Method and system for enhanced detail-in-context viewing

Abstract

An improved method for display of a transitional region of interest while transitioning between a first region of interest and a second region of interest within visual information on a display screen of a computer. The method comprising the steps of applying a transitional transformation to the visual information and displaying the transitional transformed visual information on the display screen. The transitional transformation requiring a reduced calculation for transforming the visual information in the transitional region.

1. A method for generating a presentation of a region of interest in an original image for display on a display screen, comprising:
 applying a lens to a border region of the region of interest in the original image by displacing the border region onto the lens and projecting the displacing onto a plane in a uniform direction aligned with a viewpoint, wherein the lens remains constant while transitioning between first and second locations for the region of interest in the original image; and, 
 displaying the presentation on the display screen. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  wherein the viewpoint remains constant while transitioning between the first and second locations. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2  wherein the lens has a magnified region for the border region. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3  wherein the magnified region has a diminishing magnification. 
     
     
       5. A system for generating a presentation of a region of interest in an original image for display on a display screen, comprising:
 a processor coupled to memory and the display screen; and, 
 modules within the memory and executed by the processor, the modules including: a module for applying a lens to a border region of the region of interest in the original image by displacing the border region onto the lens and projecting the displacing onto a plane in a uniform direction aligned with a viewpoint, wherein the viewpoint remains constant while transitioning between first and second locations for the region of interest in the original image; and, 
 a module for displaying the presentation on the display screen. 
 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 5  wherein the lens remains constant while transitioning between the first and second locations. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6  wherein the lens has a magnified region for the border region. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 7  wherein the magnified region has a diminishing magnification. 
     
     
       9. A system for displaying a region of interest while transitioning between first and second locations for the region of interest within visual information on a display screen, comprising:
 a processor coupled to memory and the display screen; and, 
 modules within the memory and executed by the processor, the modules including: 
 a module for applying a transformation to a border region of the region of interest in the visual information to improve visual detail in the border region of the region of interest by: 
 establishing a lens surface for the border region having a lens surface shape; and, generating a presentation by overlaying the visual information on the lens surface and projecting the lens surface with the visual information onto a plane in a uniform direction aligned with a viewpoint, wherein at least one of the lens surface shape and the viewpoint remain constant during the transitioning between the first and second locations; and, a module for displaying the presentation on the display screen. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9  wherein the transformation transforms only a portion of the visual information in the region of interest. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 10  wherein the portion is the border of the region of interest. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 9  wherein the border region is a periphery of the region of interest. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 9  wherein the lens surface for the border region is defined by a distortion function. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 9  wherein the lens surface for the border region is defined by a predetermined portion of a lens surface for rendering the region of interest. 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 14  wherein the predetermined portion is a border region of the lens surface for rendering the region of interest. 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 15  wherein the predetermined portion is a periphery of the lens surface for rendering the region of interest. 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 14  wherein the lens surface for rendering the region of interest is defined by the distortion function. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 9  and further comprising a module for establishing a path between the first and second locations for the region of interest. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 18  wherein the path is established automatically by a predetermined program. 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 18  wherein the path is established by user selection. 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 9  and further comprising a module for at least one of: increasing resolution of the visual information in the region of interest; and, decreasing resolution of the visual information outside the region of interest. 
     
     
       22. The system of  claim 21  wherein the transformation provides a smooth transition to the region of interest from an adjacent region by blending increased and decreased resolution visual information in predefined regions adjacent to the region of interest. 
     
     
       23. The system of  claim 22  wherein the blending is performed by averaging the increased and decreased resolution visual information. 
     
     
       24. The system of  claim 22  wherein the blending is performed by admixing the increased and decreased resolution visual information. 
     
     
       25. The system of  claim 9  and further comprising a module for transmitting the presentation over a network to a remote computer. 
     
     
       26. The system of  claim 9  wherein the visual information includes a portable document format (PDF) document. 
     
     
       27. The system of  claim 26  and further comprising a module for scaling the visual information to fit on the display screen. 
     
     
       28. The system of  claim 9  wherein the region of interest, the lens surface, and the lens surface shape include a plurality of regions of interest, a plurality of lens surfaces, and a plurality of lens surface shapes, respectively. 
     
     
       29. The system of  claim 9  wherein the visual information includes one or more of newspapers, magazines, telephone directories, and maps. 
     
     
       30. The system of  claim 9  wherein the visual information includes web page content. 
     
     
       31. The system of  claim 9  wherein the display screen is contained in a handheld device. 
     
     
       32. The system of  claim 9  wherein the visual information is a newspaper page. 
     
     
       33. The system of  claim 32  wherein the newspaper page includes one or more of a plurality of headlines, columns, articles, graphics, and advertisements. 
     
     
       34. The system of  claim 33  wherein the region of interest includes one or more of a headline, a column, an article, a graphic, and an advertisement. 
     
     
       35. The system of  claim 34  wherein the lens surface shape has a shape corresponding to that of the region of interest. 
     
     
       36. The system of  claim 35  wherein the lens surface shape has a shape corresponding to a column. 
     
     
       37. The system of  claim 36  wherein the transformation increases the font size within a portion of the column. 
     
     
       38. The system of  claim 37  wherein the lens surface shape is tapered to provide a continuous transition on at least one side of the portion of the column to undistorted text. 
     
