METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING WIDGETS THROUGH A WIDGET DOCK USER INTERFACE

• US 20080235602A1
• Filed: 03/21/2007
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Boerries, Marco, Strauss, Jonathan, Rose, Arlo, Voas, Edward, Derringer, Joseph Scott
• Granted Patent: US 8,881,052 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer readable media defining computer instructions for rendering a user interface (UI) are provided. The UI is defined for handling a widget that provides functionality to a displayable and executable mini-application. The widget includes a plurality of widget attributes, including a dock tile that is defined to display only selected ones of the plurality of widget attributes of the widget. Also provided is a widget dock to display and contain the dock tile on a display screen, and the dock tile is linked by a functional association to the widget. The widget dock provides access to launch the widget when selection of the dock tile is detected, so as to provide full interface with the plurality of widget attributes of the widget.

Claims

1. A user interface (UI) for handling a widget that provides functionality to a displayable and executable mini-application, the widget including a plurality of widget attributes, comprising:

a dock tile defined to display only selected ones of the plurality of widget attributes of the widget; and

a widget dock to display and contain the dock tile on a display screen, and the dock tile being linked by a functional association to the widget;

wherein the widget dock provides access to launch the widget when selection of the dock tile is detected so as to provide full interface with the plurality of widget attributes of the widget.

2. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 1, wherein the UI is functionally interfaced with a widget engine, the widget engine defined to execute code that enables rendering of the widget and the dock tile.

3. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of said dock tiles that are configured to be displayed in the widget dock.

4. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 1, further comprising a scroll button integrated with the widget dock to control scrolling of said plurality of dock tiles when a dock tile display area is insufficient to display the plurality of dock tiles at one time, and further including a paging indicator being displayable on the display screen to indicate positional scrolling of the dock tiles in response to interaction with the scroll button of the widget dock.

5. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 2, further comprising a control menu button defined on the widget dock to enable launching of a control menu for interfacing with the widget engine and the widget.

6. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

system components being interfaced with the UI, the system components including,

the widget engine,

a widget database, and

a widget store.

7. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a dock bar being graphically displayed alongside the widget dock, the dock bar providing widget name identification of a particular one of the dock tiles when user interactivity with the particular one of the dock tiles is detected, and wherein user interactivity with the particular one of the dock tiles is detected when selection of the particular one of the dock tiles causes the launching of the widget.

9. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 1, wherein the widget dock includes positioning functionality, the positioning functionality enabling the widget dock to be graphically placed and displayed at selected user defined locations on the display screen.

11. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 6, wherein the dock tile is defined by functional layers that control aspects of the dock tile when displayed on the widget dock, the functional layers include,

a placement function controlled by the widget engine;

an image function controlled by the widget;

a text and formatting function controlled by the widget;

a treatment function controlled by the widget engine;

a widget name function controlled by the widget database; and

a controls function controlled by the widget engine.

12. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 11, wherein the position function controlled by the widget engine defines a place for the dock tile in the widget dock.

13. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 11, wherein the image function controlled by the widget defines a graphics to be displayed by the dock tile.

14. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 11, wherein the text and formatting function controlled by the widget defines a text and a formatting of the selected ones of the plurality of widget attributes of the widget to be displayed by the dock tile.

15. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 11, wherein the treatment function controlled by the widget engine defines a visual behavior, for the dock tile in the widget dock, including the dock tile visualization when the widget is enabled and the dock tile visualization when the widget is not enabled.

16. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 11, wherein the widget name function controlled by the widget database provides a widget name identification of a particular one of the dock tiles when user interactivity with the particular one of the dock tiles is detected.

17. The user interface (UI) for handling a widget as recited in claim 11, wherein the controls function controlled by the widget engine defines a place, a shape, and a functionality to control buttons on the dock tile in the widget dock.

8. (canceled)

10. (canceled)

18. A computer-implemented method for handling a widget that provides functionality to a displayable and executable mini-application, the widget including a plurality of widget attributes, the computer-implemented method comprising:

displaying a widget dock to display and contain a dock tile on a display screen;

displaying the dock tile defined to display only selected ones of the plurality of widget attributes of the widget; and

linking the dock tile by a functional association to the widget.

19. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 18, further comprising enabling launching the widget when selection of the dock tile is detected so as to provide full interface with the plurality of widget attributes of the widget.

20. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 18, further comprising interfacing functionally the widget dock with a widget engine, the widget engine defined to execute code that enables rendering of the widget and the dock tile, and further comprising launching a control menu for interfacing with the widget engine and the widget.

22. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 18, further comprising graphically displaying a dock bar alongside the widget dock, the dock bar providing widget name identification of a particular one of the dock tiles when user interactivity with the particular one of the dock tiles is detected.

23. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 18, further comprising causing the widget dock to be graphically placed and displayed at selected user defined locations on the display screen.

24. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 18, further comprising defining at least one of a dock size, a shape, or a dock location for the widget dock, further comprising defining a tile size, a tile shape, and a tile location for the dock tile proportional to the dock size, the dock shape, and the dock location respectively so as the dock tile can be contained and displayed by the widget dock.

21. (canceled)

25. (canceled)

26. A computer readable media having program instructions for executing a widget that provides functionality to a displayable and executable mini-application, the widget including a plurality of widget attributes, the computer readable media comprising:

program instructions for rendering a widget dock displaying module to display a dock tile contained in a widget dock on a display screen;

program instructions for rendering a dock tile displaying module programmed to display only selected ones of the plurality of widget attributes of the widget; and

program instructions for rendering a dock tile linking module to functionally associate the dock tile to the widget.

27. The computer readable media having program instructions for executing a widget as recited in claim 26, further comprising a widget launching module to provide full interface with the plurality of widget attributes of the widget when selection of the dock tile is detected so as to provide full interface with the plurality of widget attributes of the widget.

28. The computer readable media having program instructions for executing a widget as recited in claim 26, further comprising a widget dock interfacing module to interface functionally a widget dock with a widget engine, the widget engine defined to execute code that enables rendering of the widget and the dock tile.

29. The computer readable media having program instructions for executing a widget as recited in claim 26, further comprising a dock bar display module to graphically displaying a dock bar alongside the widget dock, the dock bar providing widget name identification of a particular one of the dock tiles when user interactivity with the particular one of the dock tiles is detected.

30. (canceled)