Cross Window Animation Overlay Management

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing animation technologies face difficulties in creating seamless transitions and animations that cross multiple windows, as they often require complex overlay management and synchronization across different windows, leading to jerky or unresponsive user experiences.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of an animation manager that uses an overlay window to cover the animation area across multiple windows, allowing supported windows to draw content directly to the overlay and include non-supported windows through image representation, enabling smooth interwindow animations and window transitions by redirecting content and managing layers within the overlay.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If traditional animation methods are used across multiple windows, then animation functionality is provided, but the animation becomes jerky and unresponsive due to complex overlay management and synchronization issues

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveanimation smoothnessVSAvoidoverlay management complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

A desktop composition window is introduced as an intermediary layer that receives draw messages from multiple application windows and renders them in a unified coordinate system. This mediator handles the composition and animation rendering, isolating the complexity of multi-window synchronization from individual applications and enabling smooth cross-window animations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If separate animation handling is implemented for each window, then window independence is maintained, but seamless cross-window transitions cannot be achieved

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecross-window animation capabilityVSAvoiduser input blocking

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

Multiple application windows are merged into a single desktop composition window that handles all animation rendering in one unified context. This consolidation allows seamless cross-window transitions by treating all windows as part of a single composible scene, eliminating the need for complex inter-window coordination and preventing user input blocking.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP2780786B1Cross window animation

Publication Date: 2021.10.06 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

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AI summary

Animations may cross different windows. These cross window animations may include interwindow animations and/or window transition animations. Interwindow animations are used to animate elements across windows. Window transitions are used to animate moving/resizing/showing/hiding windows simultaneously. To perform these animations, an overlay window covers the animation area that includes at least a portion of two different windows. Layers may be used to represent images or visual elements that can be moved as part of an animation. These layers maybe placed in the animation overlay window to move visual elements across the underlying windows. Supported underlying windows are directed to draw content directly to the overlay window during the animation. A picture of the underlying window is drawn to the animation overlay window when the underlying window is not-supported such that the underlying window is included within the animation. When the animation is complete, the animation overlay window is removed.