Continuously accessible computer system interface
First Claim
1. A graphical user interface for a computer system, the graphical user interface providing a user continuous convenient access to computer resources associated with a plurality of active applications, the graphical user interface comprising:
- a sectioned display space, including;
an applications section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith an active application having a window, and a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of active applications;
a tray container for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interface to computer resources associated with the extensible set of active applications, the tray container including;
docking means responsive to a user initiated command for adding the active application to the extensible set of active applications associated with the tray section, and a docked applications list automatically updated to specify the extensible set of active applications, wherein the docked applications list includes a panel list designating an extensible set of empaneled applications associated with a panel region of the tray section; and
tray display means for facilitating display within the tray section, the tray display means displaying a panel button for enabling a user to select for display in the panel region one of a set of panels, each panel of the set of panels comprising a graphic representations associated with one of the extensible set of empaneled applications.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method are described for presenting a continuously accessible computer system tool interface. The interface of the present invention comprises a separated applications section and system tray section. The applications section provides a portion of the graphic user interface for running applications programs. The tray section provides an alternative region of the graphic user interface for objects to surface their key features while occupying only a small portion of the display space. The tray section is supported by a Tray Object which provides a frame work for tray aware applications to dock.
177 Citations
50 Claims
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1. A graphical user interface for a computer system, the graphical user interface providing a user continuous convenient access to computer resources associated with a plurality of active applications, the graphical user interface comprising:
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a sectioned display space, including;
an applications section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith an active application having a window, and a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of active applications;a tray container for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interface to computer resources associated with the extensible set of active applications, the tray container including; docking means responsive to a user initiated command for adding the active application to the extensible set of active applications associated with the tray section, and a docked applications list automatically updated to specify the extensible set of active applications, wherein the docked applications list includes a panel list designating an extensible set of empaneled applications associated with a panel region of the tray section; and tray display means for facilitating display within the tray section, the tray display means displaying a panel button for enabling a user to select for display in the panel region one of a set of panels, each panel of the set of panels comprising a graphic representations associated with one of the extensible set of empaneled applications. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A graphical user interface for a computer system for providing a user with continuous access to computer resources that are associated with active applications, said graphical user interface comprising:
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a sectioned display space, including; an application section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith a first active application, a pointer for indicating on the sectioned display space a position in response to a selection device for enabling the user to designate the position of the pointer, and a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of active applications; and an access component for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interfaces to the computer resources associated with the active applications, said access component including; a tray display state controller facilitating display of the tray section in a variety of modes, and wherein the variety of modes includes a normal display mode wherein graphic representations provided by the extensible set of active applications are displayed within the tray section, and a collapsed mode for causing the tray section to occupy only a small fraction of the area occupied by the tray section in the normal display mode, wherein the tray display controller automatically switches the tray section from the collapsed mode to the normal display mode in response to the pointer being positioned near the tray section. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A graphical user interace for a computer system for providing a user with continuous access to computer resources that are associated with activated applications, said graphical user interface comprising:
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a sectioned display space, including; an apparatus section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith a first activated application, and a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of activated applications; and an access component for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interfaces to the computer resources associated with the activated applications; wherein the first activated application defines a set of operational characteristics for the first activated application after becoming associated with the tray section and wherein a one of the operational characteristics includes an execution rate for at least one of the activated applications associated with the tray section. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer system having a graphical user interface providing a user continuous convenient access to computer resources associated with a plurality of active applications, the computer system comprising:
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an electronic data storage; a central processing unit (CPU) communicatively coupled to the electronic data storage; an electronic display coupled to the CPU and having a sectioned display space, including;
an applications section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith an active application having a window, and a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of active applications;a tray container for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interface to computer resources associated with the extensible set of active applications, the tray container including;
docking means for adding, in accordance with a user initiated command, the active application to the extensible set of active applications associated with the tray section; andtray display means for facilitating display within the tray section of the window of each application of the extensible set of active applications, the tray display means includes means for facilitating display within an embedded object region graphic representations associated with the at least one embedded application; and
a docked applications list automatically updated to specify the extensible set of active applications, the docked applications list includes an embedded object list designating at least one embedded application associated with the embedded object region of the tray section.
