Patent ID: 7224365

Claim:
In a system for transferring thematic information over the Internet between a server and a client: a source of vector graphics for different themes which includes maps having an outline of a region and areas of different colors within the outline; means for preparing a color-coded frame by drawing a polygon around one of the maps, drawing a straight line between each color transition along the outline and the polygon, erasing the outline and the straight lines, and filling in the areas between the straight lines with colors from the areas of the map between those lines; means for preparing a frame containing the outline of the region; means for displaying the color-coded frame in a layer beneath a layer containing the outline, with the layer containing the outline masking off the colored areas outside the outline so that the map is displayed as comprising the areas of different colors in the shape of the region; means for importing the vector graphics into the frames of an animation movie; means for downloading the frames of the movie form the server to the client; and means controlled by the client for selectively overlaying the frames to display different themes.