Animation of graphical objects
First Claim
Patent Images
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 vary 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 given graphical object, and the control function comprises a rendering function, and the device is configured to animate;
the method further comprising;
determining a target position for a graphical object outside of a display of the device based on a user input;
animating the graphical object and to vary;
varying the one or more display characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators during animation of the graphical object over a pre-determined period of time based at least in part on the rendering function;
determining another target position for the graphical object or another graphical object outside of the display of the device based on another user input, wherein the target position and the other target position are different distances from a position of the graphical object or the other graphical object;
animating the graphical object or the other graphical object; and
varying the one or more display characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators during animation of the graphical object or the other graphical object over the pre-determined period of time based at least in part on the rendering function, wherein the rendering function comprises a recursive interpolation function for animating the given graphical object, over the pre-determined period of time, between a source position on the display of the device and a target position outside the display of the device; and
wherein the target a current position for the given graphical object being animated between the source position and the target position at a given time within the pre-determined period of time 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 current position varies with respect to time, and the given graphical object is animated from the source position to the target position over a the pre-determined period of time such that the given graphical object arrives substantially at the current target position at the end of the pre-determined period of time.
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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.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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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 vary 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 given graphical object, and the control function comprises a rendering function, and the device is configured to animate; the method further comprising; determining a target position for a graphical object outside of a display of the device based on a user input; animating the graphical object and to vary; varying the one or more display characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators during animation of the graphical object over a pre-determined period of time based at least in part on the rendering function; determining another target position for the graphical object or another graphical object outside of the display of the device based on another user input, wherein the target position and the other target position are different distances from a position of the graphical object or the other graphical object; animating the graphical object or the other graphical object; and varying the one or more display characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators during animation of the graphical object or the other graphical object over the pre-determined period of time based at least in part on the rendering function, wherein the rendering function comprises a recursive interpolation function for animating the given graphical object, over the pre-determined period of time, between a source position on the display of the device and a target position outside the display of the device; and
wherein the target a current position for the given graphical object being animated between the source position and the target position at a given time within the pre-determined period of time 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 current position varies with respect to time, and the given graphical object is animated from the source position to the target position over a the pre-determined period of time such that the given graphical object arrives substantially at the current target position at the end of the pre-determined period of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method comprising:
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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 pre-determined time period according to a time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined 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 outside of the viewport of the display such that the at least one graphical object arrives at the virtual display position at the end of the pre-determined time period; receiving another user input; calculating another virtual destination for another at least one graphical object of the subset based on the other user input, wherein a distance between the at least one graphical object and the virtual destination and another distance between the other at least graphical object and the other virtual destination are different distances; moving the other at least one graphical object to the other virtual destination over the pre-determined time period according to the time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined time period, wherein moving the other at least one graphical object comprises moving the other at least one graphical object from an actual display position within the viewport to the other virtual display position outside of the viewport of the display such that the other at least one graphical object arrives at the other virtual display position at the end of the pre-determined time period. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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13. A device comprising:
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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, wherein the application instructions stored in the memory device; wherein the device is configured to, when executed by the processor, cause the device to;
pan through a plurality of images in response to a user input,wherein to pan through the plurality of images the application instructions when executed by the processor cause the device to; calculate, based on the user input, a virtual destination outside of the viewport of the display; move at least one image is moved of the plurality of images over a pre-determined period of time to a the virtual destination that is calculated from the user input, according to a time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined period of time;
andthemove at least one other image is movedof the plurality of images at least between a virtual display position outside of the display and an actual display position within the display according to the time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined period of time, and wherein to perform another pan through the plurality of images the application instructions when executed by the processor cause the device to; calculate, based on another user input, another virtual destination outside of the viewport of the display, wherein a distance to the virtual destination and a distance to the other virtual destination are different distances; move at least one image of the plurality of images over the pre-determined period of time to the other virtual destination according to the time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined period of time; and move at least one other image of the plurality of images at least between a virtual display position outside of the display and an actual display position within the display according to the time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined period of time. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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16. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media having application instructions encoded thereon, the application instructions comprising:
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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;
andinstructions for animating the sequence of images over a first pre-determined time period according to a time dependent function as time elapses during the first pre-determined time period such that the particular image arrives at its the virtual destination at the end of the first pre-determined time period; instructions for calculating another virtual destination for the particular image or for another particular image of the sequence of images based on another user input, wherein the other virtual destination is outside of a display of a device displaying the portion of the sequence of images and wherein the other virtual destination is further away from or closer to the particular image or the other particular image in the sequence of images than is the virtual destination in the sequence of images from the particular image; and instructions for animating the sequence of images over another predetermined time period having a same duration as the first pre-determined time period according to the time dependent function as time elapses during the other pre-determined time period such that the particular image or the other particular image arrives at the other virtual destination at the end of the other pre-determined time period. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:
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displaying a subset of graphical objects of a plurality of graphical objects, wherein the plurality of graphical objects are associated with respective coordinates; in response to user input, determining a virtual position for at least one graphical object of the subset of graphical objects, wherein the virtual position is associated with coordinates corresponding to a location outside of a display area; moving the at least one graphical object from its respective coordinates to the coordinates of the virtual position over a pre-determined period of time according to a time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined period of time; and in response to another user input, determining another virtual position for the at least one graphical object or another at least one graphical object of the subset of graphical objects, wherein the other virtual position is associated with coordinates corresponding to a location outside of the display area; moving the at least one graphical object or the other at least one graphical object from its respective coordinates to the coordinates of the other virtual position over the pre-determined period of time according to the time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined period of time, wherein a distance to move the at least one graphical object to the virtual position and a distance to move the at least one graphical object or the other at least one graphical object to the other virtual position are different distances.
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42. A method, comprising:
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performing, by a computing device; displaying a subset of graphical objects of a plurality of graphical objects, wherein the plurality of graphical objects are associated with respective coordinates; in response to a user input, determining a virtual position for at least one graphical object of the subset of graphical objects, wherein the virtual position is associated with coordinates corresponding to a location outside of a display area; and moving the at least one graphical object from its respective coordinates to the coordinates of the virtual position over a pre-determined period of time according to a time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined period of time; in response to another user input, determining another virtual position for the at least one graphical object or another at least one graphical object of the subset of graphical objects, wherein the other virtual position is associated with coordinates corresponding to a location outside of the display area; and moving the at least one graphical object or the other at least one graphical object from its respective coordinates to the coordinates of the other virtual position over the pre-determined period of time according to the time dependent function as time elapses during the pre-determined period of time, wherein a distance to move the at least one graphical object to the virtual position and a distance to move the at least one graphical object or the other at least one graphical object to the other virtual position are different distances.
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Specification