Abstract: In accordance with an example embodiment of the present invention, a method for proximity based input is provided, comprising: detecting presence of an object in close proximity to an input surface, detecting a displayed virtual layer currently associated with the object on the basis of distance of the object to the input surface, detecting a hovering input by the object, and causing a display operation to move at least a portion of the associated virtual layer in accordance with the detected hovering input.

Abstract: Systems and methods for providing a manufacturer portal are disclosed. More specifically, in one embodiment a content distribution system, as a central location for user generated content may also provide manufacturers with a portal to monitor, and participate in, the process of content generation and distribution. This portal may provide the manufacturers with the ability to: view generated content related to that manufacturer and to filter this user generated content utilizing a wide variety of criteria and to generate content which may be responsive to presented generated content. Content generated by a manufacturer through their portal may subsequently be incorporated into one or more retailer's site utilizing the content distribution system.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an arrangement information memory to store icon arrangement information in which entries respectively corresponding to standard applications and extension applications are provided, and in which application identification information identifying an application in each entry is associated with information about icon coordinates and information about an icon image, a list-screen generating unit to generate, based on the icon arrangement information, an application list screen in which icons corresponding to the standard applications and the extension applications are displayed, a display unit to display the generated application list screen, an input unit to detect pressing of an icon in the displayed application list screen, and a screen control unit to identify a standard or an extension application corresponding to the pressed icon based on the icon arrangement information and to request the identified application to generate an operation screen, wherein the display unit d

Abstract: Methods and systems for facilitating the navigation of a list of content items with gestures are described. Consistent with some embodiments, a computing device detects simple gestures, and in response, display a preview of content items preceding, or following a currently selected content item, from the list of content items. Upon detecting a selection gesture, the computing device updates the view of the currently selected content item to display the newly selected content item.

Abstract: Interaction between a 3D animation and a corresponding script includes: displaying a user interface that includes at least a 3D animation area and a script area, the 3D animation area including (i) a 3D view area for creating and playing a 3D animation and (ii) a timeline area for visualizing actions by one or more 3D animation characters, the script area comprising one or more objects representing lines from a script having one or more script characters; receiving a first user input corresponding to a user selecting at least one of the objects from the script area for assignment to a location in the timeline area; generating a timeline object at the location in response to the first user input, the timeline object corresponding to the selected object; and associating audio data with the generated timeline object, the audio data corresponding to a line represented by the selected object.

Abstract: One embodiment of the invention includes a method for executing and interpreting gesture inputs in a gesture recognition interface system. The method includes detecting and translating a first sub-gesture into a first device input that defines a given reference associated with a portion of displayed visual content. The method also includes detecting and translating a second sub-gesture into a second device input that defines an execution command for the portion of the displayed visual content to which the given reference refers.

Abstract: Systems and method for dynamic creation of product structure using a graphical user interface (GUI) are disclosed. A method for dynamic creation of products structures may include displaying information specifying a set of product items using the GUI. Input can be received via the GUI. The input may be indicative of one or more product levels within a product structure. A user may indent or otherwise manipulate the set of product items into one or more product levels. A product structure can then be generated based on the one or more product levels. In some embodiments, display of the set of product items can be updated to reflect the product structure.

Abstract: An electronic device includes a display unit, a communication unit communicating with one or more external electronic devices, and a controller controlling a display unit to display information about the one or more external electronic devices in a first region, corresponding to a first side of a plurality of sides of the display unit, and displaying detailed information related to an image, displayed in a middle region of the display unit, in a second region corresponding to a second side different from the first side from among the plurality of sides.

Abstract: Various aspects of the invention include the creation of a virtual environment. A peer network is constructed with respect to the virtual business environment enables the interaction between peers as well as customization of portions of the virtual environment by authorized peers for the purpose of enabling virtual events. In addition, one aspect of the invention enables the creation of peer-to-peer networks enabling the development of cooperative businesses between a subset of peers on the network, thereby increasing collaboration between independent firms as well as automatic generation of leads.

Abstract: Application notification techniques are described. Implementations are described in which a representation of an application may include notifications that pertain to the application. Techniques are further described which may be used to manage the notifications, including replacement of notifications, use of queues, overrides, selection of notifications based on execution state of an application, cycling a display of a plurality of notifications, cycling a display of different subsets of notifications, examination of a manifest of an application to determine criteria to be used to display the notifications, display priority of the notifications, and so on.

