EXCLUSIVE USE DISPLAY SURFACE AREAS AND PERSISTENTLY VISIBLE DISPLAY OF CONTENTS INCLUDING ADVERTISEMENTS

• US 20030052923A1
• Filed: 06/24/1999
• Published: 03/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Xoucin, Inc.
• Inventors: PORTER, SWAIN W.
• Granted Patent: US 6,570,595 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/790
• 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: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

In a computer system having a display device with a display surface, a portion of the display surface is reserved for an exclusive use by a program, to allow contents rendered by the program to be persistently visible. In one embodiment, the reservation is accomplished through reducing the width and height of a shared portion of the display surface managed by a window manager, corresponding to a graphics resolution. In one embodiment, the exclusive use is to render advertisements in the reserved portion by an advertising rendering program. The advertisements are HTML pages received from an advertisement web server through the Internet. The HTML pages are rendered in the reserved portion through a direct draw component. The direct draw component is provided with the unreduced width and height as the width and height of the surface area to support direct drawing of displays. A cursor control device driver also supports monitoring of movements of a cursor control device and of occurrences of cursor events. The cursor control device driver is likewise provided with the unreduced width and height as the width and height of the surface area to monitor for cursor movements and events. In other embodiments, multiple portions of the display surface are reserved for advertising and/or other exclusive uses.

Claims

1. In a computer system having a display device including a display surface, a method of operation comprising:

reserving a first portion of the display surface for exclusive use by a first program; and

rendering contents in said reserved first portion of the display surface, by said first program, excluding all other programs from using said reserved first portion of display surface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said reserving comprises

determining a width and a height for an unreserved shared portion of the surface in accordance with a graphics resolution;

and

reducing said determined width and/or height of said unreserved shared portion to reserve said first portion of said display surface for said exclusive use by said first program.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein

said reserving further comprises intercepting a request from a window manager requesting determination of said width and height for said unreserved shared portion of the display surface, and forwarding said request to a device driver for said display device, the request including said graphics resolution;

and

said determination of the width and height for the unreserved shared portion of the display surface is performed by said device driver of said display device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein

said reserving further comprises receiving said determined width and height for the unreserved shared portion from said device driver of said display device;

and

returning said width, if not reduced, or said reduced width, if reduced, and said height, if not reduced, or said reduced height, if reduced, to said window manager, upon performing said reduction of the width and/or height.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the computer system further comprises a cursor control device having an associated device driver, and said reserving further comprises notifying said associated device driver of the cursor control device said unreduced initially determined width and height as the width and height of the display surface the associated device driver of the cursor control device is to monitor for cursor events, regardless of whether said width and height are reduced or not.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the computer system further comprises a direct draw component for a program to draw directly on said display surface, and said reserving further comprises notifying said direct draw component said unreduced initially determined width and height as the width and height of the display surface the direct draw component is to support direct draw, regardless of whether said width and height are reduced or not.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said first program is an advertisement rendering program, and said rendering of contents comprises rendering of advertisements received from a remote server in said reserved first portion of the display surface.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said rendering of advertisements in said reserved first portion of the display surface further comprises accessing said remote server to cause said advertisements to be provided.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said accessing of the remote server comprises accessing a web server through the Internet.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said received advertisements are constituted with HTML pages, and said rendering of advertisements in said reserved first portion of the display surface further comprises rendering said received HTML pages in said reserved first portion of the display surface through a direct draw component of the computer system, where the direct draw component is equipped to render display directly onto said display surface of said display device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said received advertisements are constituted with HTML pages, and said rendering of advertisements in said reserved first portion of the display surface further comprises rendering an iconic representation of said received HTML pages in said reserved first portion of the display surface through a direct draw component of the computer system, where the direct draw component is equipped to render display directly onto said display surface of said display device, and rendering said received HTML pages in a display window disposed in the unreserved shared portion of the display surface responsive to an user selection of the iconic representation of the advertisement.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises

receiving notifications of occurrences of cursor events in said reserved first portion of display surface;

and

responding to said cursor events.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said reserving is automatically performed during each system start up/reset.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said method further comprises reserving a second portion of the display surface for exclusive use by a second program;

and

rendering contents in said reserved second portion of the display surface, by said second program, excluding all other programs from using said reserved second portion of display surface.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said first and second reserved portions are disposed in a first and a second edge of the display surface respectively.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said first edge is a bottom edge and said second edge is one of a right and a left edge of the display surface respectively.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the intersecting portion of the reserved first and second portions of the display surface is considered a reserved third portion of the display surface for exclusive use by a third program.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the first and second programs are first and second instances of an advertisement rendering program.

