Media action script acceleration method

• US 8,432,404 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2009
• Issued: 04/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LeoNovus USA, Inc. (LeoNovus, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LeoNovus USA, Inc. (LeoNovus, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kota, Bhaskar, Satyavolu, Lakshmikanth Surya Naga, Puppala, Ganapathi Venkata, Bollam, Praveen Kumar, Sambaraju, Sairam, Master, Paul L.
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, JIN CHENG
• Application Number:
  US12/371,596
• Publication Number:
  US 20100149091A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,536 Days
• Field of Search: 715/205, 715762-763, 715234-239, 709202-203, 709/224, 707/708, 345/440, 345501-506, 345/629, 345/643, 717114-119, 717136-167
• US Class Current: 345/502
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/06 Use of more than one graphics processor to process data before displaying to one or more screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/363 Graphics controllers

Abstract

Exemplary apparatus, method, and system embodiments provide for accelerated hardware processing of an action script for a graphical image for visual display. An exemplary method comprises: converting a plurality of descriptive elements into a plurality of operational codes which at least partially control at least one processor circuit; and using at least one processor circuit, performing one or more operations corresponding to an operational code to generate pixel data for the graphical image. Another exemplary method for processing a data file which has not been fully compiled to a machine code and comprising interpretable descriptions of the graphical image in a non-pixel-bitmap form, comprises: separating the data file from other data; parsing and converting the data file to a plurality of hardware-level operational codes and corresponding data; and performing a plurality of operations in response to at least some hardware-level operational codes to generate pixel data for the graphical image. Exemplary embodiments also may be performed automatically by a system comprising one or more computing devices.

Claims

1. A hardware-implemented method of processing an action script for visual display of a graphical image, the method comprising:

parsing the action script into a plurality of descriptive elements and a corresponding plurality of variable length operand data sets, the plurality of descriptive elements specifying the graphical image in a non-pixel-by-pixel form;

directly converting each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements of the action script into a corresponding operational code of a plurality of operational codes, each corresponding operational code comprising at least one graphical primitive instruction for native execution by at least one processor circuit of a plurality of processor circuits or comprising a memory pointer to an address in a memory having a sequence of graphical primitive instructions for native execution by the at least one processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits;

directly converting each variable length operand data set of the corresponding plurality of variable length operand data sets into one or more control words and storing the one or more control words in the memory, each control word comprising operand data and one or more control bits in predetermined fields for the native execution of the one or more graphical primitive instructions by the at least one processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits; and

using the at least one processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits, directly executing the one or more graphical primitive instructions using the one or more control words to generate pixel data for the graphical image.

2. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

separating the action script from other data.

3. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each control word of the one or more control words further comprises one or more memory addresses.

4. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the parsing step further comprises:

determining a type of descriptive element;

determining or selecting a number of bits to parse to form a number of bits to parse parameter; and

shifting out of a memory a number of bits designated by the number of bits to parse parameter.

5. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each control word of the plurality of control words further comprises a starting or an ending x-coordinate and y-coordinate for a corresponding line or curve segment for the graphical image.

6. The hardware-implemented method of claim 5, wherein each control word of the plurality of control words further comprises a control x-coordinate and control y-coordinate for a corresponding curve segment for the graphical image.

7. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each control word of the plurality of control words further comprises a first memory address for line style array for a corresponding line or curve segment for the graphical image and a second memory address for fill style array for a plurality of line or curve segments comprising the graphical image.

8. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each control word of the plurality of control words further comprises a line style array for a corresponding line or curve segment for the graphical image and a fill style array for a plurality of line or curve segments comprising the graphical image.

9. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

decoding a descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements to determine a corresponding parsing operational code of the plurality of operational codes to control the parsing of the action script.

10. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the directly converting steps further comprise:

performing a deterministic operation on each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements to generate a corresponding result; and

using the corresponding result to determine a corresponding operational code of the plurality of operational codes.

11. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the directly converting steps further comprise:

performing a hash operation on each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements to generate a corresponding hash result; and

using the hash result to determine a corresponding operational code of the plurality of operational codes.

12. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of descriptive elements are selected from the group consisting of:

a tag, a bytecode, a control tag, a definition tag, a dictionary tag, a dictionary repository, and combinations thereof.

13. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the directly executing step further comprises:

decoding a selected operational code of the plurality of operational codes to generate a corresponding plurality of control signals to at least partially control at least one processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits to execute the one or more native instructions corresponding to the selected operational code of the plurality of operational codes.

14. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

matching a plurality of line or curve segments of a boundary of the graphical image; and

determining a sequential ordering of the plurality of line or curve segments to form boundary coordinates of the graphical image.

15. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a fill style to generate pixel data for an area of the graphical image.

16. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying a line style by forming a second graphical image from a boundary of the graphical image; and

applying a fill style to the second graphical image to generate pixel data for the line style.

17. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a Transmission Control Protocol (“

TCP”

), or Internet Protocol (“

IP”

), or both TCP and IP, for reception of a data file.

18. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a hypertext transfer protocol (“

HTTP”

) for reception of a data file.

19. The hardware-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising:

pre-fetching referenced data of the data file.

20. The hardware-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising:

generating pixel data for hypertext markup language (“

HTML”

) data, or extensible markup language (“

XML”

) data, or both HTML and XML data.

21. The hardware-implemented method of claim 20, further comprising:

merging the pixel data for the graphical image with pixel data for the hypertext markup language (“

HTML”

) or extensible markup language (“

XML”

) data.

22. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the parsing and converting steps are performed using a first processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits; and

the execution of the one or more graphical primitive instructions using the one or more control words is performed using at least one second processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits to generate the pixel data for the graphical image.

23. The hardware-implemented method of claim 22, further comprising:

using the first processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits, transferring at least some operational codes of the plurality of operational codes to at least one or more second processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits.

24. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each graphical primitive instruction for native execution by the at least one processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits comprises at least one or more of the following:

a hardware-level instruction, or a hardware-level sub-instruction, or a hardware-level control code, or a hardware-level binary instruction, or a hardware-level configuration, or a hardware-level control signal, or hardware-level microcode.

25. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the action script comprises a data file which has not been fully compiled to machine code and which further comprises at least one descriptive element specifying the graphical image at least partially in a form which is not pixel-based.

26. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the action script comprises a data file specifying the graphical image at least partially using non-pixel data and which comprises an ASCII-encoded scripting language or bytecode.

27. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical image comprises an image of any kind for visual display which has been specified at least partially in a form in the action script which is not a pixel bitmap and is not a pixel matrix.

28. The hardware-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one processor circuit of the plurality of processor circuits is selected from the group consisting of:

a field programmable gate array, an application-specific integrated circuit, a microprocessor, a processor core, a cell processor, a plurality of processor cores, a digital signal processor, a reduced instruction set processor, a reconfigurable processing element, a graphics processing unit, a computing grid, and combinations thereof.

29. A hardware-implemented method of processing an action script for visual display of a graphical image, the method comprising:

using a first processor circuit, separating the action script from other data; and

using a second processor circuit, parsing the action script into a plurality of descriptive elements and a corresponding plurality of variable length operand data sets, the plurality of descriptive elements specifying the graphical image in a non-pixel-by-pixel form;

directly converting each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements into a corresponding operational code of a plurality of operational codes, each corresponding operational code comprising at least one graphical primitive instruction for native execution by the second processor circuit or comprising a memory pointer to an address in a memory storing a sequence of graphical primitive instructions for native execution by the second processor circuit;

directly converting each variable length operand data set of the corresponding plurality of variable length operand data sets into one or more control words and storing the one or more control words in the memory, each control word comprising operand data and one or more control bits in predetermined fields for the native execution of the one or more graphical primitive instructions by the second processor circuit; and

directly executing the one or more graphical primitive instructions using the one or more control words to generate pixel data for the graphical image.

30. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, further comprising:

decoding a descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements of the action script to determine a corresponding parsing operational code of the plurality of operational codes to control the parsing of the action script.

31. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the directly converting steps further comprise:

performing a hash operation on each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements to generate a corresponding hash result; and

using the hash result to determine a corresponding operational code of the plurality of operational codes.

32. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the parsing step further comprises:

determining a type of descriptive element;

determining or selecting a number of bits to parse to form a number of bits to parse parameter; and

shifting out of a memory a number of bits designated by the number of bits to parse parameter.

33. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the plurality of descriptive elements are selected from the group consisting of:

a tag, a bytecode, a control tag, a definition tag, a dictionary tag, a dictionary repository, and combinations thereof.

34. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, wherein the directly executing step further comprises:

decoding a selected operational code of the plurality of operational codes to generate a corresponding plurality of control signals to at least partially control the second processor circuit to execute the one or more native instructions corresponding to the selected operational code of the plurality of operational codes.

35. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, further comprising:

matching a plurality of line or curve segments of a boundary of the graphical image; and

determining a sequential ordering of the plurality of line or curve segments to form boundary coordinates of the graphical image.

36. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, further comprising:

applying a fill style to generate pixel data for an area of the graphical image.

37. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, further comprising:

applying a line style by forming a second graphical image from a boundary of the graphical image; and

applying a fill style to the second graphical image to generate pixel data for the line style.

38. The hardware-implemented method of claim 29, further comprising:

generating pixel data for hypertext markup language (“

HTML”

) data, or extensible markup language (“

XML”

) data, or both HTML and XML data.

39. The hardware-implemented method of claim 38, further comprising:

merging the pixel data for the graphical image with pixel data for the hypertext markup language (“

HTML”

) or extensible markup language (“

XML”

) data.

40. A hardware-implemented method of processing an action script for visual display of a graphical image, the method comprising:

using a system comprising one or more computing devices;

using the one or more computing devices, parsing the action script into a plurality of descriptive elements and a corresponding plurality of variable length operand data sets, the plurality of descriptive elements specifying the graphical image in a non-pixel-by-pixel form;

using the one or more computing devices, directly converting each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements of the action script into a corresponding operational code of a plurality of hardware operational codes, each corresponding operational code comprising at least one graphical primitive instruction for native execution by the one or more computing devices or comprising a memory pointer to an address in a memory storing a sequence of graphical primitive instructions for native execution by the one or more computing devices;

using the one or more computing devices, directly converting each variable length operand data set of the corresponding plurality of variable length operand data sets into one or more control words and storing the one or more control words in the memory, each control word comprising operand data and one or more control bits in predetermined fields for the native execution of the one or more graphical primitive instructions by the one or more computing devices;

using the one or more computing devices, directly executing the one or more graphical primitive instructions using the one or more control words to generate pixel data for the graphical image.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, separating the action script from other data.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the parsing step further comprises:

determining a type of descriptive element;

determining or selecting a number of bits to parse to form a number of bits to parse parameter; and

shifting out of a memory a number of bits designated by the number of bits to parse parameter.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein each control word of the plurality of control words comprises:

a starting or an ending x-coordinate and y-coordinate for a corresponding line or curve segment for the graphical image;

a first memory address for line style array for a corresponding line or curve segment for the graphical image; and

a second memory address for fill style array for a plurality of line or curve segments comprising the graphical image.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein each control word of the plurality of control words comprises:

a starting or an ending x-coordinate and y-coordinate for a corresponding line or curve segment for the graphical image;

a line style array for a corresponding line or curve segment for the graphical image; and

a fill style array for a plurality of line or curve segments comprising the graphical image.

45. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, decoding a descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements to determine a corresponding parsing operational code of the plurality of hardware operational codes to control the parsing of the action script.

46. The method of claim 40, wherein the converting step further comprises:

using the one or more computing devices, performing a deterministic operation on each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements to generate a corresponding result; and

using the one or more computing devices, using the corresponding result to determine a corresponding hardware operational code of the plurality of hardware operational codes.

47. The method of claim 40, wherein the converting steps further comprise:

using the one or more computing devices, performing a hash operation on each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements to generate a corresponding hash result; and

using the hash result as an entry to a look-up table stored in a memory to determine a corresponding operational code of the plurality of hardware operational codes.

48. The method of claim 40, wherein the plurality of descriptive elements are selected from the group consisting of:

a tag, a bytecode, a control tag, a definition tag, a dictionary tag, a dictionary repository, and combinations thereof.

49. The method of claim 40, wherein the performing step further comprises:

using the one or more computing devices, decoding a selected hardware operational code of the plurality of hardware operational codes to generate a corresponding plurality of control signals to at least partially control the one or more computing devices to execute the one or more native instructions corresponding to the selected hardware operational code of the plurality of operational codes.

50. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, matching a plurality of line or curve segments of a boundary of the graphical image; and

using the one or more computing devices, determining a sequential ordering of the plurality of line or curve segments to form boundary coordinates of the graphical image.

51. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, applying a fill style to generate pixel data for an area of the graphical image.

52. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, applying a line style by forming a second graphical image from a boundary of the graphical image; and

using the one or more computing devices, applying a fill style to the second graphical image to generate pixel data for the line style.

53. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, generating pixel data for hypertext markup language (“

HTML”

) data, or extensible markup language (“

XML”

) data, or both HTML and XML data; and

using the one or more computing devices, merging the pixel data for the graphical image with pixel data for the hypertext markup language (“

HTML”

) or extensible markup language (“

XML”

) data.

