Patent ID: 7330185

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of processing data to generate an animated scene, the method comprising: receiving information specifying a time interval for the scene, the scene being generated from a plurality of models, each model representing an element of the scene and having one or more inputs and outputs; accessing first information for the scene, the first information identifying time-varying dependencies of the plurality of models; accessing intra-model dependency information for one or more models in the plurality of models, the intra-model dependency information for a model identifying one or more static dependencies of one or more outputs of the model on one or more inputs of the model; and building a first representation based upon the first information and the intra-model dependency information for the one or more models in the plurality of models, the first representation comprising information identifying the one or more inputs and outputs of the models in the plurality of models and identifying dependencies between the one or more inputs and outputs.