Method and system for facilitating navigation among software applications and improved screen viewing
First Claim
1. A method for facilitating navigation among software applications and improving screen viewing in a windows based environment comprising:
- providing a menu system with a configurable primary menu in a foreground of a display screen that contains graphic elements representing separate software applications that receive an application related object that is dragged and dropped to a selected one of the primary menu graphic elements and the menu system automatically starts an application associated with the selected one of the primary menu graphic objects and presents a running application window in response to receiving the dropped overlaid application related object; and
clearing a screen viewing area by automatically minimizing the primary menu graphic elements into at least one graphic element and simultaneously removing corresponding running application windows representing said separate applications from the viewing area.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for facilitating navigation among software applications and improved screen viewing in a Windows-based environment wherein a security based configurable primary menu is generated in a foreground of a display screen and an application is automatically spawned upon dropping of an object into a graphic element in the primary menu without resorting to additional initializations or spawning steps. Also, the security based configurable primary menu is automatically minimized and the corresponding running application windows are simultaneously removed from the viewing area in addition to the minimization of the primary menu.
29 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for facilitating navigation among software applications and improving screen viewing in a windows based environment comprising:
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providing a menu system with a configurable primary menu in a foreground of a display screen that contains graphic elements representing separate software applications that receive an application related object that is dragged and dropped to a selected one of the primary menu graphic elements and the menu system automatically starts an application associated with the selected one of the primary menu graphic objects and presents a running application window in response to receiving the dropped overlaid application related object; and clearing a screen viewing area by automatically minimizing the primary menu graphic elements into at least one graphic element and simultaneously removing corresponding running application windows representing said separate applications from the viewing area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for facilitating navigation among software applications and improving screen viewing in a windows based environment comprising:
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providing a menu system with a configurable primary menu in a foreground of a display screen that contains graphic elements representing separate software applications that receive an application related object that is dragged and dropped to a selected one of the primary menu graphic elements and the menu system automatically starts an application associated with the selected one of the primary menu graphic objects and presents a running application window in response to receiving the dropped overlaid application related object; clearing a screen viewing area by automatically minimizing the primary menu graphic elements into one graphic element and simultaneously removing corresponding running application windows representing said separate applications from the viewing area; unclearing the viewing area by deminimizing the one graphic element and simultaneously re-displaying the primary menu and corresponding running application windows; and continually locating the primary menu on top of a viewing area when the graphic elements of the primary menu are not minimized and when applications are running to facilitate ready access of the primary menu by a user. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. A system for facilitating navigation among separate software applications and improving screen viewing in a windows based environment comprising:
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means for displaying various windows; and means in communication with the display screen, for providing a menu system with a configurable primary menu in a foreground of a display screen that contains graphic elements representing software applications that receive an application related object that is dragged and dropped to a selected one of the primary menu graphic elements and the menu system automatically starts an application associated with the selected one of the primary menu graphic objects and presents a running application window in response to receiving the dropped application related object; and
for clearing a screen viewing area by automatically minimizing the primary menu graphic elements into one graphic element and simultaneously removing corresponding running application windows representing said separate applications from the viewing area. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification