Method and system for renewing screen

• US 8,035,649 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2005
• Issued: 10/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NHN Corporation
• Original Assignee: NHN Corporation
• Inventors: Kim, Dae Il
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung, Kee M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amin, Jwalant
• Application Number:
  US11/571,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20080136831A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,296 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/537
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/23 for interfacing with the game device, e.g. specific interfaces between game controller and console
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/52 involving aspects of the displayed game scene
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/533 for prompting the player, e.g. by displaying a game menu
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5375 for graphically or textually suggesting an action, e.g. by displaying an arrow indicating a turn in a driving game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/95 Storage media specially adapted for storing game information, e.g. video game cartridges
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/203 Image generating hardware
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/305 for providing a graphical or textual hint to the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/308 Details of the user interface
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/572 Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/65 for computing the condition of a game character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6607 for animating game characters, e.g. skeleton kinematics
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/807 Role playing or strategy games
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/393 : Arrangements for updating the contents of the bit-mapped memory

Abstract

There is provided a screen update method and system including: a first step of identifying image resource data associated with a first image update event from a predetermined basic recording space in case that the first image update event occurs; a second step of loading the identified image resource data in a buffer space including a plurality of buffers, in which the image resource data are loaded in rotation on the buffer by a frame, respectively; a third step of sequentially determining the image resource data loaded on the buffer for each the buffer, rendering the determined image resource data, and generating a first image at a first frame rate; a fourth step of generating a second image associated with a second image update event at a second frame rate in case that the second image update event occurs; a fifth step of compositing the first image with the second image to generate an entire image; and a sixth step of displaying the entire image on a predetermined display means.

Claims

1. A method of updating images displayed on a display device, the method comprising:

identifying image resource data associated with an update event for a first image from a basic recording space when the update event for the first image occurs;

loading the identified image resource data in a buffer space including a plurality of buffers, in which the image resource data are loaded in rotation on the buffer by frame, respectively;

generating the first image at a first frame rate by sequentially rendering the loaded image resource data;

generating a second image associated with an update event for the second image at a second frame rate when the update event for the second image occurs, the generation of the second image being substantially independent from the generation of the first image such that image resource data of the second image is not loaded in the buffer space;

compositing the first image with the second image; and

updating at least a portion of the display device to display the composite image,

wherein the second image is generated without being rendered.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first frame rate is less than the second frame rate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the step of generating the first image is repeated while the update event for the first image lasts.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first image is an image including a three dimensional object for displaying one of a player character, a Non-Player Character (NPC), and a dynamic scene in a three dimensional network game.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising

generating the update event for the first image by a screen update request of one of changing the operation of a three-dimensional image or a user input,

wherein the screen update request comprises moving a position or action of the first image.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the three dimensional network game comprises a Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) comprising a plurality of users simultaneously participating via online in a broadband game area.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of compositing the first image with the second image includes a step of generating the entire image by overlapping the first with the second image.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the second image is repeated while the update event for the second image lasts.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a user input initiates the update event for the second image.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second image is an image for displaying user interface input associated with one of a mouse point, a chatting window including chatting text, and an item selecting window including item state information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein

the composited image comprises a full image,

when only the update event for the first image occurs, only the first image is updated and the full image is updated at the first frame rate,

when only the update event for the second image occurs, only the second image is updated and the full image is updated at the second frame rate, and when the first image and the second image are simultaneously updated, the full image includes a first area updated at the first frame rate and a second area updated at the second frame rate.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with a program for executing the method recited in claim 1.

13. A system for updating images displayed on a display device, the system comprising:

a basic recording space to store image resource data;

an identification module to identify image source data associated with an update event for a first image from the basic recording space when the update event for the first image occurs;

a loading module to sequentially load the identified image resource data for each buffer by frame in a buffer space including a plurality of the buffers;

a first image generating module to sequentially determine the image resource data loaded on the buffer, to render the determined image resource data, and to generate the first image at a first frame rate;

a second image generating module to generate a second image associated with a second image update event at a second frame rate when the update event for the second image occurs, second image data not being loaded on a buffer; and

a display module to generate an entire image by compositing the first image with the second image and to display the entire image on a predetermined display module,

wherein the second image is generated without being rendered.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first frame rate is less than the second frame rate.

15. A system for updating images displayed on a display device, the system comprising:

a basic recording space for storing image resource data;

an identification means for identifying image source data associated with an update event for a first image from the basic recording space in case that the update event for the first image occurs;

a loading means for sequentially loading the identified image resource data for each buffer by frame in a buffer space including a plurality of the buffers;

a first image generating means for sequentially determining the image resource data loaded on the buffer, rendering the determined image resource data, and generating the first image at a first frame rate;

a second image generating means for generating a second image associated with a second image update event at a second frame rate in case that the update event for the second image occurs, second image data not being loaded on a buffer; and

a display means for generating an entire image by compositing the first image with the second image and displaying the entire image on a predetermined display means,

wherein the second image is generated without being rendered.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first frame rate is less than the second frame rate.