Abstract: A method for efficiently populating a display is provided. The method can include identifying a point at which a world ray intersects a capture surface defined by capture points of a scene, identifying a capture point closest to the identified point, generating a motion vector based on the motion vectors for each of two directly adjacent capture points, identifying a vector in the generated motion vector at a location at which the world ray intersects an image surface, and providing a pixel value from the image data of the capture point, the pixel value corresponding to a location in the image surface at which a vector of the generated motion vector points to the location at which the world ray intersects the image surface within a threshold distance or after a specified number of iterations.

Abstract: A method for efficiently populating a display is provided. The method can include identifying a point at which a world ray intersects a capture surface defined by capture points of a scene, identifying a capture point closest to the identified point, generating a motion vector based on the motion vectors for each of two directly adjacent capture points, identifying a vector in the generated motion vector at a location at which the world ray intersects an image surface, and providing a pixel value from the image data of the capture point, the pixel value corresponding to a location in the image surface at which a vector of the generated motion vector points to the location at which the world ray intersects the image surface within a threshold distance or after a specified number of iterations.

Abstract: A system that manages lifetime of an object is provided. The system analyzes references on multiple objects to determine reachability of a native peer and dynamically transitions between native and managed object lifetime management systems based on the analysis. When a native peer is not reachable by a native application reference, the system weakens references to a managed peer avoiding memory leaks and clones the native references to the managed side to avoid premature collection. The system performs an optimized cleanup during object system shutdown wherein the references between managed and native peers are released and SafeHandles are suppressed from finalization. The system employs a pending remove list that stores a reference to a weak reference of a managed peer to eliminate race conditions that occur during finalization.

Abstract: An information display system is described herein that separates rendering of information from receiving that information so that the rendering portion can be quickly displayed to the user and the data can arrive as it is available to provide further detail. The rendering portion creates a hardware surface measured to fill the area to be consumed by the list box or other control. Independently, the information retrieval portion queries information from a server or other source and processes the information as it is received. The system can then perform a transformation on the previously created hardware surface to insert the information in the rendered control without re-laying out the entire control or recreating user interface elements. Moving a surface is a cheaper operation for a CPU and can easily be accelerated using a GPU.

Abstract: Adaptive filtering techniques are set forth that improve video playback performance. A color similarity metric is computed for source pixels undergoing an image transform operation to determine color values of a target pixel location. The value of the color similarity metric defines what algorithm is used to determine the color values of the target pixel location from the source pixels. While the computation of the color similarity metric introduces additional instructions for each pixel, going against conventional wisdom, enormous performance savings by avoiding unnecessarily complex sets of interpolation instructions where a simpler instruction set suffices, outweighs any such cost from additional instructions.

Abstract: Adaptive filtering techniques are set forth that improve video playback performance. A color similarity metric is computed for source pixels undergoing an image transform operation to determine color values of a target pixel location. The value of the color similarity metric defines what algorithm is used to determine the color values of the target pixel location from the source pixels. While the computation of the color similarity metric introduces additional instructions for each pixel, going against conventional wisdom, enormous performance savings by avoiding unnecessarily complex sets of interpolation instructions where a simpler instruction set suffices, outweighs any such cost from additional instructions.

Abstract: A curve drawing system is described herein that rasterizes arc splines in the GPU of a computer for cubic Bezier drawing of strokes and thin features. The curve drawing system first converts a cubic Bezier representation into an arc spline representation. Then the curve drawing system uses a similar approach to Loop/Blinn modified to cause the pixel shader to perform a point-in-circular-arc test instead of a point-in-Bezier test. Calculating arc radius is a much simpler operation than the alternatives and can be easily and efficiently performed by the pixel shader. Since the stroke of an arc spline is also an arc spline, the drawing system provides a resolution-independent representation of strokes. Thus, the curve drawing system allows several previously difficult graphical features to be efficiently drawn by readily available legacy hardware and used in software programs that are designed to run on a wide variety of hardware.

Abstract: An information display system is described herein that separates rendering of information from receiving that information so that the rendering portion can be quickly displayed to the user and the data can arrive as it is available to provide further detail. The rendering portion creates a hardware surface measured to fill the area to be consumed by the list box or other control. Independently, the information retrieval portion queries information from a server or other source and processes the information as it is received. The system can then perform a transformation on the previously created hardware surface to insert the information in the rendered control without re-laying out the entire control or recreating user interface elements. Moving a surface is a cheaper operation for a CPU and can easily be accelerated using a GPU.

Abstract: Adaptive filtering techniques are set forth that improve video playback performance. A color similarity metric is computed for source pixels undergoing an image transform operation to determine color values of a target pixel location. The value of the color similarity metric defines what algorithm is used to determine the color values of the target pixel location from the source pixels. While the computation of the color similarity metric introduces additional instructions for each pixel, going against conventional wisdom, enormous performance savings by avoiding unnecessarily complex sets of interpolation instructions where a simpler instruction set suffices, outweighs any such cost from additional instructions.

Abstract: In a computing environment, one may wish to have interoperability between trusted and untrusted controls/plug-ins allowing for richer expression of content and control within a platform. This can be accomplished by allowing an untrusted plug-in to communicate with a trusted plug-in, while having the trusted plug-in exercise control over the platform. This allows for the creation of a layered secure approach of communication with a platform, thus allowing for increased application richness in untrusted third party applications.

