AU748881B2 - A method for previewing various rendering effects - Google Patents

Description

S&FRef: 500434

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name and Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha 30-2, Shimomaruko 3-chome, Ohta-ku Tokyo Japan Peter Anthony Bruderlin Spruson Ferguson St Martins Tower 31 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 A Method for Previewing Various Rendering Effects Invention Title: ASSOCIATED PROVISIONAL APPLICATION DETAILS [33] Country [31] Applic. No(s) AU PQ0020 [32] Application Date 28 Apr 1999 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 5815c A Method for Previewing Various Rendering Effects Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the display of rendering effects within a graphic electronic document and, in particular, the display of those effects within graphic documents.

Background Art In the preparation of electronic documents, especially those documents containing colour graphic artwork, one seeks to apply one or more rendering effects to the document. Such rendering effects can include varying the resolution of the effect, changing the colour palette, applying different filters such as blur or sharpen, anti-aliasing method and standard photography effects such as sepia, emboss and monotone.

Traditional techniques of applying these effects apply the selected effect on the entire 15 visible portion of the document.

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However, applying such techniques to the entire visible portions of the document S• results in difficulties in comparing different versions of the rendered document with these different effects applied thereto. In addition, depending on the rendering effect used, the application of these effects to the entire visible portion of the document may be 20 sufficiently slow that they cannot be performed at practical interactive speeds. The slow application of effects makes the comparison of different effects, or combinations of effects, more difficult.

Summary of the Invention It is an object of the present invention to substantially overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the deficiencies of the above mentioned arrangements.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of previewing one or more rendering effects applied to an electronic document, said method comprising the steps of: defining a first movable viewport within a visible area of said electronic document; Treceiving at least one rendering effect assigned to said first viewport; and 500434.doc -2rendering a region of said document visible through said first viewport as said viewport is moved over said document according to said rendering effect(s) assigned to said first viewport.

Other aspects of the invention are also described.

Brief Description of Drawings A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described hereinafter with reference to the drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for implementing the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is an illustration of an example window using the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detail Description The preferred embodiment of the present invention can be implemented as a computer application program using a conventional general-purpose computer system, such as the computer system 100 shown in Fig. 1, in which the application program to be 20 described with reference to the other drawing is implemented as software executed on the computer system 100. The computer system 100 includes a computer module 102, input devices such as a keyboard 110 and mouse 112, and output devices including a video *display device 104.

The computer module 102 typically includes at least one processor unit 114, a memory unit 118, for example formed from semiconductor random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM). A number of input/output interfaces including a video interface 122, and an I/O interface 116 for the keyboard 110 and mouse 112 are also included. A storage device 124 is provided and typically includes a hard disk drive 126 and a floppy disk drive 128. A CD-ROM drive 120 is typically provided as a non-volatile source of data, such as audio-visual data. The components 114 to 128 of the computer module 102, typically communicate via an interconnected bus 130 and in a 500434.doc -3manner which results in a conventional mode of operation of the computer system 100 known to those in the relevant art. Examples of computers on which the embodiments can be practised include IBM-PC's and compatibles, or alike computer systems evolved therefrom. Typically, the application program of the preferred embodiment is resident on the hard disk drive 126 and is read and executed using the processor 114. Intermediate storage of the program and any data processed may be accomplished using the semiconductor memory 118, possibly in concert with the hard disk drive 126. In some instances, the application program may be supplied to the user encoded on a CD-ROM or floppy disk, or via a computer network such as the Internet.

In the preparation of electronic documents containing colour graphic artwork, an author of the electronic document (or simply referred to as the user) seeks to apply one or S• more rendering effects to the document. Such rendering effects can include: alternate colour palettes; i adding photographic effects such as sepia, emboss, image sharpening and blur; 15 apply colour filtering or transforms; anti-aliasing methods; and variations in rendering quality.

The user also seeks to apply combinations of these effects to the document.

