The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 07, 2003
Filed:
Feb. 27, 1998
Michael A. Ramirez, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Eric C. Anderson, San Jose, CA (US);
FlashPoint Technology, Inc., Peterborough, NH (US);
Abstract
A method and system for displaying an overlay bar on a digital imaging device is disclosed. First, text and graphic information to be displayed on the overlay bar are stored in an overlay bar buffer, and then displayed on a display screen. Thereafter, an image to be viewed is displayed on the display line-by-line. The lines of the image that are to be displayed within the area of an overlay bar are stored in a backstore buffer. Each line in the backstore buffer is then merged with its corresponding lines in the overlay bar buffer and displayed. The merging operation is performed by modifying the luminance value of each pixel of the image data that falls within the area of the overlay bar, and overwriting each pixel of image data that falls under a pixel of text in the overlay bar. This makes the overlay bar appear to the user to be translucent and makes the image appear as though it is sliding beneath the overlay bar as it is being displayed. When the user turns-off the overlay bars, only the portions of the image stored in the backstore buffer need be re-displayed to provide the original image, thus eliminating the need to re-display the entire image.