Overscan user interface

• US 6,310,603 B1
• Filed: 11/05/1999
• Issued: 10/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ostendo Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: xSides Corporation
• Inventors: Nason, D. David, Campbell, J. Scott, OʼRourke, Thomas C.
• Primary Examiner(s): SAX, STEVEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US09/434,676
• Time in Patent Office: 725 Days
• Field of Search: 345/145, 345/146, 345/340-349, 345/326-339, 345/350-351, 345/352-355, 345/356-357, 345/341
• US Class Current: 715/856
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 1/16 the pattern of rectangular co-ordinates extending over the whole area of the screen, i.e. television type raster
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

A method for creating and accessing a graphical user interface in the overscan area outside the area of the display normally visible to users of the common operating systems. This normal display area is generally known as the “desktop”. The desktop serves as the graphical user interface to the operating system. The desktop displays images representing documents and applications available to the user (icons). The desktop is restricted in the common environments to a predetermined set of resolutions (e.g., 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768) as defined by VGA and SuperVGA standards. Displayable borders outside this area are the overscan.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for enabling the display of an image on a video display system in an area outside of a first display area controlled by a computer operating system, the computer operating system presenting a user interface that occupies a portion of the first display area, the video display system having a total displayable area of which the first display area is a part, comprising:

modifying the total displayable area of the video display system to include a second display area by adjusting the parameters of the video display system to increase the number of displayable pixels in at least one dimension of the displayable area to less than or equal to the maximum number of pixels that can be effectively displayed by the video display system;

locating additional video display memory to correspond to the additional displayable pixels of the second display area, thereby creating an increased amount of video display memory that is addressable;

writing the image to the video display memory, such that at least a portion of the image is written to the additional video display memory; and

transferring the video display memory contents to the video display system to display the image in conjunction with the user interface.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased is vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image below the user interface.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the portion of the image that is displayed in the second display area includes a movable pointer which moves in relation to user input.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the pointer has an associated tip that is positioned outside of a cursor activation point associated with the tip, the cursor activation point located within the display area occupied by the user interface while the pointer is displayed within the display area occupied by the image.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the parameters are control parameters for a controller of a cathode ray tube display.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first display area corresponds to a video mode defined in one or both of the standard DOS ROM BIOS or the VESA extensions thereto.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased is horizontal and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image to the right of the user interface.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the dimensions of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased are both horizontal and vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image on a vertical side of the user interface and on a horizontal side of the user interface.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased is vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image above the user interface.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased is horizontal and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image to the left of the user interface.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the writing of the image to the video display memory further comprises:

after adjusting the parameters to increase the number of displayable pixels and after locating the additional video display memory, writing at least a portion of the image to a portion of the video display memory that corresponds to the user interface of the operating system;

such that transferring the video display memory contents causes the image to appear to be displayed over at least a portion of the user interface.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the image is displayed in a central portion of the total displayable area and is separately controlled from the displaying of the user interface, so that the image appears to continuously overwrite at least a portion of the user interface while the image is being displayed.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting the parameters of the video display system is performed by function calls to the driver software for the video display.

14. A device for enabling the display of an image on a video display system in an area outside of a first display area controlled by a computer operating system, the computer operating system presenting a user interface that occupies a portion of the first display area, the video display system having a total displayable area of which the first display area is a part, comprising:

a parameter adjustment facility that creates a second display area by adjusting the parameters of the video display system to increase the number of displayable pixels in at least one dimension of the displayable area to less than or equal to the maximum number of pixels that can be effectively displayed by the video display system;

a memory locator that locates additional video display memory to correspond to the additional displayable pixels of the second display area, thereby creating an increased amount of addressable video memory;

a memory write mechanism that writes the image to the video display memory, such that at least a portion of the image is written to the additional video display memory; and

a memory transfer mechanism that transfers the video display memory contents to the video display system to display the image in conjunction with the user interface.

15. The device of claim 14 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased is vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image below the user interface.