%0 However, should the result after application of a rendering effect be undesirable, the user seeks to alter or remove that effect. Further, when combinations of effects are used, the user seeks to alter or remove, not only the last effect, but any of the effects in the combination.

Fig. 2 shows a main window 4, presented on the display 104 (illustrated in Fig.

of an application on which the preferred embodiment of the present invention is practiced. The main window 4 provides a presentation of a document or image desired for reproduction by the user. The user can, by using a pointing device like the mouse 112, define one or more rectangular viewports 1, 2 and 3 within the main window 4. The user can further assign a rendering effect to each of the viewports 1, 2 and 3. Thus, each viewport acts as an interactive rendering effect preview of the document or image, and also restricts the interactive rendering to a small area of interest.

The user is also provided with the ability to add further viewports. The user is further provided with the ability to edit previously defined viewports 1, 2 and 3, by resizing and moving them, or change the rendering effect applied.

CITP1687AU OpenTempO 1 500434 I:\ELEC\C ISRA\OpenTemp\OpenTemp 01 \500434.doc As an example, each of the viewports 1, 2 and 3 have assigned to them the following rendering effects: Viewport Number Rendering Effect 1 Differing colour palette 2 Embossing 3 Sepia According to the preferred embodiment, only the area enclosed by each of the viewports 1, 2 and 3 has the rendering effect applied thereto. In the example above, the area bordered by viewport 1 would have a different colour palette applied to it rather than the default or current palette used to render the directly visible portions of the document or image, ie. the portions not viewed through any of the viewports 1, 2 and 3. Similarly, viewport 2 would show the emboss photographic effect applied to the defined area, and 10 viewport 3 would show the sepia photographic effect applied.

As illustrated on Fig.2, viewport 2 and viewport 3 have an overlapping area The portion of the document or image defined by the overlapping area 5 has applied to it both the sepia and embossing effects, thus the overlapping area 5 renders the defined area of the document according to the effects of both of the overlapping viewports 2 and 3.

15 Combinations of different viewports 1, 2 and 3, overlapped in different ways will allow the user to more quickly arrive at a combination of effects that are desirable for the document or image as a whole.

Overlapping viewports 2 and 3 are also provided with an indication of depth or order. Even though most effects are commutative, some combinations of rendering effects do have a different result when the order of applying them is changed. The order can for example be indicated by the thickness of the viewport borderline. The user is also provided with a function to change the order of the viewports 1, 2 and 3.

Thus, the user is not only provided with a preview of the result the rendering effect would have on the document as a whole, but is also provided with a direct comparison of the result of the rendering effect compared with the pre-rendered document and/or other rendering effects and combinations thereof.

With reference to the example illustrated in Fig. 2, if the user is subsequently interested in the appearance of the sepia effect applied to the alternate palette defined for CFP1687AU OpenTempO 1 500434 S:\ELEC\CISRA\OpenTemp\OpenTempO 1 500434.doc viewport 1, the user may simply move the sepia viewport 3 over to viewport 1 or vice versa. All three effects may be examined by overlapping all three viewports 1, 2 and 3.

The fact that the chosen rendering effect is only applied to the area defined by the viewport 1, 2 and 3 also means that processing extensive effects, for example such as blurring and sharpening, can be rendered much faster than the whole screen due to its smaller size. Long wait times common with these effects on big documents are thereby eliminated, making it more responsive and interactive.

A further aspect of the current invention is that the user is provided with the ability to send the altered document, the altered main window 4 or the contents of any of the viewports 1, 2 or 3 to a image file, or to a printer. The former may be particularly useful if, during the course of preparing artwork, the user finds an interesting piece of •reusable clipart generated by applying a particular set of rendering effects to a section of a current piece of artwork. This may then be saved off to an image file for reuse.

The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention, and 15 modifications, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

In the context of this specification, the word "comprising" means "including principally but not necessarily solely" or "having" or "including" and not "consisting only of'. Variations of the word comprising, such as "comprise" and "comprises" have 20 corresponding meanings.

