Method and system of taskbar button interfaces

• US 7,665,031 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2004
• Issued: 02/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shi, Yeming, Matthews, David A, Ligameri, Mark R, Stabb, Charles W., Pettiross, Jeffrey W., Cummins, Charles, Kumar, R. Syam
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Kieu
• Assistant Examiner(s): ABDUL-ALI, OMAR R
• Application Number:
  US11/006,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20060123353A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,896 Days
• Field of Search: 715/779, 715/810, 715/835, 715/838, 715/840, 715/751, 715/752, 715/753
• US Class Current: 715/779
• 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: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

The present invention provides a system or method for displaying rich presentation taskbar buttons for a corresponding application. In one example, the rich presentation taskbar button may receive content from an application through a programming interface. The present invention further relates to a system and method for displaying a rich presentation taskbar button and for displaying and/or dismissing a thumbnail of an application window associated with the rich presentation taskbar button. The present invention may further include a system and method of pinning the thumbnail on a display or dismissing a thumbnail. The present invention also relates to a system and method for displaying multiple taskbar buttons in a taskbar including controlling the size of individual taskbar buttons, consolidating taskbar buttons and placing taskbar buttons into an overflow based on the type of taskbar button in the taskbar.

Claims

1. In a computer system with a display device, a method of displaying a taskbar button on a taskbar comprising:

creating a rich presentation taskbar button for an application, wherein the creation occurs independently of the application performing a process and wherein the rich presentation taskbar button enables control of a plurality of functions within the application;

receiving from the application at least a portion of a conversation thread to be displayed in the rich presentation taskbar button, the at least a portion of the conversation thread being associated with said application; and

displaying, on the taskbar said rich presentation taskbar button, wherein the at least a portion of the conversation thread is displayed on the rich presentation taskbar button;

wherein the application includes an instant-messaging application and the at least a portion of the conversation thread comprises text describing one or more of a most recently received message and a most recently sent message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the rich presentation taskbar button is usable to receive text that is input by a user and that is to be included in an outgoing instant message.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said rich presentation taskbar button further includes a display element that is usable to control an operation of said application.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising receiving a selection of the at least one display element wherein selection of the at least one display element causes the application to perform a corresponding operation.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving thumbnail content information corresponding to the application and displaying a thumbnail corresponding to the thumbnail content information.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the thumbnail is displayed adjacent to the rich presentation taskbar button.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein said step of displaying a thumbnail is performed when a cursor is hovered over a predetermined location on the rich presentation taskbar button.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising dismissing the displayed thumbnail when the cursor is moved away from said predetermined location.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the displayed thumbnail remains displayed when the cursor is moved away from said predetermined location.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising dismissing the displayed thumbnail after a predetermined display element is selected.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying said rich presentation taskbar button with at least one existing displayed taskbar button, said at least one existing displayed taskbar button being a simple taskbar button.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said rich presentation taskbar button is displayed at substantially the same size as the simple taskbar button.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said simple taskbar button is displayed at a smaller size than said rich presentation taskbar button and wherein both of the simple taskbar button and the rich presentation taskbar button are displayed on the taskbar.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein at least two simple taskbar buttons are displayed and when said rich presentation taskbar button is displayed, the at least two simple taskbar buttons are combined by taskbar button consolidation.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein at least one simple taskbar button is placed on an overflow menu when the rich presentation taskbar button is displayed.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising creating a simple taskbar button for said application wherein said step of displaying further comprises displaying said rich presentation taskbar button only if at least a portion of a window corresponding to said application is not visible on the display.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising displaying said simple taskbar button if the window corresponding to said application is visible on the display.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

displaying the window corresponding to the application on the display;

displaying the simple taskbar button in place of the displayed rich presentation taskbar button after displaying the window corresponding to the application on the display.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

removing the display of at least a portion of the window corresponding to the application;

displaying the rich presentation taskbar button in place of the simple taskbar button after said removing step.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

creating a simple taskbar button for the application;

displaying the simple taskbar button in place of the displayed rich presentation taskbar button if a window corresponding to the application is displayed on the display.

21. A computer-readable storage medium comprising executable code for performing the steps of:

creating a rich presentation taskbar button for an instant-messaging application independently of the instant-messaging application performing a process, wherein the rich presentation taskbar button enables control of at least one function within the instant-messaging application;

receiving from the instant-messaging application content to be displayed in the rich presentation taskbar button, said content to be displayed being associated with said instant-messaging application and comprising a message that was recently received by the instant-messaging application;

displaying said rich presentation taskbar button, the displayed rich presentation taskbar button comprising the message; and

receiving text data that is input into the rich presentation taskbar button and that describes an outgoing message to be sent by the instant-messaging application.

22. In a computer system with a display, a graphical user interface comprising a rich presentation taskbar button that is associated with an instant-messaging application, wherein the rich presentation taskbar button is displayed in combination with a portion of a conversation thread that is provided by the instant-messaging application, wherein a thumbnail that depicts the conversation thread is displayed adjacent to the rich presentation taskbar button, and wherein the rich presentation taskbar button receives textual input to be included in an outgoing instant message.

23. The graphical user interface of claim 22 wherein the conversation thread that is displayed in the rich presentation taskbar button is dynamically updated in the rich presentation taskbar button as another instant message is one or more of received and sent.

24. The graphical user interface of claim 22 wherein a window corresponding to the application is obscured on the display by another display element.

25. The graphical user interface of claim 22 wherein the application is an instant messaging application and wherein the rich presentation taskbar button includes an interactive control display element, which receives and displays text input.

26. The graphical user interface of claim 25 wherein the rich presentation taskbar button further comprises at least a portion of an incoming message.