19. An article of manufacture comprising:

a recordable medium having stored thereon a plurality of programming instructions to be executed by a processor, wherein when executed, perform the operations set forth in claim 1.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the plurality of programming instructions, when executed, perform the reserving operation as set forth in claim 2.

21. The article of claim 20, wherein the plurality of programming instructions, when executed, further perform the reserving operation including the additional operations set forth in claim 3.

22. The article of claim 19, wherein the plurality of programming instructions, when executed, perform the rendering operation as set forth in claims 7 and 10.

23. The article of claim 19, wherein the plurality of programming instructions, when executed, further perform the rendering operation as set forth in claims 7 and 10.

24. A computer system comprising:

a first device driver to render displays on a surface of a display device and to indicate a width and a height of the surface for a graphics resolution; and

a partitioning mechanism communicatively coupled to the first device driver to reduce the width and/or the height, and to return the width, if unreduced, or the reduced width, if reduced, and the height, if unreduced, or the reduced height, if reduced, to a requestor requesting such width and height indication, to partition the display surface into at least a first and a second portion.

25. The computer system of claim 24, wherein

the computer system further comprises a second device driver to monitor and report movements of a cursor control device, including occurrences of cursor control events;

and

the partitioning mechanism is further communicatively coupled to the second device driver to notify the second device driver of the unreduced width and height as the width and height of the surface of the display device the second device driver is to support, regardless of whether the width and the height are reduced or not.

26. The computer system of claim 24, wherein

the computer system further comprises a direct draw component communicatively coupled to the first device driver to support direct drawing of displays on said surface of the display device;

and

the partitioning mechanism is further communicatively coupled to the direct draw component to notify the direct draw component of the unreduced width and height as the width and height of the surface of the display device the direct draw component is to support, regardless of whether the width and the height are reduced or not.

27. The computer system of claim 24, wherein the computer system further comprises an advertisement program that renders remotely retrieved advertisements in said first portion of the surface, excluding all other programs from usage of the first portion of the surface to render displays.

28. The computer system of claim 24, wherein the computer system further comprises an advertisement program that renders iconic representations of remotely retrieved advertisements in the first portion of the surface, excluding all other programs from usage of the first portion of the surface to render displays, the advertisement program rendering the retrieved advertisements in the second portion of the surface, responsive to user selections of corresponding ones of the rendered iconic representations.

29. An operating system comprising:

a first device driver to render displays on a surface of a display device and to indicate a width and a height of the surface for a graphics resolution; and

a function communicatively coupled to the first device driver to post process a width and height indication to reduce the width and/or the height to partition the display surface into at least a first and a second portion.

30. The operating system of claim 29, wherein

the operating system further comprises a second device driver to monitor and report movements of a cursor control device, including occurrences of cursor control events;

and

the function is further communicatively coupled to the second device driver to notify the second device driver of the unreduced width and height as the width and height of the surface of the display device the second device driver is to support, regardless of whether the width and the height are reduced or not.

31. The operating system of claim 29, wherein

the operating system further comprises a direct draw component communicatively coupled to the first device driver to support direct drawing of graphical displays on said surface of the display device;

and

the function is further communicatively coupled to the direct draw component to notify the direct draw component of the unreduced width and height as the width and height of the surface of the display device the direct draw component is to support, regardless of whether the width and the height are reduced or not.

32. A method comprising:

transmitting a web page to an end-user system having a display device with a display surface, for rendering in a display window disposed in a first portion of the display surface shared by a plurality of programs; and

transmitting one or more corresponding advertisements to the end-user system for rendering in at least a second portion of the display surface reserved for exclusive use by an advertisement rendering program.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein said transmitting of one or more corresponding advertisements further comprises transmitting iconic representations of the advertisements for rendering in said second portion of the display surface;

and said transmitted advertisements are rendered in said first portion responsive to user selections of corresponding ones of the iconic representations rendered in said first portion of the display surface.

34. A web server comprising:

a networking interface interfacing the web server to a data network;

a processor coupled to the networking interface to transmit a web page to an end-user system having a display device with a display surface, via said data network, for rendering in a display window disposed in a first portion of the display surface shared by a plurality of programs, and to transmit one or more corresponding advertisements to the end-user system for rendering in at least a second portion of the display surface reserved for exclusive use by an advertisement rendering program.

35. The web server of claim 34, wherein said processor further transmits, via said data network, iconic representations of the advertisements for rendering in said second portion of the display surface;

and said transmitted advertisements are rendered in said first portion responsive to user selections of corresponding ones of the iconic representations rendered in said first portion of the display surface.