Abstract: Methods and systems for providing a user interface for building a graphical flowchart that represents a database query. One method includes presenting a plurality of flowchart step types, wherein each of the flowchart step types is associated with a different logical expression format. The method also includes receiving a selection of one of the plurality of flowchart step types, presenting at least one expression option for the logical expression format of the selected flowchart step type, and receiving at least one input for the expression option. The method further includes generating a graphical flowchart step associated with a logical expression, wherein the logical expression is based on the at least one input and the logical expression format of the selected flowchart step type. The method also includes displaying the graphical flowchart step and automatically generating a database query corresponding to the logical expression associated with the displayed graphical flowchart step.

Abstract: Two different process management views can be displayed, and a user can request to switch between the two views. The user can select a process in either view and have the selected process terminated. One view is a simplified view that identifies processes and whether they are non-responsive. The other view is an expanded view that identifies processes and the amount of various system resources used by each of those processes. Various additional information can be displayed in the expanded view, such as identifiers of various windows, tabs, and/or services associated with each of the processes.

Abstract: A system includes a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory includes instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method that includes displaying a plurality of menu items (each associated with one of a plurality of media content items) in a graphical user interface. The method also includes, when a particular promotion associated with a particular media content item is to be displayed, displaying the particular promotion proximate to a particular menu item of the plurality of menu items and enabling a direction command. Selection of the direction command causes a cursor position to jump directly to the particular menu item from a different menu item of the plurality of menu items.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a request for network topology information for a network. The request includes an identifier for a requesting entity and an identifier for the network. The method also includes accessing network topology information for the network based on the identifier for the network. The network topology information identifies a plurality of network elements in the network and defines a relationship between the network elements. A diagrammatic view of the network topology is determined based on the network topology information for the network. The method includes determining one or more aspects of at least one network element based on the identifier for the requesting entity. The method further includes associating the one or more aspects to the at least one network element to form a customized diagrammatic view of the network topology. The method also includes providing the customized diagrammatic view of the network topology.

Abstract: A server apparatus of the present invention extracts the second client apparatus cooperable with the first client apparatus and transmits an instruction to the second client apparatus to launch a user interface, based on a user interface request from the first client apparatus, and transmits an instruction to the second client apparatus to display the user interface, based on a cooperation request from the first client apparatus, and thereby the first client apparatus and the second client apparatus cooperate with each other to allow an operation of the server apparatus in a short time after a cooperation request for causing the first client apparatus operated by a user and the second client apparatus different from the first client apparatus to cooperate with each other.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of programs to be utilized via corresponding display screens, a screen structure information managing part to manage screen structure information of the display screens, and a customizing information managing part to manage customizing information which records customizing contents with respect to the display screens. The image forming apparatus further includes a screen generating part to generate each display screen corresponding to the plurality of programs, based on the screen structure information and the customizing information related to each display screen.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, for configuring mobile devices using emulations of the mobile devices.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for navigating an electronic document using a touch-sensitive display screen with gestures that are reminiscent of physically handling the pages of a conventional, bound document. A user may temporarily bookmark one or more selected pages by touching the touchscreen with a finger when the pages are displayed, to mimic using a finger to hold a selected page of a conventional, bound document. Predefined gestures may be specified with different functions, such as returning to a bookmarked page or removing a bookmark.

Abstract: Available components that make up a distributed computing system are discovered. The available components include available hardware components and available software components that operate on the available hardware components. The available components and dependencies between the available components are graphically displayed in a map of the distributed computing system. A plurality of undeployed services is also graphically displayed. A selection of one of the plurality of undeployed services and a selection of one of the available components is received. The selected undeployed service is deployed to the selected available component.

Abstract: A system and method for displaying a graphical context menu on a display screen of a mobile communication device. The method includes receiving a menu request, determining the number of menu items based on the context of the menu request, generating a graphical context menu based on the determined number of the determined number of menu items, inserting the menu items into the generated graphical context menu, and displaying the generated graphical context menu on the display screen with the inserted menu items. The graphical context menu can include menu items displayed in a 3×3 grid, a 2×3 grid or a 1×3 grid. The graphical context menu can include a default menu item in the center of the grid and a full menu option in the bottom most right slot of the grid.