초록 ▼

A multiple-level graphics processing system and method (e.g. , of an operating system) for providing improved graphics output including, for example, smooth animation. One such multiple-level graphics processing system comprises two components, including a tick-on-demand or slow-tick high-level com

A multiple-level graphics processing system and method (e.g. , of an operating system) for providing improved graphics output including, for example, smooth animation. One such multiple-level graphics processing system comprises two components, including a tick-on-demand or slow-tick high-level component, and a fast-tick (e.g., at the graphics hardware frame refresh rate) low-level component. In general, the high-level, less frequent component performs computationally intensive aspects of updating animation parameters and traversing scene data structures, in order to pass simplified data structures to the low-level component. The low-level component operates at a higher frequency, such as the frame refresh rate of the graphics subsystem, to process the data structures into constant output data for the graphics subsystem. The low-level processing includes interpolating any parameter intervals as necessary to obtain instantaneous values to render the scene for each frame of animation.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. In a computing environment, a system comprising, a graphics subsystem for outputting frames of display information including graphics; a first component that provides graphics data at a first rate to the graphics subsystem to output the frames of display information; a seco

What is claimed is: 1. In a computing environment, a system comprising, a graphics subsystem for outputting frames of display information including graphics; a first component that provides graphics data at a first rate to the graphics subsystem to output the frames of display information; a second component that interfaces with program code to produce scene data for the program code, the second component configured to process the scene data into graphics information by maintaining at least some of the scene data in a cache data structure and traversing the cache data structure at a second rate that is lower than the first rate, and to provide the graphics information to the first component; the cache data structure arranged as a hierarhical tree of nodes in which at least one of the nodes comprises a container structure that includes drawing instructions; and wherein the first component provides return information to the second component that the second component uses to traverse the cache data structure or maintain the scene data in the cache data structure. 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the graphics information comprises image data in a format understood by the first component. 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the graphics information comprises instructions. 4. The system of claim 3 wherein the instructions include at least one interpolation command, and wherein the first component includes an interpolation mechanism that changes the graphics data provided to the graphics subsystem by interpolating an image within the graphics data over time. 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the second component accesses animation parameters to vary the graphics information provided to the first component. 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the second component operates in response to a change in the scene data to output. 7. The system of claim 1 wherein the second component operates when the first component indicates that the graphics information is needed. 8. The system of claim 1 wherein the second component dynamically adjusts the amount of the graphics information provided to the first component based on the return information from the first component. 9. The system of claim 1 wherein the second component operates at a frequency that is based on an animation parameter in the scene data. 10. The system of claim 3 wherein the second component provides the graphics information to the first component via an instruction stream. 11. The system of claim 1 wherein the second component provides the graphics information to the first component via an instruction stream. 12. The system of claim 1 wherein the second component provides the graphics information to the first component via a network connection. 13. The system of claim 1 wherein the first component maintains the graphics information provided by the second component in a set of at least one queue. 14. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least one other second component that provides other graphics information to the first component, and wherein the first component composes the graphics data provided to the graphics subsystem from a composition of the graphics information from each second component. 15. The system of claim 14 wherein the first component maintains the graphics information provided by the second component in a set of at least one queue for each high level component. 16. The system of claim 1 wherein the first component separates the graphics information provided by the second component into visual blocks and resource data structures. 17. The system of claim 1 wherein the first component and second component execute on different threads. 18. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, the data structure comprising: a visual update block, including an identifier field having a visual identifier therein, and a field corresponding to an instruction block; the instruction block corresponding to a set of data related to a visual identified by the visual identifier, the set of data being passed from a high-level graphics processing component to a low-level graphics processing component, and the set of data including an instruction that provides the low level graphics processing component with interpolation information, the interpolation information comprising a time interval; and the high-level component constructing the data structure from a scene graph and providing the data structure to the low-level component, the low-level component processing the data structure based in part on the interpolation information into graphics data for passing to a graphics subsystem to output a frame; wherein the field corresponding to the instruction block comprises an instruction block offset pointing to another location in the data structure. 19. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, the data structure comprising: a visual update block, including an identifier field having a visual identifier therein, and a field corresponding to an instruction block, the field corresponding to an instruction block comprising an instruction block offset pointing to another location in the data structure; the instruction block corresponding to a set of data related to a visual identified by the visual identifier, the set of data being passed from a high-level graphics processing component to a low-level graphics processing component; and the high-level component constructing the data structure from a scene graph and providing the data structure to the low-level component, the low-level component processing the data structure into graphics data for passing to a graphics subsystem to output a frame.