Method and system for presenting functionally-transparent, unobtrusive on-screen windows
First Claim
1. A method for unobtrusively presenting selected visual content on a display that is coupled to a computing system to present an output thereof, and on which other visual content is presented, comprising the steps of:
- (a) designating the selected visual content from among a plurality of different types of visual content presentable by the computing system on the display and setting a window style of the selected visual content to ‘
INACTIVE’
thus causing the selected visual content to not be activated by input from a mouse or a keyboard;
(b) presenting the selected visual content in a region of the display such that the selected visual content is initially rendered visually and functionally unobtrusive so as to enable a user to direct input to the other visual content, even when the selected visual content at least partially occupies and overlies the region of the display occupied by the other visual content, and without requiring the user to affirmatively change how the selected visual content is initially rendered, the presenting including fading the selected visual content from an initial appearance to a desired transparency level; and
(c) enabling the computing system to respond to the input directed to a portion of the other visual content to which the input is directed, even though the portion is overlaid by the selected visual content, as though the selected visual content were not being presented on the display.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Selected visual content is unobtrusively presented on a computing system display, so as not to obscure or prevent access to underlying content. The selected visual content may be designated from among various types of visual content by a user or by a program. The selected visual content is maintained as the topmost content so that it is not obscured by other visual content. In addition, the selected visual content is rendered to be at least partially visually transparent and functionally transparent, preferably using functionality already included in an operating system used by the computing system. The selected visual content can thus be viewed by a user while the user is still able to see and work with the other visual content on the display that may underlie the selected visual content, enabling the user to work more efficiently and make better use of the display.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for unobtrusively presenting selected visual content on a display that is coupled to a computing system to present an output thereof, and on which other visual content is presented, comprising the steps of:
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(a) designating the selected visual content from among a plurality of different types of visual content presentable by the computing system on the display and setting a window style of the selected visual content to ‘
INACTIVE’
thus causing the selected visual content to not be activated by input from a mouse or a keyboard;(b) presenting the selected visual content in a region of the display such that the selected visual content is initially rendered visually and functionally unobtrusive so as to enable a user to direct input to the other visual content, even when the selected visual content at least partially occupies and overlies the region of the display occupied by the other visual content, and without requiring the user to affirmatively change how the selected visual content is initially rendered, the presenting including fading the selected visual content from an initial appearance to a desired transparency level; and (c) enabling the computing system to respond to the input directed to a portion of the other visual content to which the input is directed, even though the portion is overlaid by the selected visual content, as though the selected visual content were not being presented on the display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for unobtrusively presenting selected visual content in a display under control of a computing system without affecting access to other visual content included in the display, comprising the steps of:
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(a) designating an overlay window as an unobtrusive overlay window for presenting the selected visual content in response to one of a user input and control by a software program that is executing on the computing system wherein the selected visual content presented in the display includes at least one of text, graphics, an open area, an image, and a video; and (b) directing an operating system executed by and controlling the computer system to present the unobtrusive overlay window in a region of the display, and setting a window style of the unobtrusive overlay window to ‘
INACTIVE’
thus causing the unobtrusive overlay window to not be activated by input from a mouse or a keyboard, while enabling the user to continue to engage other visual content presented by the computer system in the region by setting attributes of the unobtrusive overlay window, said attributes causing a plurality of steps to be carried out, including;(i) protecting the selected visual content included in the unobtrusive overlay window from being masked by the other visual content by directing the operating system to maintain the unobtrusive overlay window as a topmost window so that the other visual content is not presented over the selected visual content in the display when the user directs input to the other visual content wherein the protecting is carried out by functions provided in the operating system being executed by the computing system; and (ii) rendering the selected visual content so as to enable the user to continue to direct input to the other visual content as though the selected visual content were not being presented on the display and enabling the computing system to respond to input directed to the other visual content as though the unobtrusive overlay window were not presented in the display, the rendering including fading the selected visual content from an initial appearance to a desired transparency level and wherein the rendering is carried out by functions provided in the operating system being executed by the computing system and wherein the unobtrusive overlay window is rendered as at least partially visually transparent by changing at least one of an alpha value and a color key value applied when rendering the unobtrusive overlay window; (iii) passing user input and program control to the other visual content overlaid by the unobtrusive overlay window, thereby enabling the user to direct input to the other visual content as though the unobtrusive overlay window were not present on the display; and c) causing the unobtrusive overlay window not to be listed in a list of windows currently available on the display wherein the list of windows currently available in the display includes a taskbar including taskbar buttons for windows currently available on the display other than the selected content. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A system for unobtrusively presenting an overlay window on a display screen on which other visual content is presented, the system comprising:
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(a) at least one user input device; (b) a display; (c) a processor in communication with the input device and the display; and (d) a memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing data and machine instructions that cause the processor to carry out a plurality of functions, including; (i) designating the selected visual content via one of a user input and a control asserted by a software program executed by the processor and setting a window style of the selected visual content to ‘
INACTIVE’
thus causing the selected visual content to not be activated by input from a mouse or a keyboard;(ii) presenting the selected visual content in a region of the display such that the selected visual content is initially rendered visually and functionally unobtrusive so as to enable a user to direct input to the other visual content even when the selected visual content at least partially occupies the region of the display occupied by the other visual content, and without requiring a user to affirmatively change how the selected visual content is initially rendered, the presenting including fading the selected visual content from an initial appearance to a desired transparency level, and wherein the selected visual content is protected from being masked by the other visual content by the machine instructions directing the processor to present the selected visual content in a topmost window so that the other visual content is not presented over the selected visual content when the user directs input to the other visual content, and wherein the selected visual content is rendered as at least partially visually transparent in response to the machine instructions directing the processor to set at least one of an alpha value and a color key value of the selected visual content to achieve the at least partially visually transparent rendering, and wherein the machine instructions further direct the processor to accept input from the at least one user input device to adjust the alpha value and the color key value to control the desired transparency level of the window in which the selected visual content is presented; and (iii) enabling the computing system to respond to the input directed to a portion of the other visual content to which the input is directed, even though the portion is overlaid by the selected visual content, as though the selected visual content were not being presented on the display. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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Specification