GPU Frame Buffer Overlay for Dynamic Multi-Layer Interactivity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current digital content presentation is limited to two-dimensional screens, lacking dynamism and interactivity, particularly in environments with static content, which hinders user engagement and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus using graphics processing circuitry to generate and superimpose augmentation layers onto displayed data, allowing interactive elements to be managed and orchestrated at a pixel or layer level, enabling multi-layered visual experiences with controlled user interactivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If digital content is presented on a two-dimensional screen, then the display structure is simple, but the visual experience lacks dynamism and interactivity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces multiple transparent layers (first layer, second layer, third layer) stacked in the vertical dimension, transforming the traditional two-dimensional display into a multi-layered three-dimensional structure. This allows content to be organized across different depth planes while maintaining the physical two-dimensional screen, enabling dynamic visual experiences through layer manipulation, transparency control, and multi-point interaction without fundamentally changing the display hardware
2Ease of operation
If multiple content layers are superimposed, then user interactivity is enhanced, but layer management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically manages layer interactions through programmed response logic. When a user interacts with a specific point on any layer, the system autonomously determines which layer to activate based on interaction parameters, and automatically executes the corresponding operation without requiring manual layer switching or complex user gestures. This self-service mechanism simplifies user interaction while handling the complexity of multi-layer coordination internally
3Speed
If the top layer is always interactive, then interaction response is fast, but underlying layers become inaccessible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic interactivity control where the interactive state of each layer can change based on interaction parameters. Instead of a fixed top-layer-only interaction model, the system dynamically determines which layer becomes interactive by analyzing interaction characteristics (such as interaction points or gestures), allowing any layer to become the active interactive layer when appropriate. This dynamic approach maintains fast response by immediately activating the relevant layer while providing versatile access to all layers under different interaction conditions
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus, method, and computer readable medium that access a frame buffer of a graphics processing unit (GPU), analyze, in the frame buffer, a frame representing displayed data, based on the analyzed frame, identify a reference patch that includes an instruction to retrieve content, generate an overlay including an augmentation layer which includes the content, superimpose the overlay onto the displayed data such that the content is viewable while a portion of the base layer is obscured, detect a user input, determine a location of the user input in the augmentation layer, associate the location in the augmentation layer with a target location in the base layer, and associate, within memory, the target location with an operation such that the user input in the augmentation layer activates an input in the base layer.