Plug-in architecture for window management and desktop compositing effects

Abstract

The system and method described herein relates to a plug-in architecture that enables accelerated rendering and compositing of one or more graphical effects instantiated by one or more separate visual effect plug-ins. The plug-in architecture enables setting up visual effects, accepting graphical output requests, customizing visual effects, and/or allowing enhanced graphics rendering for desktop usage, among other things. The invention provides a modular approach to customizing and rendering visual effects. The plug-in architecture enables plug-ins to be exchanged, modified, removed, and added, among other things.

1 . An apparatus for window management and desktop compositing effects, comprising:
 a computer readable storage medium configured to store one or more visual effect instructions to render one or more visual effects on a desktop;   a graphics card configured to execute the one or more visual effect instructions to render the one or more visual effects on the desktop; and   one or more processors coupled to the computer readable storage medium, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
 detect one or more events associated with a window displayed on the desktop; 
 instantiate the one or more visual effects in response to determining that the one or more visual effect instructions associate the one or more detected events with the one or more visual effects; and 
 issue the one or more visual effect instructions to the graphics card in response to determining that the one or more visual effect instructions associate the one or more detected events with the one or more visual effects, wherein the issued visual effect instructions cause the graphics card to combine the one or more instantiated visual effects with the window displayed on the desktop and thereby composite the displayed window and the one or more instantiated visual effects. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus recited in  claim 1 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions include one or more pre-configured or customized event bindings that associate the one or more detected events with the one or more visual effects. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus recited in  claim 2 , wherein the one or more pre-configured or customized event bindings associate one or more keyboard events, mouse events, touch screen events, or application events with the one or more visual effects. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus recited in  claim 1 , wherein the one or more instantiated visual effects include a cube visual effect to map the desktop to a three-dimensional cube and a rotate visual effect to manipulate the three-dimensional cube. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus recited in  claim 4 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions define a dependency between the cube visual effect and the rotate visual effect to enable manipulating the three-dimensional cube via the rotate visual effect. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus recited in  claim 1 , wherein the issued visual effect instructions further cause the graphics card to configure a speed associated with the one or more instantiated visual effects, a location to place the composited window on the desktop, an opacity that the composited window has while being moved within the desktop, or a size associated with a shadow that the composited window has on the desktop. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus recited in  claim 1 , further comprising a display device, wherein the issued visual effect instructions cause the graphics card to hardware render the composited window and the one or more instantiated visual effects on the display device. 
     
     
         8 . A method for window management and desktop compositing effects, comprising:
 store one or more visual effect instructions to render one or more visual effects on a desktop;   storing one or more visual effect instructions to render a visual effect on a desktop;   detecting one or more events associated with a window displayed on the desktop;   instantiating the visual effect in response to determining that the one or more visual effect instructions associate the one or more detected events with the visual effect; and   issue the one or more visual effect instructions to a graphics card in response to the one or more visual effect instructions associating the one or more detected events with the visual effect, wherein the graphics card executes the issued visual effect instructions to combine the instantiated visual effect with the window displayed on the desktop and thereby composite the displayed window and the instantiated visual effect.   
     
     
         9 . The method recited in  claim 8 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions include one or more pre-configured or customized event bindings that associate the one or more detected events with the visual effect. 
     
     
         10 . The method recited in  claim 9 , wherein the one or more pre-configured or customized event bindings associate one or more keyboard events, mouse events, touch screen events, or application events with the visual effect. 
     
     
         11 . The method recited in  claim 8 , wherein the instantiated visual effect maps the desktop to a three-dimensional cube that can be rotated to manipulate the three-dimensional cube. 
     
     
         12 . The method recited in  claim 11 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions define a dependency between the cube visual effect and a rotate visual effect that enables the three-dimensional cube to be rotated and manipulated. 
     
     
         13 . The method recited in  claim 8 , wherein the graphics card further executes the issued visual effect instructions to configure a speed associated with the instantiated visual effect, a location to place the composited window on the desktop, an opacity that the composited window has while being moved within the desktop, or a size associated with a shadow that the composited window has on the desktop. 
     
     
         14 . The method recited in  claim 8 , wherein the graphics card further executes the issued visual effect instructions to hardware render the composited window and the instantiated visual effect on a display device. 
     
     
         15 . A system for window management and desktop compositing effects, wherein the system comprises one or more processors configured to:
 store one or more visual effect instructions to render a visual effect on a desktop;   detect one or more events associated with a window displayed on the desktop;   instantiate the visual effect in response to determining that the one or more visual effect instructions associate the one or more detected events with the visual effect; and   issue the one or more visual effect instructions to a graphics card in response to the one or more visual effect instructions associating the one or more detected events with the visual effect, wherein the issued visual effect instructions cause the graphics card to combine the instantiated visual effect with the window displayed on the desktop and thereby composite the displayed window and the instantiated visual effect.   
     
     
         16 . The system recited in  claim 15 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions include one or more pre-configured or customized event bindings that associate the one or more detected events with the visual effect. 
     
     
         17 . The system recited in  claim 16 , wherein the one or more pre-configured or customized event bindings associate one or more keyboard events, mouse events, touch screen events, or application events with the visual effect. 
     
     
         18 . The system recited in  claim 15 , wherein the instantiated visual effect maps the desktop to a three-dimensional cube that can be rotated to manipulate the three-dimensional cube. 
     
     
         19 . The system recited in  claim 18 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions define a dependency between the cube visual effect and a rotate visual effect that enables the three-dimensional cube to be rotated and manipulated. 
     
     
         20 . The system recited in  claim 15 , wherein the issued visual effect instructions further cause the graphics card to configure a speed associated with the instantiated visual effect, a location to place the composited window on the desktop, an opacity that the composited window has while being moved within the desktop, or a size associated with a shadow that the corn posited window has on the desktop. 
     
     
         21 . The system recited in  claim 15 , wherein the issued visual effect instructions further cause the graphics card to hardware render the composited window and the instantiated visual effect on a display device. 
     
     
         22 . A computer readable storage medium containing one or more visual effect instructions for window management and desktop compositing effects, wherein the one or more visual effect instructions, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to:
 determine whether the one or more visual effect instructions associate a visual effect with one or more events detected in relation to a window displayed on a desktop;   instantiate the visual effect in response to determining that the one or more visual effect instructions associate the visual effect with the one or more detected events; and   combine the instantiated visual effect with the window displayed on the desktop to composite the displayed window and the instantiated visual effect.   
     
     
         23 . The computer readable storage medium recited in  claim 22 , wherein to combine the instantiated visual effect with the window displayed on the desktop, the one or more visual effect instructions, when executed on the processor, further cause the processor to issue the one or more visual effect instructions to a graphics card configured to combine the instantiated visual effect with the window displayed on the desktop and thereby composite the displayed window and the instantiated visual effect. 
     
     
         24 . The computer readable storage medium recited in  claim 22 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions, when executed on the processor, further cause the processor to execute the one or more visual effect instructions to combine the instantiated visual effect with the window displayed on the desktop. 
     
     
         25 . The computer readable storage medium recited in  claim 22 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions include one or more pre-configured or customized event bindings that associate the one or more detected events with the visual effect. 
     
     
         26 . The computer readable storage medium recited in  claim 25 , wherein the one or more pre-configured or customized event bindings associate one or more keyboard events, mouse events, touch screen events, or application events with the visual effect. 
     
     
         27 . The computer readable storage medium recited in  claim 22 , wherein the instantiated visual effect maps the desktop to a three-dimensional cube that can be rotated to manipulate the three-dimensional cube. 
     
     
         28 . The computer readable storage medium recited in  claim 27 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions define a dependency between the cube visual effect and a rotate visual effect that enables the three-dimensional cube to be rotated and manipulated. 
     
     
         29 . The computer readable storage medium recited in  claim 22 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions, when executed on the processor, further cause the processor to configure a speed associated with the instantiated visual effect, a location to place the composited window on the desktop, an opacity that the composited window has while being moved within the desktop, or a size associated with a shadow that the composited window has on the desktop. 
     
     
         30 . The computer readable storage medium recited in  claim 22 , wherein the one or more visual effect instructions, when executed on the processor, further cause the processor to hardware render the composited window and the instantiated visual effect on a display device.