Digital ink based visual components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10930045-B2
Application number	US-201715465859-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2017
Priority date	Mar 22, 2017
Publication date	Feb 23, 2021
Grant date	Feb 23, 2021

Abstract

Digital ink is generated to represent a visual component, such as a letter, number, character, and/or other symbol. The digital ink is generated by obtaining multiple different curves that combine to generate the visual component. These different curves can have various different characteristics (e.g., different thicknesses) to provide the desired visual component. The combined curves are converted into a set of primitives that make up the parts of the combined curves, and the set of primitives are converted into a digital ink format. Data describing the set of primitives in digital ink format can be stored and subsequently used to display the visual component as digital ink.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
obtaining first and second curves positioned in overlap with one another at at least one point and that combine to generate a first visual component, the first curve having a first width and the second curve having a second width different than the first width;
converting the first and second curves into a first set of primitives;
converting the first set of primitives into a digital ink format that describes the first set of primitives without rasterization of the first visual component;
obtaining positioning information for the first visual component that refers to how the first visual component is positioned when displayed with another visual component; and
storing the first visual component in the digital ink format.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , the primitives comprising paths that outline the first and second curves.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising storing the positioning information with the first visual component.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising, after obtaining the first and second curves:
obtaining third and fourth curves that combine to generate a second visual component;
converting the third and fourth curves into a second set of primitives;
converting the second set of primitives into a digital ink format that describes the second set of primitives without rasterization of the second visual component; and
storing the first and second visual components, the first and second visual components comprising different characters of a font set.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising performing each of the obtaining the first and second curves, converting the first and second curves, converting the first set of primitives, and storing the first visual component without rasterizing the visual component.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising displaying the first visual component by displaying the digital ink.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising showing animation by displaying an additional visual component in place of the first visual component.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising showing manipulation of the first visual component by displaying an additional visual component in place of the visual component.

9. A computing device comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon multiple instructions that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain first and second curves positioned in overlap with one another at at least one point and that combine to generate a first visual component, the first curve having a first width and the second curve having a second width different than the first width;
convert the first and second curves into a first set of primitives;
convert the first set of primitives into a digital ink format that describes the first set of primitives without rasterization of the first visual component;
obtain positioning information for the first visual component that refers to how the first visual component is positioned when displayed with another visual component; and
store the first visual component in the digital ink format.

10. The computing device as recited in claim 9 , the primitives comprising paths that outline the first and second curves.

11. The computing device as recited in claim 9 , the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to store the positioning information with the first visual component.

12. The computing device as recited in claim 9 , the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to, after obtaining the first and second curves:
obtain third and fourth curves that combine to generate a second visual component;
convert third and fourth curves into a second set of primitives;
convert the second set of primitives into a digital ink format that describes the second set of primitives without rasterization of the second visual component; and
store the first and second visual components, the first and second visual components comprising different characters of a font set.

13. The computing device as recited in claim 9 , the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to perform each of obtaining the first and second curves, converting the first and second curves and storing the first visual component without rasterizing the visual component.

14. The computing device as recited in claim 9 , the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to display the first visual component by displaying the digital ink.

15. The computing device as recited in claim 14 , the multiple instructions further causing the one or more processors to show animation by displaying an additional visual component in place of the first visual component.

16. A visual component generation system in a computer device, the visual component generation system comprising:
a processor; and
a storage device that stores a computer program configured to be executed by the processor, the computer program including:
a curve identification module configured to obtain first and second curves positioned in overlap with one another at at least one point and that combine to generate a visual component, the first curve having a first width and the second curve having a second width different than the first width;
a primitive representation conversion module configured to convert the first and second curves into a set of primitives;
a digital ink conversion module configured to convert the set of primitives into a digital ink format that describes the set of primitives without rasterization of the visual component;
a positioning information collection module configured to obtain positioning information for the visual component that refers to how the visual component is positioned when displayed with another visual component; and
a visual component storage module configured to store the visual component in the digital ink format.

17. The visual component generation system of claim 16 , wherein the primitives comprise paths that outline the first and second curves.

18. The visual component generation system of claim 16 , wherein the visual component storage module is further configured to store the positioning information with the visual component.

19. The visual component generation system of claim 16 , wherein the curve identification module is configured to obtain the first and second curves, the primitive representation conversion module is configured to convert the first and second curves into a set of primitives, the digital ink conversion module is configured to convert the set of primitives into a digital ink format, and the visual component storage module is configured to store the visual component, each without rasterizing the visual component.

20. The visual component generation system of claim 16 , wherein the wherein the curve identification module is further configured to provide an automated tool for specifying the first and second curves.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Houser Robert C
• Yurevich Pavel
• Hammerquist Peter
• Abzarian David
• Tu Xiao
• Bonacina Silvano

Classifications

• G06T11/10

  Texturing; Colouring; Generation of textures or colours (retouching, inpainting or scratch removal G06T5/77) · CPC title

• G06T13/80 Primary

  Two-dimensional [2D] animation, e.g. using sprites · CPC title

• G06T11/001

  Physics · mapped topic