of graphical objects and displaying a subset of the objects in a viewport. In this embodiment, the method may also include calculating a virtual destination for one of the graphical objects based on a received user input, and moving the graphical object to the virtual destination over a period of time. Various additional methods, machine-readable media, and devices for animating graphical objects and controlling operational characteristics of a device are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining a plurality of evaluators associated with respective operational characteristics of a device;

defining a control function dependent on time and including first and second evaluators of the plurality of evaluators, wherein at least one of the first or second evaluators includes an additional function dependent on time; and

storing the plurality of evaluators and the control function in a memory of the device, wherein the device is configured to vary the operational characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators based at least in part on the control function;

wherein the operational characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators comprise one or more display characteristics of a graphical object, the control function comprises a rendering function, and the device is configured to animate the graphical object and to vary the one or more display characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators during animation of the graphical object based at least in part on the rendering function;

wherein the rendering function comprises a recursive interpolation function for animating the graphical object between a source position and a target position; and

wherein the target position is defined at least in part by one of the first or second evaluators including the additional function dependent on time such that the target position varies with respect to time, and the graphical object is animated from the source position to the target position over a period of time such that the graphical object arrives substantially at the current target position at the end of the period of time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more display characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators comprise a position of the graphical object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional function dependent on time includes at least one of a linear function, a polynomial function, an exponential function, a logarithmic function, or a trigonometric function.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering function is configured to adjust a plurality of display characteristics of the graphical object via evaluators, the display characteristics comprising two or more of position, velocity, acceleration, size, opacity, or color.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second evaluators of the control function operate concurrently.

6. A method comprising:

providing a plurality of graphical objects;

displaying a subset of the plurality of graphical objects in a viewport of a display;

receiving a user input;

calculating a virtual destination for at least one graphical object of the subset based on the user input; and

moving the at least one graphical object to the virtual destination over a time period, wherein moving the at least one graphical object comprises moving the at least one graphical object from an actual display position within the viewport to a virtual display position.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising:

receiving an additional user input during the time period;

updating the virtual destination for the at least one graphical object based on the additional user input; and

moving the at least one graphical object to the updated virtual destination over an additional time period.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein moving the at least one graphical object comprises moving the at least one graphical object according to a function including an evaluator.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein moving the at least one graphical object comprises moving the at least one graphical object according to an interpolation between its original position and its virtual destination.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the interpolation comprises a linear interpolation.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the virtual destination is outside of the viewport.

12. The method of claim 6, comprising:

calculating virtual destinations for each graphical object of the plurality of graphical objects based on the user input; and

animating the sequence of graphical objects of the plurality of graphical objects within the viewport over the time period such that each graphical object of the plurality of graphical objects is moved to its respective virtual destination over the time period.

13. A device comprising:

a housing;

a display disposed in the housing;

a memory device disposed in the housing, the memory device including executable application instructions stored therein; and

a processor disposed in the housing and configured to execute the application instructions stored in the memory device;

wherein the device is configured to pan through a plurality of images in response to a user input, at least one image is moved over a period of time to a virtual destination that is calculated from the user input, and the at least one image is moved at least between a virtual display position outside of the display and an actual display position within the display.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the device comprises a touch-sensitive user interface, and the virtual destination calculated depends on the speed of user movement on the touch-sensitive interface.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the plurality of images comprises at least one of a photograph or cover art for a media file.

16. One or more machine-readable storage media having application instructions encoded thereon, the application instructions comprising:

instructions for displaying a portion of a sequence of images;

instructions for calculating a virtual destination for a particular image of the sequence of images based on a user input; and

instructions for animating the sequence of images over a first time period such that the particular image arrives at its virtual destination at the end of the first time period.

17. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the application instructions comprise instructions for updating the virtual destination in response to an additional user input, wherein the instructions for updating comprise instructions to cancel any animation process remaining for the first time period in favor of a new animation process to move the particular image to the updated virtual destination over a second time period.

18. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the one or more machine-readable storage media comprise a flash memory device.