54. The method of claim 40, wherein each hardware operational code of the plurality of hardware operational codes comprises at least one of the following:

a hardware-level instruction, or a hardware-level sub-instruction, or a hardware-level control code, or a hardware-level binary instruction, or hardware-level configuration, or a hardware-level control signal, or hardware-level microcode.

55. The method of claim 40, wherein the action script comprises a data file which has not been fully compiled to machine code and which further comprises at least one descriptive element specifying the graphical image at least partially in a form which is not pixel-based.

56. The method of claim 40, wherein the one or more computing devices comprises at least one device selected from the group consisting of:

a field programmable gate array, an application-specific integrated circuit, a microprocessor, a processor core, a cell processor, a plurality of processor cores, a digital signal processor, a reduced instruction set processor, a reconfigurable processing element, a graphics processing unit, a computer, a server, a computing grid, and combinations thereof.

57. A method for processing a data file for visual display of a graphical image, the data file comprising interpretable descriptions of the graphical image in a non-pixel-bitmap form, the data file not having been fully compiled to a machine code, the method comprising:

using a system comprising one or more computing devices;

using the one or more computing devices, separating the data file from other data;

using the one or more computing devices, parsing the data file into a plurality of descriptive elements and a corresponding plurality of variable length operand data sets, the plurality of descriptive elements specifying the graphical image in a non-pixel-by-pixel form;

using the one or more computing devices, directly converting each descriptive element of the plurality of descriptive elements of the action script into a corresponding hardware-level operational code of a plurality of hardware-level operational codes, each corresponding operational code comprising at least one graphical primitive instruction for native execution by the one or more computing devices or comprising a memory pointer to an address in a memory storing a sequence of graphical primitive instructions for native execution by the one or more computing devices;

using the one or more computing devices, directly converting each variable length operand data set of the corresponding plurality of variable length operand data sets into one or more control words and storing the one or more control words in the memory, each control word comprising operand data and one or more control bits in predetermined fields for the native execution of the one or more graphical primitive instructions by the one or more computing devices;

using the one or more computing devices, directly executing the one or more graphical primitive instructions using the one or more control words to generate pixel data for the graphical image.

58. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, decoding at least some of the data file to determine a corresponding parsing operational code of the plurality of hardware-level operational codes to control the parsing of the data file.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein the parsing step further comprises:

using the one or more computing devices, determining a type of descriptive element;

using the one or more computing devices, determining or selecting a number of bits to parse to form a number of bits to parse parameter; and

using the one or more computing devices, shifting out of the memory a number of bits designated by the number of bits to parse parameter.

60. The method of claim 57, wherein the converting steps further comprise:

using the one or more computing devices, performing a hash function on each descriptive element of a plurality of descriptive elements to generate a corresponding hash result; and

using the one or more computing devices, using the hash result as an index or entry into a look up table storing the plurality of hardware-level operational codes to determine a corresponding hardware-level operational code of the plurality of hardware-level operational codes.

61. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, generating pixel data for hypertext markup language (“

HTML”

) data, or extensible markup language (“

XML”

) data, or both HTML and XML data; and

using the one or more computing devices, merging the pixel data for the graphical image with pixel data for the hypertext markup language (“

HTML”

) or extensible markup language (“

XML”

) data.

62. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, matching a plurality of line or curve segments of a boundary of the graphical image; and

using the one or more computing devices, determining a sequential ordering of the plurality of line or curve segments to form boundary coordinates of the graphical image.

63. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, applying a fill style to generate pixel data for an area of the graphical image.

64. The method of claim 57, further comprising:

using the one or more computing devices, applying a line style by forming a second graphical image from a boundary of the graphical image; and

using the one or more computing devices, applying a fill style to the second graphical image to generate pixel data for the line style.

65. The method of claim 57, wherein each hardware-level operational code of the plurality of hardware-level operational codes comprises at least one of the following:

a hardware-level instruction, or a hardware-level sub-instruction, or a hardware-level control code, or a hardware-level binary instruction, or hardware-level configuration, or a hardware-level control signal, or hardware-level microcode.

66. The method of claim 57, wherein the one or more computing devices comprises at least one device selected from the group consisting of:

a field programmable gate array, an application-specific integrated circuit, a microprocessor, a processor core, a cell processor, a plurality of processor cores, a digital signal processor, a reduced instruction set processor, a reconfigurable processing element, a graphics processing unit, a computer, a server, a computing grid, and combinations thereof.