Layered Image Delivery System for Web Interactivity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for delivering and interacting with images on web pages face challenges such as long loading times due to high-resolution image requirements, necessitating trade-offs in image quality and interactive functionality, and often require additional plug-ins for advanced interactivity, leading to user dissatisfaction.
Innovation Solution
A system that delivers images in layers using DHTML protocols, allowing for immediate perception of high-resolution images and enabling advanced interactive functions like zooming, rotating, and 3D effects without the need for additional software, by splitting images into parts for efficient delivery and using transparent layers for command interpretation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If high-resolution images are delivered to users, then image quality is improved, but delivery time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the image delivery process into multiple layers, where each layer contains image data at different resolutions. The base layer provides low-resolution images for quick loading, while subsequent layers add progressively higher resolution details. This segmentation allows the browser to display an image immediately at lower resolution and then progressively enhance it as more layers are loaded, resolving the contradiction between fast delivery and high quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic image delivery where the resolution and detail of images change over time based on loading progress and user needs. The image display transitions from static low-resolution placeholders to dynamic high-resolution content as layers are progressively loaded. This dynamic approach allows the system to optimize between delivery speed and image quality at different stages of the loading process.
2Productivity
If multiple images are combined into a single file for delivery, then delivery efficiency is improved, but interactivity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments image data into separate layers that can be independently loaded and processed. Each layer contains specific image data that can be selectively delivered and displayed. This segmentation maintains delivery efficiency by allowing progressive loading while preserving interactivity because each layer can be independently manipulated, zoomed, or rotated without affecting other layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a temporal dimension to image delivery by organizing images into sequential layers that load progressively over time. Instead of delivering all images at once or combining them into a single file, the system delivers layers in sequence, enabling both efficient delivery and maintained interactivity through the temporal separation of image data.
3Adaptability or versatility
If advanced interactive functions are implemented, then user engagement is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal image layer structure that can support multiple interactive functions through a single standardized framework. The same layer-based architecture enables zooming, rotating, color changes, and other interactive features without requiring separate software components for each function. This multi-functionality reduces device complexity by consolidating interactive capabilities into one unified system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a self-service interactive system where the image layers automatically respond to user interactions and can be manipulated directly in the browser without requiring external plug-ins or additional software. The layer structure inherently supports interactive functions, allowing the system to serve itself by processing and displaying interactive content natively, thereby reducing the need for complex external software components.
4Speed
If images are delivered at lower resolution, then delivery speed is improved, but zoom quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments image data into multiple resolution layers, allowing the system to deliver low-resolution images quickly for initial display while preserving high-resolution data in subsequent layers. When users zoom in, the system can access and display the high-resolution layers that were pre-loaded but not initially displayed, thus maintaining both fast delivery speed and high zoom quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-loading multiple image layers at different resolutions before the user actually needs to zoom. The high-resolution image data is prepared and stored in advance in the layer structure, so when zooming is required, the quality is already available without requiring additional loading time. This preliminary preparation resolves the contradiction between fast initial delivery and high zoom quality.
Data Source
AI summary
A system is disclosed for delivering and displaying images on web pages and enabling and implementing various interactive functions with respect to the images, so as to give a user the illusion that objects or scenes depicted in the images are rotating, being zoomed in on, changing color, being measured, or having certain areas of the objects or scenes highlighted with enlargement and/or text, among other things. Various methods of enabling and implementing the interactive functions are described, including enabling the interactive functions by displaying and hiding image layers by manipulating the width and height parameters of image layers or adjusting width and height styles associated with image layers and enabling the interactive functions by associating image layers either directly or indirectly via a grid with strips defined by styles. The system includes a graphical user interface (GUI) that a user can use to configure his or her own images for interactive functions, including an interface that invites a user to supply parameters corresponding to those necessary to enable and allow to be carried out the interactive functions and/or parameters corresponding to data about the images, for example, specifications for an object depicted in a set of images.