The latest vague patent filing to turn up from Apple is the answer to the question every Mac user has not been asking: when will Apple revolutionize wallpaper? Patent application 20070085854 may be the answer.
Disclosed are a system and method for computing a desktop picture. Instead of loading a file that contains the desktop image from memory, the present invention provides for a system and method for opening and retaining a procedural recipe and a small set of instructions that can be executed to compute a desktop picture. The desktop picture can be computed very quickly using a GPU (graphics processing unit), and can be made to move on demand.
If this sounds like nothing more than a different means of changing your wallpaper, it possibly is not. First, it's about process. The "procedural recipe" eliminates the need for storing an image, freeing up resources. Core Image, anyone?
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