Animation of graphical objects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-RE46758-E
Application number	US-201313890934-A
Country	US
Kind code	E1
Filing date	May 9, 2013
Priority date	Sep 4, 2007
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

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.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more display characteristics associated with the first and second evaluators comprise a position of the given graphical object.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the additional function dependent on time includes at least one of a linear function, a polynomial function, an exponential function, a logarithmic function, or a trigonometric function.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rendering function is configured to adjust adjusts a plurality of display characteristics of the given graphical object via evaluators, the display characteristics comprising two or more of position, velocity, acceleration, size, opacity, or color.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second evaluators of the control function operate concurrently.

6. A method comprising:
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.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising:
receiving an additional user input while moving the at least one graphical object during the pre-determined time period;
updating the virtual destination for the at least one graphical object based on the additional user input; and
moving the at least one graphical object to the updated virtual destination over an additional pre-determined time period.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein moving the at least one graphical object comprises moving the at least one graphical object according to a function including an evaluator.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein moving the at least one graphical object comprises moving the at least one graphical object according to an interpolation between its original position and its virtual destination.

10. The method of claim 6 9, wherein the interpolation comprises a linear non-linear interpolation.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein the virtual destination is outside of the viewport.

12. The method of claim 6 , comprising:
calculating virtual destinations for each graphical object of the plurality of graphical objects based on the user input; and
animating the sequence of graphical objects of the plurality of graphical objects within the viewport over the pre-determined time period such that each graphical object of the plurality of graphical objects is moved to its respective virtual destination over at the end of the pre-determined time period.

13. A device comprising:
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 i

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Dowdy Thomas
• Heller David
• Jones Anne

Classifications

• G06F2203/04802

  3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user · CPC title

• G06F9/4443

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/0481 Primary

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G06F9/451

  Execution arrangements for user interfaces · CPC title