Patents Examined by Mylinh Tran
  • Patent number: 7523410
    Abstract: The management of files, folders, and other data is facilitated. When a user inputs a character string (tag), which is desired to be retrieved, to a retrieval character input space and operates a retrieval button on a screen, retrieval is started, and a screen (file) corresponding to the input character string is displayed. This makes it possible for the user to fetch a desired file as required. That is, the user is able to manage and control files without using folders.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2009
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Junichi Rekimoto
  • Patent number: 7519918
    Abstract: A device includes a display screen and a processor to render a display of a portion of a logical image on the screen. The logical image is larger than that which can be displayed on the display screen of the device. As the device is maneuvered through space, different portions of the logical image are displayed, and the user may interact with these portions as desired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Wayne Douglas Trantow
  • Patent number: 7512904
    Abstract: An operating system program launch menu, such as a Start menu, provides various mechanisms for a user to quickly and efficiently locate and launch desired data items such as programs, data files, storage locations, and the like. A search box within the program launch menu may be used to quickly locate programs, documents, communications, and other data items. An auto-complete feature may be used, e.g., when the user restricts the locations searched for the user-entered search text. A most commonly used program list may include programs based on various criteria including both frequency of use and recent use, thereby always including a most recently used item. An all programs view may display programs and documents in a hosted-tree view within the original confines of the program launch menu, thereby negating the need to open sub-menus on top of a large portion of the desktop displayed on the display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David A. Matthews, Charles W. Stabb, Matthew R. Lerner
  • Patent number: 7512899
    Abstract: A unified user interface includes one or more component tables and a master table. The one or more component tables include resource information for the user interface with respect to a particular component. The master table includes resource information for the application and is merged from the one or more component tables. The component tables may be added or subtracted at any time and the master table is recreated by again merging the remaining or now existing component tables. The master table is used by a host application to build the user interface for a suite application. Components are only loaded and corresponding user interfaces built when appropriate commands are accessed. Thus, applications may be developed and components can be added or modified at a later time without rewriting the shell application or re-releasing a product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Derek Hoiem, Martyn S. Lovell, Steve Seixeiro
  • Patent number: 7503005
    Abstract: The management of files, folders, and other data is facilitated. When a user inputs a character string (tag), which is desired to be retrieved, to a retrieval character input space and operates a retrieval button on a screen, retrieval is started, and a screen (file) corresponding to the input character string is displayed. This makes it possible for the user to fetch a desired file as required. That is, the user is able to manage and control files without using folders.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2009
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Junichi Rekimoto
  • Patent number: 7493573
    Abstract: A system and method of navigating a mobile device display includes highlighting a first icon in a main portion of the mobile device display. The main portion is traversed to a tertiary tray. The tertiary tray includes a second icon. The second icon is highlighted. A single navigation key is used to traverse the main portion and to highlight the second icon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2009
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventor: Annette M. Wagner
  • Patent number: 7490293
    Abstract: A method for providing user interfaces in a first network including first devices interconnected via a communication medium and at least one interface device connecting said first network to at least a second network having interconnected second devices, the user interfaces for controlling the devices that are currently connected to the first network and devices that are currently connected to the second network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2009
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Richard Humpleman, Dongyan Wang
  • Patent number: 7472357
