Abstract: The visual output of legacy child windows intended for display on a non-legacy parent are redirected to an off-screen bitmap buffer. A display component having enhanced visual functionality processes the output of the legacy child window with any of a number of visual effects. The display component composes the parent window by combining the non-legacy visual output with the processed output of the legacy child window. In this way, visual enhancements that have been technologically unavailable to the legacy child windows may be applied to the legacy child windows when used in combination with a new-technology parent window.

Abstract: A communications protocol is described that governs asynchronous exchange of data between a high level animation system and a low level animation system. The high level animation system has a variable, medium-frequency frame rate and is optimized for interactivity. The low level animation system has a constant, high frequency frame rate and is optimized for high refresh frame rate. The communications protocol includes messages that can be sent by the high-level animation system to the low-level animation system to designate an animation and how the animation is to change over a specified period of time. As a result, the low-level system can display the animation at the high refresh rate even if animation data is not received from the high-level system for every frame.

Abstract: Described is a method and system in which timing intervals are generated from clock properties, and used to interpolate values for smooth animation. A high-level component maintains a set of clocks related to animated objects and/or linear media in a scene graphs. The clocks correspond to clock properties received from an application program. The clocks are processed into event lists at the higher level, from which timing interval data is generated and passed to a low-level component. The low-level component, which generally operates at a faster rate than the high-level component, uses the timing interval data to rapidly calculate current values for an animated object. Interaction, such as to pause an animation or resume a paused animation, causes the high-level component to re-compute the event list and regenerate new animation intervals for affected clocks. The new animation intervals are passed and used by the lower-level component.