Providing a user interface

• US 20060259870A1
• Filed: 04/25/2006
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ning, Ke, Early, Veronica Marie, Brannam, Todd C., Robinson, John D., Besbris, David G., Hirschberg, Peter David, Kotay, Sreekant S., Lucier, Corey Robert, Wright, Michael Gary, Hewitt, Joseph Raymond
• Granted Patent: US 9,141,402 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A system for providing a user interface includes a gadget definition, a style definition, and a scene file. The gadget definition includes one or more XML-based gadget definition tags defining a gadget element and the style definition includes one or more XML-based style definition tags defining one or more style attributes to be applied to the gadget element. The scene file is an XML-based document that includes a gadget element tag that specifies the gadget element. The system further includes a parser to parse the scene file, the style definition, and the gadget definition, and to generate an object that includes a gadget object corresponding to the gadget element. The system also includes a layout engine to determine, based on the object model, a layout of the user interface, and a rendering engine to render, based on the determined layout, the user interface including the gadget element.

Claims

1. A system for providing a user interface comprising:

a gadget definition, wherein the gadget definition comprises one or more XML-based gadget definition tags defining a gadget element;

a style definition, wherein the style definition comprises one or more XML-based style definition tags defining one or more style attributes to be applied to the gadget element;

a scene file, wherein the scene file is an XML-based document specifying one or more elements of the user interface, the scene file including a gadget element tag that specifies the gadget element;

a parser to parse the scene file, the style definition, and the gadget definition, and to generate an object model based on the parsed scene file, the parsed style definition, and the parsed gadget definition, the object model including a gadget object corresponding to the gadget element;

a layout engine to determine, based on the object model, a layout of the user interface; and

a rendering engine to render, based on the determined layout, the user interface, the user interface including the gadget element.

2. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 wherein the one or more gadget definition tags comprise multiple XML-based child element tags, each of the multiple XML-based child element tags specifying a constituent element of the gadget element.

3. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 further comprising:

a behavior definition, wherein the behavior definition comprises one or more XML-based behavior tags including at least one XML-based reaction tag that specifies a script function to be called in reaction to an event, and wherein

the gadget element tag is associated with the behavior definition, and

the parser parses the behavior definition in addition to the scene file, the style definition, and the gadget definition, to generate the object model.

4. The system for providing a user interface of claim 3 further comprising:

a dispatcher to detect the event and to dispatch an event object upon detecting the event such that the script function is called to handle the event.

5. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 wherein the style definition further comprises an XML-based state tag, the XML-based state tag associating a state with one or more style attributes to be applied in response to entering the state.

6. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 wherein

the gadget definition further comprises an XML-based parts definition tag, the parts definition tag specifying a first constituent element of the gadget definition and a second constituent element of the gadget definition, and

the style definition further comprises

a first XML-based part selection tag specifying one or more style attributes to be applied to the first constituent element, and

a second XML-based part selection tag specifying one or more style attributes to be applied to the second constituent element.

7. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 further comprising

an XML-based animation tag, the animation tag including an animator element for applying an animation to an attribute of the gadget element.

8. The system for providing a user interface of claim 7 wherein the animator element further comprises:

a to parameter for specifying an initial value of the attribute of the gadget element before the animation is applied; and

a from parameter for specifying a final value of the attribute of the gadget element after the animation is applied, wherein the initial value specified is a variable.

9. The system for providing a user interface of claim 8 wherein

the attribute of the gadget element of the user interface comprises a current value, and

the initial value specified is a reserved word that sets the initial value equal to the current value of the attribute of the gadget element.

10. The system for providing a user interface of claim 7 wherein the animator element further comprises:

a to parameter for specifying an initial value of the attribute of the gadget element before the animation is applied, and

a from parameter for specifying a final value of the attribute of the gadget element after the animation is applied, wherein the final value is a variable.

11. The system for providing a user interface of claim 10 wherein

the style definition further comprises an XML-based state tag, the XML-based state tag associating a state with the gadget element and specifying a new value for the attribute of the gadget element, the new value of the attribute of the gadget element to be set in response to entering the state, and

the final value specified is a reserved word that sets the final value equal to the new value of the attribute of the gadget element.

12. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 further comprising:

an attribute associated with the gadget element tag, the attribute associated with the gadget element tag comprising a value, wherein

the gadget element tag further comprises a binding tag that binds the value of the attribute associated with the gadget element tag to a data source.

13. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 wherein

the gadget definition defines a base set of elements, and

the gadget element tag further comprises a child element tag that defines an element of the gadget element that is in addition to the base set of elements.

14. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 wherein

the gadget definition defines a base set of attributes, and

the gadget element tag further comprises an attribute that supplements the base set of attributes of the gadget definition tag.

15. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 wherein

the gadget definition defines a base set of attributes, and

the gadget element tag further comprises an attribute that overrides an attribute of the base set of attributes.

16. The system for providing a user interface of claim 1 wherein the user interface comprises a user interface for a desktop application.

17. A method for providing a user interface comprising:

parsing an XML-based scene file, the scene file specifying one or more elements of the user interface and including a gadget element tag that specifies a gadget element of the user interface, the gadget element tag referencing an XML-based gadget definition and being associated with an XML-based style definition;

parsing the gadget definition, wherein the gadget definition comprises one or more XML-based gadget definition tags;

parsing the style definition, the style definition including one or more XML-based style definition tags defining one or more style attributes to be applied to the gadget element;

generating an object model based on the parsed scene file, the parsed gadget definition, and the parsed style definition, the object model including a gadget object corresponding to the gadget element of the user interface;

determining, based on the object model, a layout of the user interface; and

rendering, based on the determined layout, the user interface.

18. The method for providing a user interface of claim 17 wherein the one or more gadget definition tags comprise multiple XML-based child element tags, each of multiple XML-based child element tags specifying a constituent element of the gadget element.

19. The method for providing a user interface of claim 17 further comprising:

parsing an XML-based behavior definition associated with the gadget element tag, the behavior definition comprising one or more XML-based behavior tags including at least one XML-based reaction tag that specifies a script function to be called in reaction to an event, and wherein generating the object model is based on the parsed behavior definition in addition to the parsed scene file, the parsed gadget definition, and the parsed style definition.

20. The method for providing a user interface of claim 19 further comprising:

capturing information describing the event;

creating an instance of an event object based on the captured information describing the event;

dispatching the instance of the event object to the object model.

21. The method for providing a user interface of claim 20 wherein

generating the object model based on the parsed behavior definition in addition to the parsed scene file, the parsed gadget definition, and the parsed style definition comprises attaching an event listener object to the gadget object in the object model, the event listener object corresponding to the event, and

dispatching the instance of the event object to the object model includes dispatching the instance of the event object to the event listener such that the event listener passes the instance of the event object to the script function.

22. The method for providing a user interface of claim 18 wherein the style definition further comprises an XML-based state tag, the XML-based state tag associating a state change with an attribute to be set in response to the state change, and the method further comprising:

detecting the state change; and

setting the attribute in response to detecting the state change.

23. The method for providing a user interface of claim 22 wherein the style definition further comprises an XML-based animation tag, the animation tag including an animator element for applying an animation to an attribute of the gadget element in response to a state change, and the method further comprising:

detecting the state change; and

applying the animation to the attribute of the gadget element.

24. A computer useable medium having a computer program embodied thereon, the computer program including instructions for causing a computer to perform the following operations:

parse an XML-based scene file, the scene file specifying one or more elements of a user interface and including a gadget element tag that specifies a gadget element of the user interface, the gadget element tag referencing a gadget definition and being associated with a style definition;

parse an XML-based gadget definition, the gadget definition comprising one or more XML-based gadget definition tags;

parse an XML-based style definition, the style definition including one or more XML-based style definition tags defining one or more style attributes to be applied to the gadget element;

generate an object model based on the parsed scene file, the parsed gadget definition, and the parsed style definition, the object model including a gadget object corresponding to the gadget element of the user interface;

determine, based on the object model, a layout of the user interface; and

render, based on the determined layout, the user interface.

25. The computer useable medium of claim 24, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:

parse an XML-based behavior definition associated with the gadget element tag, the behavior definition comprising one or more XML-based behavior tags including at least one XML-based reaction tag that specifies a script function to be called in reaction to an event;

attach an event listener object to the gadget object in the object model, the event listener object corresponding to the event;

capture information describing the event;

create an instance of an event object based on the captured information describing the event; and

dispatch the instance of the event object to the object model.

26. The computer useable medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions to dispatch the instance of the event object to the object model further comprise instructions to:

dispatch the instance of the event object to the event listener such that the event listener passes the event object to the script function.