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and a user interface for managing and prioritizing items in a list are provided. Each item in the list is associated with and displayed adjacent to a user interface control for flagging the associated list item. When selected, the user interface control is operative to flag the corresponding list item. Moreover, the user interface control is further operative to change its visual state to indicate that the corresponding list item is flagged. List items flagged by other users appear differently. When again selected, the user interface control is further operative to remove the flagged state for the corresponding item and to set the state of the item as completed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Jesse Clay Satterfield, Jensen Michael Harris, Jiaxin Wang, Richard Henry Leukart, III, George Arthur Herbert, III, Martijn Eldert van Tilburg
  • Patent number: 7447997
    Abstract: A screen capture tool reduces information transfer when capturing a series of screen areas. For example, the screen capture tool reduces usage of Bit Block Transfer operations from a display card frame buffer to system memory. The screen capture tool scans pixel values in portions of a screen area to detect changes relative to a previously captured screen area, identifying portions to be updated by BitBlt operation. Or, the screen capture tool analyzes display driver commands to identify portions of a screen area to be updated by BitBlt operation. The screen capture tool then constructs a representation of the screen area. For example, the screen capture tool provides portions of the screen area that do not require a BitBlt operation (which may involve copying or other use of pixel information already in system memory) and then captures other portions of the screen area by BitBlt operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventor: Olivier Colle
  • Patent number: 7437683
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for presenting electronic documents to users in the form of immersive reading pages. Immersive reading pages mimic the presentation that is provided by printed paper documents. There are no traditional user interface features displayed to the user, yet the user has access to the enhanced functionality that can be provided by computer-implemented documents. In an illustrative embodiment, the user has access to intrabook (or inside-the-book), interbook (or outside-the-book) navigational features, and content interactive features, such as highlighting, annotating, drawing or looking up definitions or synonyms of words in the document. Enhanced functionality is transparently associated with elements on the immersive reading page such that the immersive reading page is without visible indicators of the association. A training mode for permitting the user to learn the transparent association behind the immersive reading pages provides visual guides to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: John L. Beezer, William Hill, Leroy B. Keely, Darryl E. Rubin, David M. Silver, Susan D. Woolf, Jean Pierre De Vries
  • Patent number: 7424679
    Abstract: The patient data information system of the present invention integrates patient image data and patient textual data and provides a method for patient data creation, maintenance and retrieval. The patient data information system comprises a display unit coupled to a workstation with the workstation configured to operate a first software application which is configured to display patient images for a patient on the display unit. The workstation also is configured to work a second software application. When the first software application is configured to generate a patient context for the patient being treated and provide the patient context to the second software application and display patient data from the second software application based on the patient context. The first software application retrieves patient image data from a Picture Archival and Communication System (PACS).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2008
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Roland Lamer, Atulkishen Venkatesh Setlur
  • Patent number: 7412654
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for handling special windows in a display comprises a window manager in an operating system that is called by application programs to create special windows. The window manager embeds static key signals including encoded special window information, such as the coordinates of a window area to be specially processed, into a video RAM. An existing video interface scans the video RAM and transmits display information, including the key signals, to the display. The present invention further comprises a window decoder in the display, that detects the key signals, extracts the encoded special window information, and controls display circuitry performing the desired special processing. The key signal encoding scheme does not create visually discernible display aberrations that could distract the user or interfere with normal window management.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: Apple, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard D. Cappels, Sr., Christoph H. Krah, Johanna M. Andrews
  • Patent number: 7409643
    Abstract: A graphical user interface for a travel planning system is described. The graphical user interface is implemented as a web page and includes a tabular region of the graphical user interface that displays summarized travel options and comprises a plurality of cells that act as controls. The interface also includes a second region that displays selected travel options resulting from filtering a set of travel options in accordance with a control actuated in the tabular region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2008
    Assignee: ITA Software, Inc.
