Abstract: The present invention concerns a system and a method for selecting an item in a list of items and associated products. The selecting system comprises means for repeatedly and simultaneously providing at least two sub-lists of items of the list for displaying on a screen, means for controlling an orderly displaying of the items of each of those sub-lists side by side on the screen, simultaneously and in different scrolling zones for the respective sub-lists, means for scrolling at least partly the list of items on the screen in the various scrolling zones, by repeatedly modifying the items of the sub-lists through cancelling firstly introduced items in the sub-lists and introducing new items from the list of items, and means for enabling a user to select at least one of the items of at least one of the sub-lists being displayed in a given selection area. Applications to STB and interactive TV EPG and to music files retrieval.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for displaying a complementary, high-level graphical representation of an enterprise information technology system. A primary visualization module displays a primary visualization that is a schematic representation of one or more elements of a selected portion of an enterprise information technology system. A minimap module displays a minimap that is an abstracted, high-level schematic representation of the enterprise information technology system. A navigation module demarks a primary visualization representation within the minimap that corresponds to the primary visualization. In one embodiment, the navigation module modifies the primary visualization representation and the corresponding primary visualization in response to a user input directed to the demarked primary visualization representation within the minimap.

Abstract: A user interface system comprises a server having a scene description converting device for converting scene description containing input user interaction into converted scene description while leaving parts containing the user interaction and a scene description decoding device for decoding converted scene description into decoded scene description, a remote terminal having a scene description decoding device for decoding scene description and converted scene description sent from the server and a display device for displaying decoded scenes and a user input device for receiving user input according to this display, and a display terminal for displaying decoded scenes sent from the server. Thus, decoding can be enabled at terminals having inferior decoding capabilities and display capabilities.

Abstract: Methods and systems for creating and rendering skins are described, whereby an XML data structure comprises multiple tag pairs, individual tag pairs being associated with and referencing information that can be utilized to render a skin.

Abstract: A control surface has one or more soft devices for which functionality may be assigned, a central processing unit (CPU), including operating code, for managing at least functionality of the soft devices on the control surface, and a network connection for connecting to one or more computerized appliances. The control code assigns individual ones of the one or more soft devices to specific functions of an individual one of the one or more computerized appliances. There may be a variety of different kinds of soft devices, and the functionality for the soft devices of the control surface may be determined by which application is frontmost on one of the computerized appliances.

Abstract: A computer system is disclosed which may adopt one of many personas, depending upon the role that its owner is currently playing. The computer system includes a central repository of extensible personas available to all applications running on the computer system. Each such persona has associated therewith a suite of parameters, or specific values for parameters, which are appropriate for conducting computer implemented transactions under a particular persona. The computer system further includes a graphical user interface which allows the user to switch from persona to persona by selecting a particular persona from a list of available personas displayed on a display screen of the computer system. By selecting such persona, the user causes the computer system to globally change the entire suite of parameter values so that subsequent transactions conducted with the computer system employ the parameter values of the current persona.

Abstract: In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a method of customizing the browsing experience of a user of a Web site comprised of a plurality of Web pages is provided. Each Web page is indexed using at least one coding system. A user record for each user is maintained on the Web site, which contains personal information of the user coded in accordance with said coding system. The user's browsing experience on the site may thus be readily customized using the user's personal information via code comparison. In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a method of ensuring the privacy of the user's personal information is provided through use of a unique Universal Anonymous Identifier (UAI) assigned to each user by a third party registration authority.

Abstract: A software training approach utilizes customized training activities to provide effective customized learning operations for users. Through an association of the user identifier, such as a login, an application determines when an activity occurs requiring training. Based on the user identifier, a customized training activities are retrieved and executed providing a software training based on the specific user in immediate proximity to the actual operation of the computing activity being the subject of the training operations.

Abstract: The present invention includes a system and method for enhancing multimedia information shared on electronic systems. The electronic systems are capable of receiving multimedia information and presenting multimedia information. In combination with the multimedia information, a representation is presented which is based on the shared multimedia information. The representation may be an avatar for display. Further, the representation may be based on control of the multimedia information, content of the multimedia information or reaction to the multimedia information.

Abstract: An in-place data input panel provides a user with access to a list of alternate characters to which displayed characters may be converted. The data input panel provides an indicator, such as an indicator bar, corresponding to segmentation of the characters. A user can change the segmentation of the characters by expanding or contracting the segmentation bar. Also, the user can access a drop-down menu listing alternate character choices corresponding to the characters in the segment indicated by the segmentation bar.

