Menu infrastructure apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A menu generating apparatus for rendering and displaying menu items associated with applications running on a computing platform, the menu generating apparatus comprising:
- a platform for running a plurality of applications;
a menu application associated with the plurality of applications running on the platform; and
a menu hierarchy file that is accessible by the menu application, wherein menu items pertaining to the plurality of applications are registered and stored in the menu hierarchy file, whereby the menu application layer utilizes the stored menu hierarchy for rendering the menu selections.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A menu infrastructure component, or menu application, which runs as a layer on top of a platform, wherein the platform is used to run various applications. The menu application can service, with menu generating capabilities, any of the applications running on the platform. Based upon the identity (or locale) of the user, a particular set of images will be created to provide the preferred language (for instance) for display in the menus. During runtime, these criteria are used to pick out a version of menus (e.g., Japanese menus or English menus) and thereafter render them for display. Each of the applications can have inter-application links, which jump from one application to another. The applications can also have intra-application links, which jump to different capabilities or functions within the particular application. The Menu Application serves to manage and render the inter- and intra-application hyperlinks for an entire web site.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A menu generating apparatus for rendering and displaying menu items associated with applications running on a computing platform, the menu generating apparatus comprising:
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a platform for running a plurality of applications;
a menu application associated with the plurality of applications running on the platform; and
a menu hierarchy file that is accessible by the menu application, wherein menu items pertaining to the plurality of applications are registered and stored in the menu hierarchy file, whereby the menu application layer utilizes the stored menu hierarchy for rendering the menu selections. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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12. A method for rendering and displaying menu items associated with applications running on a computing platform, the method comprising the steps of:
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developing an application having links to be displayed in association with the application;
exposing the links within the application;
registering the links in a menu hierarchy file that is stored in association with the computing platform; and
retrieving the menu hierarchy file from the storage area; and
using the menu hierarchy file to render the links in designated areas of a display.
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Specification