Patents by Inventor Byron T. Watts

Byron T. Watts has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5565894
    Abstract: A computer based touchscreen includes a mechanism for displaying buttons on the touchscreen indicating the location where an user has touched the touchscreen. Because different operators will view the buttons from different angles, they will touch the touchscreen in different positions. An initial button or series of buttons of the application that the user is using is configured to sense the location where the user is touching. These initial button(s) are called adjusting buttons. The button sensing regions for the remaining buttons (non-adjusting buttons) are calibrated from these initial touched locations. For example, if the user tends to press high and to the right of the adjusting button(s), the orientation of the button sensing regions for the remaining buttons is calibrated high and to the right. Any screen that displays buttons can be used to calibrate or recalibrate the button sensing region for subsequent non-adjusting buttons.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 15, 1996
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Cary L. Bates, Byron T. Watts
  • Patent number: 5534887
    Abstract: A display apparatus and method that provides a windowing interface that gives the user the capability to identify and locate the particular window associated with a bell tone emitted by an application program. When a particular application emits a bell tone, the system displays a locator icon on the display. The text associated with the locator icon contains the window title, which tells the user which window caused the tone to be emitted. To go directly to the window that issued the bell, the user positions the pointing device over the locator icon and activates it to bring the icon into focus. At this time the icon vanishes and the window that emitted the bell tone is prominently displayed so the user can attend to it. If the user does not activate the locator icon and no other bell tones are emitted from the same window, then the locator icon will be removed from the display after a time period, which may be set by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 1994
    Date of Patent: July 9, 1996
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Cary L. Bates, Jeffrey M. Ryan, Byron T. Watts
  • Patent number: 5377314
    Abstract: A method and system are provided for permitting a user of a data processing system to display particular ones of multiple overlapping graphic objects. A subregion within a display is specified by the user. A set of overlapping graphic objects which are at least partially displayed within the subregion is then determined. The specified display order of only these graphic objects which are at least partially displayed with the specified subregion is temporarily altered, in response to a user input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1992
    Date of Patent: December 27, 1994
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Cary L. Bates, Jeffrey M. Ryan, Byron T. Watts