     
       39. A method comprising:
 applying a function by a data processing system to give an appearance of a lens to a region in an original image; and   displaying a presentation of the appearance of the lens that keeps the appearance of the lens constant while transitioning between first and second locations for the region in the original image on a display screen of the data processing system,   wherein said displaying comprises rendering the appearance of the lens at a first resolution and rendering the original image outside of the lens at a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution.   
     
     
       40. The method of claim 39 wherein the applying includes displacing a border region of the region in the original image onto the lens and projecting the displaying onto a plane in a uniform direction. 
     
     
       41. The method of claim 40 wherein the uniform direction is aligned with a viewpoint. 
     
     
       42. The method of claim 41 wherein the viewpoint remains constant while transitioning between the first and second locations. 
     
     
       43. The method of claim 40 wherein the lens has a magnified region for the border region. 
     
     
       44. The method of claim 43 wherein the magnified region has a diminishing magnification. 
     
     
       45. A method comprising:
 applying a function by a data processing system to give an appearance of a lens to a region in an original image; and   displaying a presentation of the appearance of the lens that restricts rendering of the presentation while transitioning between first and second locations for the region in the original image on a display screen of the data processing system such that a portion of the appearance of the lens is not rendered during the transitioning,   wherein the portion of the appearance of the lens that is not rendered during the transitioning is within a border of the appearance of the lens.   
     
     
       46. A method of claim 45 wherein the border of the appearance of the lens is rendered during the transitioning. 
     
     
       47. The method of claim 45 wherein the applying includes displacing a border region of the region in the original image onto the lens and projecting the displaying onto a plane in a uniform direction that is aligned with a viewpoint. 
     
     
       48. The method of claim 45 further comprising displaying the presentation of the appearance of the lens such as not to be restricted when the appearance of the lens is not being transitioned in the original image on the display screen. 
     
     
       49. The method of claim 45 wherein the displaying of the presentation of the appearance of the lens is performed by fully rendering the appearance of the lens if the appearance is not being transitioned. 
     
     
       50. The method of claim 45 wherein the displaying of the presentation of the appearance of the lens is performed by rendering the portion of the appearance of the lens if the appearance is not being transitioned. 
     
     
       51. A client device comprising a processor and memory having instructions that are executable on a processor to receive data via an Internet from a server of an original image having a function applied to give an appearance of a lens to a region of the original image provided by selective high resolution rendering to display data within the region of interest and neighboring regions of the appearance of the lens while remaining data in the original image is rendered at a low resolution,
 wherein the function causes a border region of the region in the original image to be displaced onto the lens and displayed onto a plane in a uniform direction.   
     
     
       52. The client device of claim 51 wherein the function causes the neighboring regions of the appearance of the lens to give an appearance of a smooth transition from the high resolution rendering of the region to the remaining data in the original image. 
     
     
       53. The client device of claim 52 wherein the function causes the transition by blending of a low resolution rendering of the remaining data in the original image with the selective high resolution rendering of the region. 
     
     
       54. The client device of claim 53 wherein the blending includes admixing or averaging. 
     
     
       55. The client device of claim 56, wherein the uniform direction is aligned with a viewpoint. 
     
     
       56. A method comprising:
 displaying an image on a display of a computing device;   specifying a region of interest in the image;   displaying, on the display, the region of interest at a first resolution while displaying, on the display, one or more portions from the image that lie outside the region of interest at a second resolution that is less than the first resolution; and   updating display of the region of interest as the region of interest transitions from the first position to the second position, wherein said updating renders only a periphery of the region of interest as the region of interest transitions from the first position to the second position.   
     
     
       57. The method of claim 56, further comprising scaling the region of interest to obtain a magnified presentation of the region of interest having a greater scale than the one or more portions that lie outside the region of interest, wherein
 said displaying the region of interest comprises displaying the magnified presentation of the region of interest.   
     
     
       58. The method of claim 56, wherein said displaying the region of interest occludes a portion of the image. 
     
     
       59. The method of claim 56, further comprising receiving input that specifies movement of the region of interest from a first position to a second position. 
     
     
       60. The method of claim 56, further comprising smoothing a resolution transition between the region of interest displayed at the first resolution and the one or more other portions displayed at the second resolution. 
     
     
       61. The method of claim 56, wherein said specifying includes embedding locating information for the region of interest in a source of the image. 
     
     
       62. A computing device, comprising
 an input device configured to receive input that specifies a region of interest in an image; and   a processor configured to cause a display to display the region of interest at a first resolution and one or more portions from the image that lie outside the region of interest at a second resolution that is less than the first resolution,   wherein the processor is further configured to cause the display to update display of the region of interest as the region of interest transitions from the first position to the second position, and to only update a periphery of the region of interest as the region of interest transitions from the first position to the second position.   
     
     
       63. The computing device of claim 62, wherein the processor is further configured to:
 scale the region of interest to obtain a magnified presentation of the region of interest having a greater scale than the one or more portions that lie outside the region of interest; and   cause the display to display the magnified presentation of the region of interest such that the magnified presentation occludes a portion of the image.   
     
     
       64. The computing device of claim 62, wherein the input device is further configured to receive additional input that specifies movement of the region of interest from a first position to a second position. 
     
     
       65. The computing device of claim 62, wherein said processor is further configured to cause the display to display a smoothed resolution transition between the region of interest displayed at the first resolution and the one or more other portions displayed at the second resolution.