Cell based end user interface

• US 20020196286A1
• Filed: 04/30/2002
• Published: 12/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Broadband Graphics LLC
• Original Assignee: Broadband Graphics LLC
• Inventors: Koenig, Axel M., Taylor, Steve D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,165,228 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/788
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/027 Arrangements and methods specific for the display of internet documents
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

An EUI for presenting contents to a user, is constituted with at least a first display container cell, a second display container cell nested within the first display container cell, and a display action cell nested in either the first or the second display container cell. In one embodiment, each display container/action cell is defined by a plurality of cell attributes. The container cell attributes of each container cell include attributes defining a kernel, a maximum state, a centroid, a relocatability, and a resizing priority. The container cell attributes may also include attributes defining the maximum number, placement and alignment of descendant container/action cells. The container cell attributes of a leaf container cell also include an attribute defining content type of content to be rendered in the leaf container cell. The action cell attributes include attributes defining an image and/or binaries to be executed for various user actions.

Claims

1. An end user interface (EUI) comprising:

a first display container cell;

a second display container cell nested within the first display container cell;

a third display container cell nested within the second display container cell; and

a first display action cell nested within one of said first, second and third display container cells.

2. The EUI of claim 1, wherein the first display container cell is a selected one of a root region container cell and a nested region container cell.

3. The EUI of claim 1, where the third display container cell is a selected one of a nested region container cell and a nested zone container cell.

4. The EUI of claim 1, wherein each of the first, second and third display container cells is defined by a plurality of display container cell attributes.

5. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the plrality of display container cell attributes include a subset defining a kernel of the display container cell.

6. The EUI of claim 5, wherein the subset comprises a display container cell attribute defining a dimension of the kernel of the display container cell.

7. The EUI of claim 6, wherein the dimension is a selected one of an area size, a length and a width of the kernel of the display container cell.

8. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the plurality of display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a dimension of the display container cell when the display container cell is in a maximally expanded state.

9. The EUI of claim 8, wherein the dimension is a selected one of an area size, a length and a width of the display container cell at the maximally expanded state.

10. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the plurality of display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a centroid and relocatability the display container cell.

11. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a background selection, and a texture selection of the display container cell.

12. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a subset defining a border of the display container cell.

13. The EUI of claim 12, wherein the subset comprise a display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a thickness measure, a color selection, a texture selection, a shading selection, a blinking selection, and a transparent selection for the border of the display container cell.

14. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a subset defining a boundary of the display container cell.

15. The EUI of claim 14, wherein the subset comprise a display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a thickness measure and a color selection for the boundary of the display container cell.

16. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a limit on the number of immediate descendant nested display container cells placeable within the display container cell.

17. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining an alignment selection for aligning immediate descendant nested display container cells of the display container cell.

18. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a resizing priority of the display container cell.

19. The EUI of claim 4, wherein the display container cell attributes of the second display container cell comprise a display container cell attribute defining content type for content to be displayed with the second display container cell.

20. The EUI of claim 19, wherein the content type is a selected one of a multi-media content type, a graphic content type and a textual content type.

21. The EUI of claim 1, wherein the first display action cell is a selected one of an image icon action cell, a button icon action cell, and a control facility action cell.

22. The EUI of claim 1, wherein the first display action cell is defined by a plurality of display action cell attributes.

23. The EUI of claim 22, wherein the display action cell attributes include one or more display action cell attributes defining a display image of the first display action cell.

24. The EUI of claim 22, wherein the display action cell attributes include a display action cell attribute defining a centroid of the first display action cell.

25. The EUI of claim 22, wherein the display action cell attributes include one or more display action cell attributes defining a buffer of the first display action cell.

26. The EUI of claim 25, wherein the one or more display action cell attributes defining the buffer include a display action cell attribute defining a dimension of the buffer of the first display action cell.

27. The EUI of claim 26, wherein the dimension is a selected one of an area size, a length and a width of the buffer of the first display action cell.

28. The EUI of claim 21, wherein the display action cell attributes include one or more display action cell attributes defining one or more binaries to be executed responsive to one or more user actions.

29. The EUI of claim 28, wherein the one or more user actions comprise one or more selected ones of a mousing over user action, a single click of a cursor control device, and a double click of a cursor control device.

30. The EUI of claim 1, wherein the EUI further comprises a second display action cell nested within one of the first, second and third display container cells.

