Method for providing visual effect messages and associated communication system and transmitting end

• US 8,897,821 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2012
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xueshan Technologies Inc. (Wi-LAN Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MStar Semiconductor Incorporated (MediaTek, Inc.)
• Inventors: Huang, Chih-Hsien, Yu, Sheng-Chi
• Primary Examiner(s): Gonzalez, Amancio
• Application Number:
  US13/450,621
• Publication Number:
  US 20120289262A1
• Time in Patent Office: 950 Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72439 for image or video messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A method for providing visual effect messages on a receiving end and associated transmitting end configuration is provided. At the transmitting end, visual effect positions and visual effects of messages are determined according to an input message. The visual effect positions and visual effect information are transmitted to the receiving end, and are displayed at the visual effect positions at the receiving end according to the visual information.

Claims

1. A method for providing a visual effect message in a communication system, the communication system comprising a transmitting end and a receiving end, the method comprising:

inputting a user input message at the transmitting end, wherein the user input message is either a graph or a text comprising a plurality of letters;

defining a plurality of visual effect positions in each letter of the text according to shape of the letter, or defining a plurality of visual effect positions in the graph according to shape of the graph;

providing a plurality of visual effect information corresponding to each of the visual effect positions;

transmitting the plurality of visual effect positions and the plurality of visual effect information from the transmitting end to the receiving end;

rendering a visual effect message at the receiving end by displaying the plurality of visual effect information at each of the plurality of visual effect positions; and

displaying the visual effect message at the receiving end.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

encoding the visual effect information and the visual effect positions by the transmitting end into encoded information;

wherein, the step of transmitting the visual effect positions and the visual effect information to the receiving end comprises transmitting the encoded information to the receiving end.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

decoding the encoded information at the receiving end to retrieve the visual effect positions and the visual effect information from the encoded information;

displaying the visual effect information at the visual effect positions.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the visual effect positions respectively correspond to a plurality of coordinates on a coordinate plane.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication system is at least one of a GSM system, a CDMA/WCDMA system, an LTE system, a WiMAX system, and an Internet system.

21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

calculating coordinates of the visual effect positions along geometric coordinates of the user input message according to a predetermined algorithm, and providing a visual effect editing interface for providing a preview of the visual effect message by selecting parameters of visual effects.

6. A communication system for providing a visual effect message, comprising:

an input module, for inputting a user input message, wherein the user input message is either a graph or a text comprising a plurality of letters;

a visual effect editing module, for defining a plurality of visual effect positions in each letter of the text according to shape of the letter, or defining a plurality of visual effect positions in the graph according to shape of the graph, and further providing a plurality of visual effect information corresponding to each of the visual effect positions; and

a first communication module, for transmitting the plurality of visual effect positions and the plurality of visual effect information according to a communication protocol corresponding to the communication system to a receiving end, such that a visual effect message is rendered at the receiving end by displaying the plurality of visual effect information at each of the plurality of visual effect positions.

7. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the receiving end comprises:

a second communication module, for receiving the visual effect positions and the visual effect information; and

a display module, for displaying a corresponding visual effect at the visual effect positions according to the visual effect information.

8. The communication system according to claim 7, further comprising a transmitting end, wherein the transmitting end comprises:

an encoding module for encoding the visual effect positions and the visual effect information into encoded information;

the first communication module transmits the encoded information when transmitting the visual effect positions and the visual effect information; and

the second communication module receives the encoded information when receiving the visual effect positions and the visual effect information.

9. The communication system according to claim 8, wherein the receiving end further comprises a decoding module for decoding the encoded information to retrieve the visual effect positions and the visual effect information from the encoded information, and the display module further displays the visual effect information at the visual effect positions.

10. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the visual effect information is particle system mode visual effect information, and the visual effect positions respectively correspond to a plurality of coordinates on a coordinate plane.

11. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the communication system is at least one of a GSM system, a CDMA/WCDMA system, an LTE system, a WiMAX system, and an Internet system.

22. The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the visual effect editing module is further capable of:

calculating coordinates of the visual effect positions along geometric coordinates of the user input message according to a predetermined algorithm, and providing a visual effect editing interface for providing a preview of the visual effect message by selecting parameters of visual effects.

12. A transmitting end in a communication system for providing a visual effect message, comprising:

a touch screen for inputting a user input message, wherein the user input message is either a graph or a text comprising a plurality of letters; and

a visual effect editing module coupled to the touch screen, for defining a plurality of visual effect positions in each letter of the text according to shape of the letter, or defining a plurality of visual effect positions in the graph according to shape of the graph, and further providing a plurality of visual effect information corresponding to each of the visual effect positions;

wherein, the touch screen displays a visual effect message, and the visual effect message is rendered by displaying the plurality of visual effect information at each of the plurality of visual effect positions.

13. The transmitting end according to claim 12, further comprising:

a first communication module, for transmitting the visual effect information according to a communication protocol corresponding to the communication system to a receiving end.

14. The transmitting end according to claim 13, wherein:

the transmitting end comprises an encoding module for encoding the visual effect positions and the visual effect information to encoded information;

the first communication module transmits the encoded information when transmitting the visual effect positions and the visual effect information; and

the second communication module receives the encoded information when receiving the visual effect positions and the visual effect information.

15. The transmitting end according to claim 12, wherein the visual effect information comprises particle system mode visual effect positions, and the visual effect positions respectively correspond to a plurality of coordinates on a coordinate plane.

16. The transmitting end according to claim 15, wherein a plurality of coordinates obtained from a same-finger touch control are defined as a same visual effect position.

17. The transmitting end according to claim 16, wherein the plurality of coordinates obtained from a same-finger touch control correspond to pixels touched by the user within a predetermined time period.

18. The transmitting end according to claim 15, wherein:

the visual effect information further comprises a lifespan parameter for the plurality of coordinates on the coordinate plane;

a frame update rate is determined for the plurality of coordinates on the coordinate plane; and

upon each update of the plurality of coordinates on the coordinate plane according to the frame update rate, all existing particles are checked to determine whether their lifespan parameter is exceeded.

19. The transmitting end according to claim 12, displaying the corresponding visual effect via two steps of:

calculating parameters of a plurality of particles generated at the visual effect positions on a frame according to the visual effect information; and

drawing and displaying the particles on the frame via a graphics database according to the particle parameters.

20. The transmitting end according to claim 12, wherein the communication system is at least one of a GSM system, a CDMA/WCDMA system, an LTE system, a WiMAX system, and an Internet system.

23. The transmitting end according to claim 12, wherein the visual effect editing module is further capable of:

calculating coordinates of the visual effect positions along geometric coordinates of the user input message according to a predetermined algorithm, and providing a visual effect editing interface for providing a preview of the visual effect message by selecting parameters of visual effects.