Abstract: A method, graphical user interface and electronic device for forming guiding lines in a graphical user interface of an electronic device comprising at least a display and a navigating device, wherein a potion of the virtual desktop area of the graphical user interface is seen on the display at a time. In the method, digital material is placed on the virtual desktop area. The method further comprises the steps of determining a point of origin within the digital material and defining at least two points through which a guiding line is drawn, the guiding line indicating the distance and/or direction to the point of origin. The guiding line is then displayed along with the digital material on the display.

Abstract: A method of adjusting a document configuration includes the steps of generating a set of document configuration constraints that define an acceptable range of change in the look and feel of a document, the configuration of which is to be adjusted. The method includes modifying the document configuration while satisfying the set of document configuration constraints to minimize the change in the look and feel of the document.

Abstract: A computerized method of presenting information from a variety of sources on a display device. Specifically the present invention describes a graphical user interface for organizing the simultaneous display of information from a multitude of information sources. In particular, the present invention comprises a graphical user interface which organizes content from a variety of information sources into a grid of tiles, each of which can refresh its content independently of the others. The grid functionality manages the refresh rates of the multiple information sources. According to one embodiment, the method of the present invention allocates refresh rates to tiles according to priorities that are assigned based on identifiers such as quality of service (QoS) tags associated with one or more of the information sources. The present invention is intended to operate in a platform independent manner.

Abstract: A data processing system (10) has a processor (11), a display device (15), and a user input arrangement (17) which includes a pointer control device (19) such as a mouse. An edit function input is entered through the user input arrangement (17) and a target to be edited is identified in response to the edit function input. The target comprises some displayed object that is specified by proximity to a system pointer (29) at the time the edit function input is received. The edit function input defines an edit operation to be performed by the data processing system (10) on the identified target. After receiving the edit function input and responding to the input by identifying the target, the method includes determining a state of the target which indicates whether or not the edit operation is currently applied to the target. If the state of the target indicates that the edit operation is not currently applied to the target, the method includes applying the edit operation to the target.

Abstract: A framework is presented to provide support for dynamically configuring a human-machine interface in a network management and service provisioning environment. The framework implements a file parser, methods of accessing a managed object server to interact with instances of managed data network entity objects, a multitude of view panel components and a command interpreter. A multitude of run-time loadable descriptor files are provided to specify the functionality, of view panel instances used by an analyst manipulate information in interacting with the network management and service provisioning environment. The parser is used to load descriptor files and instantiate view panels on demand.

Abstract: A CLI description language is implemented to define a set of command keywords and arguments forming CLI description files. The CLI description language is implemented using Extensible Markup Language (XML). A set of XML tags and corresponding semantic definitions are provided. An XML schema is defined for the CLI description language. The CLI description files are compiled into runtime format using the XML schema. The CLI description files provide a mapping of object names to services of the system.

Abstract: In a system and method for logistics management according to embodiments of the present invention, a user interface may present a user with input fields that correlate naturally with typical logistics processes. More specifically, the user interface may comprise: a step field to receive a value relating to a current step in a logistics process, and data associated therewith; a predecessor step field to receive a value relating to a step in the logistics process previous to the current step, and data associated therewith; and a mode field to receive a value relating to an action to be performed based on values received in the step and predecessor step fields. The values acceptable by the fields may be terms that are descriptive of typical activities in a particular user's business, so that using the interface has a natural or intuitive feel for the user.

Abstract: A computer system and method for highlighting and selecting elements of electronic documents is disclosed. In one embodiment, a selection area identifies an initial selection of data, and one or more selection handles appear on the selection area to allow dynamic resizing of the selection area to select a larger or smaller portion of data or number of items.

Abstract: A pop-up toolbar is disclosed which is demonstrably faster and easier to utilize than the permanently displayed, horizontal toolbar. Two columns provide a variable number of irregularly shaped regions arrayed on either side of a generally circular central-area. Components of regions converge on the central area. Targets, each displaying an icon and an optional, descriptive label, appear within the regions. At pop-up of the toolbar, the cursor moves under system control to the central-area of the toolbar, enabling users to perform short, radial traverses of the cursor into targets, activating related functions by appropriate action. Alternatively, primary and secondary targets for regions may be designated for remote acquisition, whereby alternate user actions in any non-target area of a region activate the primary and secondary targets respectively defined for that region.

Abstract: A user interface system comprises a server having a scene description converting device for converting scene description containing input user interaction into converted scene description while leaving parts containing the user interaction and a scene description decoding device for decoding converted scene description into decoded scene description, a remote terminal having a scene description decoding device for decoding scene description and converted scene description sent from the server and a display device for displaying decoded scenes and a user input device for receiving user input according to this display, and a display terminal for displaying decoded scenes sent from the server. Thus, decoding can be enabled at terminals having inferior decoding capabilities and display capabilities.