Abstract: Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for controlling a shader declaratively. A declarative programming model enables declarative statements to be used that control an instantiation of a shader in a declarative presentation framework. A shader-based effect that was specified declaratively is instantiated programmatically for rendering graphic effects for a software application. Declarative statements are sent to a shader processor to enable a shader to render the graphical effect customizations for the software application. A method is also described for utilizing a declarative programming model as a multiple pass effect that controls and encapsulates a set of shaders to be run during a multiple pass operation.

Abstract: An information display system is described herein that separates rendering of information from receiving that information so that the rendering portion can be quickly displayed to the user and the data can arrive as it is available to provide further detail. The rendering portion creates a hardware surface measured to fill the area to be consumed by the list box or other control. Independently, the information retrieval portion queries information from a server or other source and processes the information as it is received. The system can then perform a transformation on the previously created hardware surface to insert the information in the rendered control without re-laying out the entire control or recreating user interface elements. Moving a surface is a cheaper operation for a CPU and can easily be accelerated using a GPU.

Abstract: A curve drawing system is described herein that rasterizes arc splines in the GPU of a computer for cubic Bezier drawing of strokes and thin features. The curve drawing system first converts a cubic Bezier representation into an arc spline representation. Then the curve drawing system uses a similar approach to Loop/Blinn modified to cause the pixel shader to perform a point-in-circular-arc test instead of a point-in-Bezier test. Calculating arc radius is a much simpler operation than the alternatives and can be easily and efficiently performed by the pixel shader. Since the stroke of an arc spline is also an arc spline, the drawing system provides a resolution-independent representation of strokes. Thus, the curve drawing system allows several previously difficult graphical features to be efficiently drawn by readily available legacy hardware and used in software programs that are designed to run on a wide variety of hardware.

Abstract: An intelligent caching data structure and mechanisms for storing visual information via objects and data representing graphics information. The data structure is generally associated with mechanisms that intelligently control how the visual information therein is populated and used. The cache data structure can be traversed for direct rendering, or traversed for pre-processing the visual information into an instruction stream for another entity. Much of the data typically has no external reference to it, thereby enabling more of the information stored in the data structure to be processed to conserve resources. A transaction/batching-like model for updating the data structure enables external modifications to the data structure without interrupting reading from the data structure, and such that changes received are atomically implemented. A method and mechanism are provided to call back to an application program in order to create or re-create portions of the data structure as needed, to conserve resources.

Abstract: An extensible editor allows integration of extensions that modify the editor's default behavior and provide customized feedback to users. The editor includes an event routing model that works to decrease the occurrence of conflicts between the editor and extensions and between extensions. Upon the occurrence of an event, the editor routes the event to each extension before the editor's default handling of the event occurs. When an extension responds to an event, the extension may “consume” the event by indicating to the editor not to allow further processing of the event. After an event has been pre-processed by each extension, the default editor acts on the event. The editor then routes the event to each extension again, to allow each extension to process the event after the default editor has acted.

Abstract: An extensible editor allows integration of extensions that modify the editor's default behavior and provide customized feedback to users. The editor includes interfaces through which extensions are connected to the editor and through which selection services and highlight rendering services are provided. The selection services interfaces provide a clear separation of a logical selection position in the document and the visual feedback provided for the selection, allowing extensions to be designed that provide customized selection feedback. The highlight rendering services interfaces provide an extension with the ability to augment an existing selection without modifying the actual document. The editor also includes an event routing model that works to decrease the occurrence of conflicts between the editor and extensions and between extensions. Upon the occurrence of an event, the editor routes the event to each extension before the editor's default handling of the event occurs.

Abstract: In a computing environment, one may wish to have interoperability between trusted and untrusted controls/plug-ins allowing for richer expression of content and control within a platform. This can be accomplished by allowing an untrusted plug-in to communicate with a trusted plug-in, while having the trusted plug-in exercise control over the platform. This allows for the creation of a layered secure approach of communication with a platform, thus allowing for increased application richness in untrusted third party applications.

Abstract: An intelligent caching data structure and mechanisms for storing visual information via objects and data representing graphics information. The data structure is generally associated with mechanisms that intelligently control how the visual information therein is populated and used. The cache data structure can be traversed for direct rendering, or traversed for pre-processing the visual information into an instruction stream for another entity. Much of the data typically has no external reference to it, thereby enabling more of the information stored in the data structure to be processed to conserve resources. A transaction/batching-like model for updating the data structure enables external modifications to the data structure without interrupting reading from the data structure, and such that changes received are atomically implemented. A method and mechanism are provided to call back to an application program in order to create or re-create portions of the data structure as needed, to conserve resources.

Abstract: An intelligent caching data structure and mechanisms for storing visual information via objects and data representing graphics information. The data structure is generally associated with mechanisms that intelligently control how the visual information therein is populated and used. The cache data structure can be traversed for direct rendering, or traversed for pre-processing the visual information into an instruction stream for another entity. Much of the data typically has no external reference to it, thereby enabling more of the information stored in the data structure to be processed to conserve resources. A transaction/batching-like model for updating the data structure enables external modifications to the data structure without interrupting reading from the data structure, and such that changes received are atomically implemented. A method and mechanism are provided to call back to an application program in order to create or re-create portions of the data structure as needed, to conserve resources.

Abstract: Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for controlling a shader declaratively. A declarative programming model enables declarative statements to be used that control an instantiation of a shader in a declarative presentation framework. A shader-based effect that was specified declaratively is instantiated programmatically for rendering graphic effects for a software application. Declarative statements are sent to a shader processor to enable a shader to render the graphical effect customizations for the software application. A method is also described for utilizing a declarative programming model as a multiple pass effect that controls and encapsulates a set of shaders to be run during a multiple pass operation.