Patent ID: 8237740

Claim:
A computer-based method for interactively viewing a vector image, comprising: accepting, via a user interface running on a client computer, user input requesting a designated portion of a designated vector image stored on a server computer, for display by the client computer at a designated pixel resolution, the designated vector image comprising a plurality of global vector objects; identifying, by the client computer, one or more of a plurality of local rectangular regions that correspond to the designated portion and to the designated pixel resolution; dynamically generating on-the-fly, by the server computer from the designated vector image, a tiled mufti-resolution datastore of local vector objects, each local vector object being associated with one of the plurality of local rectangular regions, comprising: receiving a request from the client computer for at least some of the local vector objects associated with the one or more local rectangular regions identified by said identifying; and in response to said receiving, for each one of the local rectangular regions with which the requested local vector objects are associated: determining whether local vector objects associated with the local rectangular region are currently stored in the tiled mufti-resolution datastore; dynamically generating on-the-fly the local vector objects associated with the local rectangular region, comprising clipping one or more of the global vector objects with the local rectangular region, in response to determining that they are not currently stored within the tiled mufti-resolution datastore; and storing the local vector objects, generated by said dynamically generating, in the tiled multi-resolution datastore; receiving, by the client computer from the server computer, the requested local vector objects; and rendering, by the client computer, the desired portion of the designated vector image at the designated pixel resolution using the local vector objects received from the server computer.