31. The EUI of claim 1 where the EUI further comprises a fourth display container cell nested within one of the first, second and third display container cells.

32. The EUI of claim 31, wherein the EUI further comprises a second display action cell nested within one of the first, second, third and fourth display container cells.

33. An end user interface (EUI) comprising:

a first display container cell including a first kernel; and

a second display container cell nested within the first display container cell, including a second kernel.

34. The EUI of claim 33, wherein the first display container cell is a selected one of a root region container cell and a nested region container cell.

35. The EUI of claim 33, where the second display container cell is a selected one of a nested region container cell and a nested zone container cell.

36. The EUI of claim 33, wherein each of the first and second display container cells is defined by a plurality of display container cell attributes.

37. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the plurality of display container cell attributes include a subset defining the kernel of the display container cell.

38. The EUI of claim 37, wherein the subset comprises a display container cell attribute defining a dimension of the kernel of the display container cell.

39. The EUI of claim 38, wherein the dimension is a selected one of an area size, a length and a width of the kernel of the display container cell.

40. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the plurality of display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a dimension of the display container cell when the display container cell is in a maximally expanded state.

41. The EUI of claim 40, wherein the dimension is a selected one of an area size, a length and a width of the display container cell at the maximally expanded state.

42. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the plurality of display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a centroid and relocatability the display container cell.

43. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a background selection, and a texture selection of the display container cell.

44. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a subset defining a border of the display container cell.

45. The EUI of claim 44, wherein the subset comprise a display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a thickness measure, a color selection, a texture selection, a shading selection, a blinking selection, and a transparent selection for the border of the display container cell.

46. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a subset defining a boundary of the display container cell.

47. The EUI of claim 46, wherein the subset comprise a display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a thickness measure and a color selection for the boundary of the display container cell.

48. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a limit on the number of immediate descendant nested display container cells placeable within the display container cell.

49. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining an alignment selection for aligning immediate descendant nested display container cells of the display container cell.

50. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the display container cell attributes comprise a display container cell attribute defining a resizing priority of the display container cell.

51. The EUI of claim 36, wherein the display container cell attributes of the second display container cell comprise a display container cell attribute defining content type for content to be displayed with the second display container cell.

52. An end user interface (EUI) comprising:

a first display container cell including a first kernel;

a second display container cell nested within the first display container cell, including a second kernel;

a third display container cell nested within one of the first and second display container cells, including a third kernel; and

a first display action cell nested in a selected one of the first, second and third display container cell.

53. The EUI of claim 52, wherein

the first display container cell is a selected one of a root region container cell and a nested region container cell;

and

the third display container cell is a selected one of a nested region container cell and a nested zone container cell.

54. The EUI of claim 52, wherein each of the first, second and third display container cells is defined by a plurality of display container cell attributes including

a first subset defining the kernel of the display container cell, with the subset including a first display container cell attribute defining a dimension of the kernel of the display container cell,

a second display container cell attribute defining a dimension of the display container cell when the display container cell is in a maximally expanded state, and

a third display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a centroid, a relocatability and a resizing priority of the display container cell.

55. The EUI of claim 52, wherein each of the first, second and third display container cells is defined by a plurality of display container cell attributes including

a first display container cell attribute defining a selected one of a background selection, and a texture selection of the display container cell, and

a subset defining a selected one of a border and a boundary of the display container cell.

56. The EUI of claim 52, wherein each of the first, second and third display container cells is defined by a plurality of display container cell attributes including

a first display container cell attribute defining a limit on the number of immediate descendant nested display container cells placeable within the display container cell, and

a second display container cell attribute defining an alignment selection for aligning immediate descendant nested display container cells of the display container cell.

57. The EUI of claim 52, wherein the third display container cell is defined by a plurality of display container cell attributes including a display container cell attribute defining content type for content to be displayed with the third display container cell.

58. The EUI of claim 52, wherein the first display action cell is defined by a plurality of display action cell attributes including one or more display action cell attributes defining one or more binaries to be executed responsive to one or more user actions.

59. The EUI of claim 58, wherein the one or more user actions comprise one or more selected ones of a mousing over user action, a single click of a cursor control device, and a double click of a cursor control device.

60. The EUI of claim 52, wherein the EUI further comprises a second display action cell nested within one of the first, second and third display container cells.