Abstract: An operating system shell provides on a display screen a graphical user interface through which a user interacts with the operating system. The operating system shell provides a background noisy display rendered on the display screen in accordance with a background physical lighting model, and an ambient notification rendered over at least a portion of the background noisy display to provide a user notification. The ambient notification is rendered in accordance with an ambient notification physical lighting model that is different from the background physical lighting model.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
July 25, 2005
Date of Patent:
July 8, 2008
Assignee:
Microsoft Corporation
Inventors:
David P. Vronay, Lili Cheng, Baining Guo, Sean U. Kelly