Method and apparatus for providing translucent images on a computer display
First Claim
1. A method for establishing a translucent window having a translucent window background and a translucent window frame on a display screen of a computer system, comprising the steps of:
- displaying a translucent window on a display screen such that a base window can be seen through said translucent window, andconducting image operations on at least one of said translucent window and said base window.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus is described for producing a translucent image over a base image created on the display screen of a computer system by a selected first application program, and conducting image operations either on the base image created by the selected application program with reference to the translucent image produced, or conducting image operations on the translucent image with reference to the base image of the first application program. The first application program runs on a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system to produce a base image, and another application program referred to as the overlay program is run to produce the translucent image such that portions of the base image which are overlapped by the overlay image are at least partially visible through the translucent image. There is also a mechanism for blending the first video data and the second video data to produce a blended image on the screen assembly.
57 Citations
52 Claims
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1. A method for establishing a translucent window having a translucent window background and a translucent window frame on a display screen of a computer system, comprising the steps of:
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displaying a translucent window on a display screen such that a base window can be seen through said translucent window, and conducting image operations on at least one of said translucent window and said base window. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for displaying images on a display screen of a computer system, comprising the steps of:
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displaying a base image on a display screen of a computer system; and displaying a translucent image on said screen such that portions of said base image which are covered by said translucent image are at least partially visible through said translucent image. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for displaying images on a display screen of a computer system comprising the steps of:
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running an application program on the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system to produce a base image on a display screen coupled to said CPU; and running an overlay program on said CPU to produce a translucent image on said display screen such that portions of said base image are overlapped by said translucent image and are at least partially visible through said translucent image. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method of performing image operations in a computer system having a display screen, including the steps of:
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presenting a first selected image with respect to which image operations are desired, and producing a translucent image effective for overlapping at least a portion of said first selected image. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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26. A computer system comprising:
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a central processing unit (CPU); screen means for displaying images, said screen means being coupled to said CPU; display means coupled to said screen means for displaying a translucent image on said screen means; and means for conducting image operations on a region including the level of a translucent image produced by said display means and the level beneath the translucent image. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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29. A method comprising:
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producing a first image and a second image in memory, wherein at least a portion of the first image includes first blendable units, and at least a portion of the second image includes second blendable units, at least one of the first blendable units being blended with at least one of the second blendable units; identifying updated first blendable units of the first image; blending the updated first blendable units of the first image with the at least one of the second blendable units in a memory of an electronic device to yield a blended image; and displaying the blended image on a display of the electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A system comprising:
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a memory configured to store a first image and a second image, wherein at least a portion of the first image includes first blendable units, and at least a portion of the second image includes second blendable units, at least one of the first blendable units being blended with at least one of the second blendable units; a processor configured to identify updated first blendable units of the first image, and blend the updated first blendable units of the first image with the at least one of the second blendable units in the memory of an electronic device to yield a blended image; a display configured to display the blended image. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A device comprising:
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a non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store computer-executable instructions; and computer-executable instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that when executed are effective to cause a computer processor to; produce a first image and a second image in memory, wherein at least a portion of the first image includes first blendable units, and at least a portion of the second image includes second blendable units, at least one of the first blendable units being blended with at least one of the second blendable units; identify updated first blendable units of the first image; blend the updated first blendable units of the first image with the at least one of the second blendable units in a memory of an electronic device to yield a blended image; and display the blended image on a display of the electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification