Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Gregory David Swedberg

Ashraf A Michail

Paul C David

Moe Khosravy

Joseph S Beda, Iii

Christian Liensberger

Leonardo Esteban Blanco

Greg D Schechter

Victor Tan

Oreste Dorin Ungureanu

Roger Soulen Mall

Gerardo Bermudez

Lukasz Gwozdz

Scott Hanggie

Adrian Secchia

René Jacco Bouw

Mark R Ligameri

Greg S Melander

Kun Zhou

Michael Kallay

Kevin T Gallo

Christopher N Raubacher

Matthew W Calkins

Andrey E Arsov

Glenn Frederick Evans

Michael J Patten

Kenneth S Reneris

Stephen Estrop

David R Blythe

Adam M Smith

Donald B Curtis

Anuj Bharat Gosalia

Joseph Cox Ballantyne

Waiman Lam

Jay Senior

Sameer Avinash Nene

Prashant Ratanchandani

Jevan D Saks

Ian Hanschen

Kan Qiu

Don Curtis

John (Mingtzong) Lee

Ondrej Lehecka

Christopher A Fortier

Techniques for hosting data or connecting to hosted data are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a first computing device in a first region of control can receive a data set from a second computing device in a second region of control via a communication network. The first computing device can then analyze the received data set to determine structural information, such as one or more structural features associated with the received data set. The determined structural information can then be transmitted to the second computing device. In response to the transmission, the first computing device can receive input from the second computing device regarding a query capability to enforce over the received data set.

Query model over information as a networked service

Data is published by publishers to an information service configured to receive data sets and allow consumers to consume the data sets via queries. Structural information of the data sets (e.g., column information) is presented to the publishers to select which information of the data sets can be a search parameter and which information can be returned in query results. Query interfaces are automatically created based on the selections by the publisher, and the back end databases are optimized for such query interfaces, e.g., creation of indexes based on the search parameters or query results selected by the publisher. A query aggregator can automatically combine a given query interface with other query interfaces to form more complicated (but still permitted) queries based on the intersection of permissions for the given query interface and the other query interfaces.

Content can be segmented and each segment encoded at multiple different quality levels. A manifest file can describe the segments, and encodings thereof, present on each computing device. A channel definition can define content, users and computing devices among which such content is shared. Computing devices receive notification of any new shared and can stream or download it from any one or more other computing devices that have such content encoded at a quality appropriate for the capabilities of the recipient computing device. The recipient computing device can aggregate manifests from currently available computing devices, or can receive an already aggregated manifest. The multi-segmented multi-encoded content can be obtained from multiple computing devices simultaneously by obtaining interleaving segments from individual computing devices. If content still cannot be obtained efficiently, a different encoding can be selected, thereby potentially making available other computing devices as additional sources.

Distributed smooth streaming utilizing dynamic manifests

A method and system for rendering a desktop on a computer using a composited desktop model operating system are disclosed. A composited desktop window manager, upon receiving content information from application programs, draws the window to a buffer memory for future reference, and takes advantage of advanced graphics hardware and visual effects to render windows based on content on which they are drawn. The windows may also be rendered based on environment variables including virtual light sources. The frame portion of each window may be generated by pixel shading a bitmap having the appearance of frosted glass based on the content of the desktop on top of which the frame is displayed. Legacy support is provided so that the operating system can draw and render windows generated by legacy applications to look consistent with non-legacy application windows.

Compositing desktop window manager

A method and system for rendering a desktop on a computer using a composited desktop model operating system are provided. A composited desktop window manager, upon receiving base object and content object information for one or more content objects from an application program, draws the window to a buffer memory, and takes advantage of advanced graphics hardware and visual effects to render windows based on content on which they are drawn. The frame portion of each window may be generated by pixel shading a bitmap having the appearance of frosted glass based on the content of the desktop on top of which the frame is displayed. Legacy support is provided so that the operating system can draw and render windows generated by legacy applications to look consistent with non-legacy application windows.

Dynamic window anatomy

Described is a pluggable policy component that determines the look and feel, or windows visual experience, of a computer user interface. Window-related instructions are redirected to the policy component, while client area change instructions are provided to a substrate (into which the policy component plugs in) that includes a composition component. The plug-in policy component handles windows-related (e.g., structural or attribute) changes to a scene graph to construct and maintain the scene graph, while the substrate handles program content changes to the client areas within windows. The substrate may include a desktop window manager that has access to the client areas in the scene graph, whereby the desktop window manager can copy a client area for rendering. For example, the desktop window manager can provide a supplemental live thumbnail image of a window.

Pluggable window manager architecture using a scene graph system

A method and protocol to create and control compositions on a remote device is disclosed. The protocol allows servers and other devices to take advantage of processing capabilities of remote devices to render compositions on the remote devices, thereby increasing server scalability and leveraging the remote device processing capabilities. The protocol provides high-level command packets to communicate resource command packets and control packets to the remote device with the payload having the information needed to process the commands.

Protocol for remote visual composition

A multiple-level graphics processing system and method (e.g., of an operating system) for providing improved graphics output including, for example, smooth animation. One such multiple-level graphics processing system comprises two components, including a tick-on-demand or slow-tick high-level component, and a fast-tick (e.g., at the graphics hardware frame refresh rate) low-level component. In general, the high-level, less frequent component performs computationally intensive aspects of updating animation parameters and traversing scene data structures, in order to pass simplified data structures to the low-level component. The low-level component operates at a higher frequency, such as the frame refresh rate of the graphics subsystem, to process the data structures into constant output data for the graphics subsystem. The low-level processing includes interpolating any parameter intervals as necessary to obtain instantaneous values to render the scene for each frame of animation.

Multiple-level graphics processing system and method

Video frame buffers are controlled using a sequence of new-frame-indicators (e.g., FLIP) and no-new-frame-indicators (e.g., NOFLIP) in a frame indicator queue that is accessed with each display refresh. Video samples are loaded into a chain of video frame buffers that is 'rotated' during the vertical blanking signal of the display to swap an old frame buffer out for a new frame buffer. The rotations of the frame buffer chain are controlled based on the frame indicators in the frame indicator queue to present new video samples to the display in a regular pattern, thereby providing smooth video playback.

Frame buffer control for smooth video display

In order to render a primitive, the primitive is subdivided into trapezoids and triangles. The subdivision occurs using scanline-aligned lines. These simple scanline-aligned regions are further subdivided so that the primitive is divided into simple scanline-boundaried trapezoids and other complex scan shapes. The simple scanline-boundaried trapezoids are rasterized. One rasterization method uses a texture map containing slope-based coverage information to edge areas. Gouraud shading may be used to provide the anti-aliasing effects on the scanline-boundaried trapezoids. The simple scanline-boundaried trapezoids may also be rasterized using a software rasterizer. Complex scans are rasterized using a software rasterizer. As data is already rasterized, it is thereby efficiently transferred to the GPU.

Hardware-accelerated anti-aliased vector graphics

Systems and methods are provided for providing anti-aliasing by introducing a falloff area around a graphics object to be rendered. The falloff area is shaded, using Gouraud shading or texture mapping to reduce the aliasing effects of the graphics object. The outside edge of the falloff area is set to be fully transparent, and the inside edge to an opacity matching the outer edge of the graphics object being rendered. To counteract bloating effects, the graphics object is shrunk by half the width of the falloff area. While the width of the falloff area may vary, generally, the width of the falloff area stays constant. In one embodiment, this width corresponds to the edge or diagonal of the square area mapped to each pixel.

Hardware accelerated anti-aliased primitives using alpha gradients

Described is an adaptive scheduler associated with a desktop window manager that dynamically controls the rate at which graphics frames are composed. Values corresponding to performance when composing a frame are measured, and the frame composition rate is adjusted as necessary based on the values. The measured data is sampled to provide smooth adjustments. The sampled data is evaluated as to whether the current frame rate is too slow, too fast, or acceptable. If too slow, the frame rate may increased relative to the refresh rate, while if too fast, the frame rate is decreased relative to the refresh rate. In one implementation, the frame rate is too fast if a count of missed frames achieves a missed threshold value, or if a count of late frames achieves a late threshold value. The frame rate is too slow if a count of early frames exceeds an early threshold value.

Adaptive scheduling to maintain smooth frame rate

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Gregory David Swedberg