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22. In a computer system having a graphical user interface, a method for providing a user continuous convenient access to computer resources associated with a plurality of active applications, the method comprising the steps of:
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defining a sectioned display space, the sectioned display space including;
an applications section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith an active application having a window, a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of active applications, and a command region;providing a tray container for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interface to computer resources associated with the extensible set of active applications; specifying a permanently embedded object; displaying within the command region graphic representations associated with the permanently embedded object; adding the active application to the extensible set of active applications associated with the tray section in accordance with a user initiated command; and displaying within the tray section a graphic representation of the active application after adding the active application to the extensible set of active applications. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. In a computer system, a computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for providing a graphical interface wherein the graphical user interface provides a user with access to computer resources associated with a plurality of activated applications, the graphical user interface comprising:
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a sectioned display space, including;
an applications section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith an activated application, and a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of activated applications;a tray container for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interface to computer resources associated with the extensible set of activated applications, the tray container including;
a docked applications list specifying the extensible set of activated applications, the docked applications list including an embedded object list designating at least one embedded application associated with an embedded object region of the tray section, and-docking means for adding, in accordance with a user initiated command, the activated application to the extensible set of activated applications associated with the tray section; andtray display means for facilitating display within the tray section of a set of graphical representations corresponding to the computer resources associated with the extensible set of activated applications, the tray display means including;
means for preempting the applications section from the portion of the sectioned display space occupied by the tray section, and means for facilitating display within the embedded object region graphic representations associated with the at least one embedded application.
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36. In a computer system, a computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for providing a graphical interface that provides a user with continuous access to computer resources that are associated with activated applications, the graphical user interface comprising:
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a sectioned display space including;
an application section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith an activated application, and a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of activated applications; andan access component for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interface to the computer resources associated with the activated applications, the access component including;
a tray display state controller facilitating display of the tray section in a variety of modes, and wherein the variety of modes includes a normal display mode wherein graphic representations provided by the extensible set of activated applications are displayed within the tray section, and a collapsed mode for causing the tray section to occupy only a small fraction of the area occupied by the tray section in the normal display mode, wherein the tray display controller automatically switches the tray section from the collapsed mode to the normal display mode in response to a display indicator being positioned near the tray section. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
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39. In a computer system, a computer-readable storage medium holding instructions for generating a graphical user interface that provides a user with continuous access to computer resources that are associated with activated applications, the graphical user interface comprising:
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a sectioned display space, including;
an application section occupying a substantial majority of the display space and having associated therewith an activated application, and a tray section occupying a substantial minority of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of activated applications; andan access component for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interfaces to the computer resources associated with the activated applications; wherein the activated application defines a set of operational characteristics for the activated application after becoming associated with the tray section and wherein one of the operational characteristics includes an execution rate for the activated application associated with the tray section. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A graphical user interface for a computer system, the graphical user interface providing a user continuous access to computer resources associated with a plurality of activate applications, the graphical user interface comprising:
- a sectioned display space, including;
an applications section of the display space having associated therewith an activated application, and a tray section of the display space having associated therewith an extensible set of activated applications; and
a tray container for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interface to computer resources associated with the extensible set of activated applications, the tray container including;
docking means for adding, in accordance with a user initiated command, the activated application to the extensible set of applications associated with the tray section, wherein the activated application defines a set of operational characteristics for the activated application after becoming associated with the tray section, where one of the operational characteristics is an execution rate of the activated application. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48)
- a sectioned display space, including;
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49. In a computer system having a graphical user interface, a method for providing a user continuous access to computer resources associated with a plurality of active applications, the method comprising the steps of:
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defining a sectioned display space,including;
an applications section occupying a first portion of the display space and having associated therewith an active application having a window, and a tray section occupying a second portion of the display space and having associated therewith an extensible set of active applications, wherein the applications section is preempted from the portion of the sectioned display space occupied by the tray section;providing a tray container for facilitating direct user access via the graphical user interface to computer resources associated with the extensible set of active applications, including specifying the extensible set of activated applications in a list data structure and a panel list designating an extensible set of empaneled applications associated with the panel region; adding the active application to the extensible set of active applications associated with the tray section in accordance with z user initiated command; positioning the tray section along an edge of the sectioned display space; defining the perimeter of the applications section as being equal to a portion of the sectioned display space not allocated to the tray section, and defining a panel region within the tray section; displaying within the tray section a set of graphical representations corresponding to the computer resources associated with the extensible set of activated applications; displaying within the panel region, in accordance with a user initiated command, ones of a set of panels, each panel comprising graphic representations associated with one of the extensible set of empaneled applications; and displaying by the graphical user interface a panel control button for enabling a user to select, via the graphical user interface, one of the set of panels for display in the panel region. - View Dependent Claims (50)
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Specification