System and process for providing dynamic communication access and information awareness in an interactive peripheral display

• US 7,725,832 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2006
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Venolia, Gina, Cadiz, Jonathan J, Gupta, Anoop, Jancke, Gavin
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadesse
• Assistant Examiner(s): Roswell; Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/395,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20060179415A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,513 Days
• Field of Search: 715/736, 715/774, 715/815, 715/810
• US Class Current: 715/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

The system and method of the present invention provides peripheral awareness of information to a user. The information to be provided is either determined automatically, or specified by the user. Once the information to be provided is determined or specified, it is automatically tracked or watched via at least one conventional communications interface for accessing one or more conventional communications sources. Current information is then automatically dynamically provided in an interactive peripheral display which minimizes any potential distraction to the user. Determining or specifying, tracking or watching, and providing the information is accomplished using at least one customizable dynamic encapsulated object, a “ticket,” that when paired with a “viewer,” provides peripheral awareness of information to the user. Further, in one embodiment, the tickets are sharable among users, and may be copied, cut, pasted, saved, transmitted, dragged and dropped from web pages, etc., like any other electronic file using conventional techniques.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for:

displaying to a first user a thumbnail in a peripheral awareness display area on a display of a computing device, said thumbnail comprising a ticket representative of dynamic information and a viewer for displaying the dynamic information represented by the ticket, wherein the ticket is transferable between the first user and at least one additional user;

receiving the dynamic information represented by the ticket at the computing device;

displaying to the first user the received dynamic information represented by the ticket in the viewer of the thumbnail in the peripheral awareness display area on the display;

displaying to the first user in the peripheral awareness display area on the display of the computing device summary information associated with a user-selected portion of the dynamic information represented by the ticket; and

displaying to the first user in the peripheral awareness display area on the display of the computing device more detailed information associated with a user-selected portion of the summary information.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the peripheral awareness display area is a sidebar window displayed along a peripheral portion of the display.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the display contains at least one other displayed element, the peripheral awareness display area always being displayed on top of the at least one other displayed element.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 containing further executable code for configuring the peripheral awareness display area in one of a first state and a second state based on a command input, wherein the peripheral awareness display area is non-visible on the display in the first state and visible on the display in the second state.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the thumbnail is resizable, and the steps further comprise displaying a different amount of the dynamic information in the thumbnail based on the size of the thumbnail.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein content of the dynamic information displayed in the thumbnail is based on a priority of the dynamic information.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5 wherein the peripheral awareness area is resizable, resizing of the thumbnail based on resizing of the peripheral awareness area.

8. One or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable code for performing a method on a computing device, said method comprising:

displaying to a first user a thumbnail within a container on a display of the computing device, the container providing peripheral awareness of the thumbnail, said thumbnail comprising a ticket representative of dynamic information and a viewer for displaying the dynamic information represented by the ticket, wherein the ticket is transferable between the first user and at least one additional user;

receiving the dynamic information represented by the ticket of the thumbnail at the computing device from a remote source via a connection;

displaying to a first user the dynamic information in the viewer of the thumbnail in response to changes of the dynamic information represented by the ticket of the thumbnail;

monitoring the changing dynamic information represented by the ticket of the thumbnail to identify when the dynamic information matches a predetermined criteria; and

outputting an alert notification when the dynamic information represented by the ticket of the thumbnail matches the predetermined criteria.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the alert notification comprises an audible alarm.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the alert notification comprises a visible alert.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein the alert notification comprises an automatically generated e-mail message.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 containing further executable code for monitoring a length of time the dynamic information is displayed in the thumbnail, wherein the displaying step further comprises changing the appearance of the thumbnail based on the length of time the dynamic information is displayed in the thumbnail.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 containing further executable code for monitoring a status of the connection, wherein the displaying step further comprises changing the appearance of the thumbnail based on the connection status.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the connection status is one of connected, degraded and disconnected.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for:

displaying a sidebar window at a peripheral edge on a display of a computing device;

displaying a plurality of thumbnails within the sidebar window, the sidebar window providing peripheral awareness of the plurality of thumbnails, each of said plurality of thumbnails comprising a ticket representative of dynamic information and a viewer for displaying the dynamic information represented by the ticket, wherein the ticket has a portion that is common to all types of tickets and another portion for controlling the dynamic information displayed in the viewer that varies based on the type of the ticket;

receiving the dynamic information represented by the tickets of the plurality of thumbnails at the computing device; and

displaying the dynamic information represented by one or more of the tickets in the viewer of the corresponding thumbnail, such that the displayed information changes dynamically as the dynamic information changes.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 containing further executable code for configuring the sidebar window in one of a first state and a second state based on a command input, wherein the sidebar window is non-visible on the display in the first state and visible on the display in the second state.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein displaying the sidebar window includes displaying the dynamic information in the sidebar window in a non-obtrusive manner.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein displaying the sidebar window further includes displaying the dynamic information in the sidebar window across multiple platforms.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the sidebar window provides peripheral awareness of the plurality of thumbnails based on an ability of a user to receive the dynamic information without interrupting user tasks.