Uniform mnemonic associations of computer resources to graphical images

• US 5,867,161 A
• Filed: 08/08/1995
• Issued: 02/02/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aaron E. Walsh
• Original Assignee: Aaron E. Walsh
• Inventors: Walsh, Aaron E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Application Number:
  US08/512,431
• Time in Patent Office: 1,274 Days
• Field of Search: 395/347, 395/352, 395/975, 395/356, 395/357, 395/353, 395/762, 395/936, 345/347, 345/352, 345/975, 345/356, 345/357, 345/353, 707/501, 707/901
• US Class Current: 715/808
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• 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: Y10S 715/975 Pop-up dialog box for entry

Abstract

A graphical user interface arrangement for use in connection with a computer system, the computer system providing a plurality of accessible resources. The graphical user interface arrangement enables the computer system to display graphical images from one or more of a plurality of image sets as selected by the user, and is responsive to user resource information display input to enable the display of resource identification information from a resource list that is associated with a displayed image. In response to user resource selection input selecting a resource identified in the displayed resource identification information, the graphical user interface arrangement provides access to the associated resource.

Claims

1. A graphical user interface arrangement for use in connection with a computer system as an interface between a user and accessible resources, the computer system providing the accessible resources, each of the accessible resources having resource-identification information associated therewith, the graphical user interface arrangement comprising:

image sets, each of the image sets including at least one graphical image;

a like number of resource lists, each one of the resource lists being associated with one of the image sets, each one of the resource lists providing a pointer to at least one of the accessible resources; and

a control subsystem for enabling the computer system to display the at least one graphical image from the image sets as selected by the user, the control subsystem being independent of the accessible resources and being responsive to user-resource-information-display input to enable a display of the resource-identification information from the one of the resource lists associated with the at least one graphical image and further being responsive to user-resource-selection input selecting one of the accessible resources identified in the display of the resource-identification information to provide the user access to the one of the accessible resources that the user selected.

2. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the accessible resources includes both local and remote resources and wherein the control subsystem accesses each of the local and remote resources upon receiving the user-resource-selection input for both the local and remote resources.

3. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the control subsystem is adapted to receive from the user altered resource-identification information for each of the accessible resources and is responsive to display the altered resource-identification information.

4. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 further comprising categories which contain subsets of the accessible resources, the categories being associated with at least one of the image sets and being a member of at least one of the resource lists.

5. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the control subsystem displays as wallpaper the at least one graphical image associated with the user-resource-selection input.

6. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 5 wherein the wallpaper includes a matrix of cells where each cell contains the at least one graphical image.

7. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the computer system further includes a desktop upon which the control subsystem displays the image sets and the at least one graphical image and wherein each of the image sets is displayed upon the desktop as a window including a plurality of like windows for each graphical image in each of the image sets.

8. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein each graphical image has an operative and inoperative state, the operative state is where the control subsystem displays the at least one graphical image as wallpaper when the user selects one of the accessible resources that is associated with the at least one graphical image, the inoperative state is where the control subsystem displays the at least one graphical image as a surfboard when the user has not selected one of the accessible resources associated with the at least one graphical image.

9. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the control subsystem is further adapted to display a toolbar being manipulatable by the user to select the at least one graphical image to be displayed.

10. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein one or more of the image sets is associated with a set of the accessible resources and each graphical image included in the one or more image sets is associated with a subset of the set of the accessible resources.

11. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the control subsystem is responsive to user-link-input provided by the user associating the at least one graphical image with at least one of the accessible resources and generating the pointer and the resource-identification information of each of the at least one accessible resources.

12. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 11 wherein the at least one graphical image has an operative and inoperative state, the operative state is where the control subsystem displays the at least one graphical image as wallpaper when the user has selected the at least one graphical image, the inoperative state is where the control subsystem displays the at least one graphical image as a surfboard, the control subsystem associating the at least one graphical image in the operative state with the user-link-input.

13. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 11 wherein the user-link-input is the resource-identification information of the at least one graphical image.

14. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the control subsystem is further responsive to user-remove-link-input disassociating the at least one graphical image with an accessible resource by deleting the pointer and removing the resource-identification information in the resource lists associated with the at least one graphical image.

15. The graphical user interface arrangement according to claim 1 wherein the control subsystem executes the one of the accessible resources selected by the user.

16. A method of controlling a computer system, the computer system providing accessible resources, each of the accessible resources having resource identification information, the computer system further displaying image sets, each of the image sets having at least one graphical image, where the computer system displays the image sets and the at least one graphical image on a desktop of the computer system;

the method comprising the steps of;

enabling the computer system to display the at least one graphical image from the image sets as selected by a user;

enabling the user to associate at least one of the accessible resources and the respective resource-indentification information with at least one of the image sets;

generating at least one resource list displayable by the computer system for each of the image sets to which the user associated the resource-identification information the at least one resource list having a pointer to each respective one of the accessible resources associated by the user;

displaying one of the resource lists associated with the at least one graphical image as the at least one graphical image is selected by the user; and

selecting one of the accessible resources identified by the resource-identification information to provide access to the one of the accessible resources associated with the resource-identification information that the user selected.

17. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 wherein the accessible resources include both local and remote resources and wherein the step of selecting one of the accessible resources is indistinguishable to the user whether the user selects one of the local resources or one of the remote resources.

18. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 wherein the accessible resources are applications that are external to independent of the image sets.

19. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 wherein the step of selecting one of the accessible resources further includes the step of executing the one accessible resource selected by the user.

20. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 wherein the step of selecting a resource further comprises displaying on the desktop the one of the accessible resources selected by the user that is currently executing on the computer system.

21. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 further comprising the step of generating the image sets as selected by the user.

22. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 further comprising the step of generating categories which contain subsets of the accessible resources, the categories being associated with the at least one graphical image and included in at least one of the resource lists.

23. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 further comprising the step of associating at least one of the accessible resources with the image sets as associated by the user.

24. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 further comprising the step of displaying on the desktop the at least one graphical image selected by the user as wallpaper.

25. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 further comprising the step of displaying on the desktop the image sets and the at least one graphical image included in the image sets as a window.

26. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 wherein each graphical image has an operative and inoperative state, the operative state is where one of the accessible resources associated with the at least one graphical image is selected and the at least one graphical image is displayed as wallpaper on the desktop, the inoperative state is where one of the accessible resources associated with the at least one graphical image is not selected and the at least one graphical image is displayed as a surfboard on the desktop.

27. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 wherein the step of enabling the computer system to display the at least one graphical image from the image sets further comprises the step of providing a toolbar on the desktop that allows a user to cycle through the image sets and select the at least one graphical image to be displayed.

28. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 wherein the step of displaying resource-identification information further comprises the step of generating a pop-up menu containing the resource-identification information.

29. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 wherein the image sets and the at least one graphical image are each associated with substantially identical associated accessible resources.

30. The method of controlling a computer system according to claim 16 further comprising the steps of associating the resource-identification information with the at least one graphical image as selected by the user and generating the pointer to the one of the accessible resources associated with the resource-identification information.

31. An information organization tool for use on a computer system having accessible resources, the information organization tool being adapted to allow a user to organize the accessible resources of the computer system through association of the accessible resources with graphical images displayed on a desktop of the computer system, the information organizational tool comprising a control system adapted to access the accessible resources and associate at least one of the graphical images with at least one of the accessible resources, each of the at least one graphical images having an operative and inoperative state, the operative state is where the control subsystem displays the at least one graphical image as wallpaper on the desktop when the user selects one of the accessible resources that is associated with the at least one graphical image, the inoperative state is where the control subsystem displays the at least one graphical image as a surfboard when the user has not selected one of the accessible resources associated with the at least one graphical image.

32. An information organization tool according to claim 31 wherein the accessible resources are independent from the control system.