    Inventor: Rodney S. Daughtrey
  • Patent number: 7406663
    Abstract: A graphical input device having the appearance of a drop-down menu in a browser-based display is generated locally, within a user's computer, in place of a pull-down menu expressed in a mark-up language such as HTML or its derivatives downloaded into the user's computer. The set of possible entries to be displayed along with the graphical input device may vary depending on the user. The minimum display width needed for full-width display of even the widest entry is evaluated locally by scripting and the width of the displayed graphical input device is adjusted accordingly. The drop-down list and its listed entries may be wider than the data entry field. The user can thus view and select customized possible entries that cannot fit within the nominal displayed data entry field of the assumed pull-down menu.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2008
    Assignee: Call-Tell LLC
    Inventors: Varda Treibach-Heck, Byron G. Caldwell, Bruce Johnson
  • Patent number: 7392486
    Abstract: The completion of an electronic checklist is facilitated by the automated display of certain data while completing the checklist. The disclosed program presents an automated display of synoptic, navigational, or flight management data for each task in a checklist. For each task in a checklist, there may be certain data which would aid the pilot or other user to complete the checklist. Such data can be displayed contemporaneously with the checklist. After the completion of each task in the checklist, the contents of the display can be restored to the state the display was in before the checklist was started.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2008
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Mike G. Gyde, Mark I. Snyder
  • Patent number: 7383515
    Abstract: A method, program and system for displaying the consequence of an input in a graphical user interface (GUI) are provided. The invention comprises displaying a GUI including a plurality of interaction control mechanisms (controls) having a selected or a deselected state. An input to a first control may cause a change in state to at least one other of the plurality of controls. Responsive to a first input at the first control (e.g., holding down a mouse button with the pointer on the first control), the invention displays a preview of the change in state of the plurality of controls that would occur if a second input is made at the first control (e.g., releasing the mouse button with the pointer still on the first control). If the user does not want the previewed change in state to occur, the user has simply to avoid making the second input (e.g., move the pointer off the first control before releasing the mouse button).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Didier D. Bardon, Richard Edmond Berry, Scott Anthony Morgan, Anthony Christopher Courtney Temple
  • Patent number: 7383512
    Abstract: A new form of DHTML behaviors, called “Element Behaviors,” wherein a behavior component is bound to an HTML element, and not just attached to the element as with attached behaviors. A special processing instruction is used to import the Element Behavior into a Web page. Upon parsing the Web page, the Element Behavior is initialized as soon as it has been downloaded and parsed. This immediate initialization makes the Element Behavior declaratively available to bind synchronously to the element(s) it is modifying. A viewLink is a feature of Element Behaviors that permits encapsulation of a behavior component file (e.g., an HTC file) so that the structure of the HTC file is transparent to a Web page (“primary document”) to which the HTC file is linked, but the content of the HTC file may be displayed in the primary document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ronald R. Martinsen, David H. Massy, Joseph S. Beda, Richard John Gardner, Bulusu K. Mohan, Alexander J. Zotov, John M. Harding, Robert A. Relyea, Markus W. Mielke, Dave Cox, Kris Markel
  • Patent number: 7370281
    Abstract: The invention provides a system and method for providing smart file import and drag-and-drop functionality in a graphical user interface environment. As a file is dragged and dropped onto a set of folders using an explorer-like interface, the system automatically determines into which folder the file should be placed. If the folder does not already exist, then it is automatically created. A similar process can be used for file imports. The system is particularly useful for manipulating Java, Java derivative, or Java-related source files (including JAVA, JWS, CTRL, JWI, JAR, class files, etc.) in a Java application development environment, since in this type of environment the location of the file within the folder tree can be very important. Other embodiments of the invention include an icon-display mechanism which denotes to the user that the Smart Drop processing will take precedence over the normal drop behavior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2008
    Assignee: BEA Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Roger Weber
  • Patent number: 7363589
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system and method for electronic-based communication between a plurality of remote users. The system includes a plurality of remote workstations, interconnected via a communication network, so that users may simultaneously view a target file. Further, the system may permit one or more of the users to view additional information, such as annotations or notes that relate to the target file. Such additional information may be part of the target file or it may be a separate file that corresponds to the target file. Also disclosed are methods for using such a system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2008
    Assignee: Tandberg Telecom A/S
    Inventor: Joon Maeng
  • Patent number: 7363585
    Abstract: Methods and arrangements are provided that display at least one user input field within a graphical user interface and automatically display reminder information associated with the user input field through a non-modal mechanism within the graphical user interface. The methods and arrangements monitor user input activities and automatically display the reminder information associated with the user input field through the non-modal mechanism after a defined period of user input inactivity. For example, if a user is unable to remember a password, then the methods and arrangements provide for an automatic non-intrusive way for the reminder information, which the user previously entered when setting up their password/account, to be displayed. A tip balloon is one type of a non-modal display mechanism that does require the user to respond and does not interfere graphically and/or operationally with the ongoing graphical user interface supported process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Giampiero M. Sierra, Christopher A. Evans, Jennifer L. Shetterly