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Claims (9)

1. A method of previewing one or more rendering effects applied to an electronic document, said method comprising the steps of: defining a first movable viewport within a visible area of said electronic document; receiving at least one rendering effect assigned to said first viewport; and rendering a region of said document visible through said first viewport as said viewport is moved over said document according to said rendering effect(s) assigned to said first viewport.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising the steps of: defining at least a second movable viewport; receiving at least one rendering effect assigned to said second viewport; and rendering a region of said document visible through said second viewport according to said rendering effect(s) assigned to said second viewport, wherein a region of said document visible through said first and said second viewports is rendered according to the combined rendering effects assigned to said first and said second S"i viewports. S"

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein said combined effects are applied to said region of said document visible through said first and said second So viewports in a defined order.

4. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 comprising the further step of interactively resizing said viewport.

The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising the further step of writing data corresponding to said region of said document with said rendering effect(s) applied to it to a graphic file.

6. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising the further step of transferring data corresponding to said region of said document with said dering effect(s) applied to it to a printer.

500434.doc -7-

7. An apparatus for previewing one or more rendering effects applied to an electronic document, said apparatus comprising: means for defining a first movable viewport within a visible area of said electronic document; means for receiving at least one rendering effect assigned to said first viewport; and means for rendering a region of said document visible through said first viewport as said viewport is moved over said document according to said rendering effect(s) assigned to said first viewport.

8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 further comprising: .means for defining at least a second movable viewport; go means for receiving at least one rendering effect assigned to said second viewport; and means for rendering a region of said document visible through said second viewport according to said rendering effect(s) assigned to said second viewport, wherein a region of said document visible through said first and said second viewports is rendered according to the combined rendering effects assigned to said first and said second 20 viewports.

9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein said combined effects are applied to said region of said document visible through said first and said second viewports in a defined order. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 9 further comprising means for interactively resizing said viewport. 11. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10, further comprising means for writing data corresponding to said region of said document with said rendering effect(s) applied to it to a graphic file. 500434.doc 12. The apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10, further comprising means for transferring data corresponding to said region of said document with said rendering effect(s) applied to it to a printer. 13. A computer program product including a computer readable medium incorporating a computer program for previewing one or more rendering effects applied to an electronic document, said program comprising: code for defining a first movable viewport within a visible area of said electronic document; code for receiving at least one rendering effect assigned to said first viewport; and code for rendering a region of said document visible through said first viewport S.as said viewport is moved over said document according to said rendering effect(s) assigned to said first viewport. 14. The computer program product as claimed in claim 13 further comprising: o• code for defining at least a second movable viewport; code for receiving at least one rendering effect assigned to said second viewport; 20 and code for rendering a region of said document visible through said second viewport according to said rendering effect(s) assigned to said second viewport, wherein a region of said document visible through said first and said second viewports is rendered i according to the combined rendering effects assigned to said first and said second viewports. The computer program product as claimed in claim 14 wherein said combined effects are applied to said region of said document visible through said first and said second viewports in a defined order. 16. The computer program product as claimed in any one of claims 13 to further comprising code for interactively resizing said viewport. 500434.doc 17. The computer program product as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16, further comprising code for writing data corresponding to said region of said document with said rendering effect(s) applied to it to a graphic file. 18. The computer program product as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16, further comprising code for transferring data corresponding to said region of said document with said rendering effect(s) applied to it to a printer. 19. A method of previewing one or more rendering effects applied to an electronic document, said method being substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings. 20. Apparatus for previewing one or more rendering effects applied to an electronic document, said apparatus being substantially as described herein with reference S 15 to the drawings. Dated this EIGHTEENTH day of November 2001 CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA N o Patent Attorneys for the Applicant S° 20 SPRUSON&FERGUSON 500434.doc