16. The device of claim 14 wherein the portion of the image that is displayed in the second display area includes a movable pointer which moves in relation to user input.

17. The device of claim 16 wherein the pointer has an associated tip that is positioned outside of a cursor activation point associated with the tip, the cursor activation point located within the display area occupied by the user interface while the pointer is displayed within the display area occupied by the image.

18. The device of claim 14 wherein the parameters are control parameters for a controller of a cathode ray tube display.

19. The device of claim 14 wherein the first display area corresponds to a video mode defined in one or both of the standard DOS ROM BIOS or the VESA extensions thereto.

20. The device of claim 14 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased is horizontal and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image to the right of the user interface.

21. The device of claim 14 wherein the dimensions of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased are both horizontal and vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image on a vertical side of the user interface and on a horizontal side of the user interface.

22. The device of claim 14 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels increased is vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image above the user interface.

23. The device of claim 14 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels increased is horizontal and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image to the left of the user interface.

24. The device of claim 14, wherein the memory write mechanism further comprises:

after adjusting the parameters to increase the number of displayable pixels and locating the additional video display memory, writes at least a portion of the image to a portion of the video display memory that corresponds to the user interface of the operating system;

such that the memory transfer mechanism causes the image to appear to be displayed over at least a portion of the user interface.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein the image is displayed in a central portion of the total displayable area and is separately controlled from the displaying of the user interface, so that the image appears to continuously overwrite at least a portion of the user interface while the image is being displayed.

26. The device of claim 14, wherein the parameter adjustment facility performs function calls to the driver software for the video display in order to adjust the parameters for the video display system.

27. A computer readable memory medium containing instructions for controlling a computer processor to display an image on a video display system in an area outside of a first display area controlled by a computer operating system, the computer operating system presenting a user interface that occupies at least a portion of the first display area, the video display system having a total displayable area of which the first display area is a part, by:

creating a second display area by adjusting the parameters of the video display system to increase the number of displayable pixels in at least one dimension of the displayable area, to less than or equal to the maximum number of pixels that can be effectively displayed by the video display system;

locating additional video display memory to correspond to the additional displayable pixels of the second display area, thereby creating an increased amount of video display memory that is addressable;

writing the image to the video display memory, such that at least a portion of the image is written to the additional video display memory; and

transferring the video display memory contents to the video display system to display the image in conjunction with the user interface.

28. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of pixels is increased is vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image below the user interface.

29. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27 wherein the portion of the image that is displayed in the second display area includes a movable pointer which moves in relation to user input.

30. The computer readable memory medium of claim 29 wherein the pointer has an associated tip that is positioned outside of a cursor activation point associated with the tip, the cursor activation point located within the display area occupied by the user interface while the pointer is displayed within the display area occupied by the image.

31. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27 wherein the parameters are control parameters for a controller for a cathode ray tube display.

32. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27 wherein the first display area corresponds to a video mode defined in one or both of the standard DOS ROM BIOS or the VESA extensions thereto.

33. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased is horizontal and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image to the right of the user interface.

34. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27 wherein the dimensions of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels is increased are both horizontal and vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image on a vertical side of the user interface and on a horizontal side of the user interface.

35. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels increased is vertical and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image above the user interface.

36. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the number of displayable pixels increased is horizontal and the video display system displays at least a portion of the image to the left of the user interface.

37. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27, wherein writing the image to the video display memory further comprises:

after adjusting the parameters to increase the number of displayable pixels and locating the additional video display memory, writing at least a portion of the image to a portion of the video display memory that corresponds to the user interface of the operating system;

such that transferring the video display memory contents to the video display system causes the image to appear to be displayed over at least a portion of the user interface.

38. The computer readable memory medium of claim 37, wherein the image is displayed in a central portion of the total displayable area and is separately controlled from the displaying of the user interface so that the image appears to continuously overwrite at least a portion of the user interface while the image is being displayed.

39. The computer readable memory medium of claim 27, wherein adjusting the parameters of the video display system is performed by function calls to the driver software for the video display.