Customizing the display of a mobile computing device

• US 20020065110A1
• Filed: 09/13/2001
• Published: 05/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kennedy, Kevin, Enns, Neil Robin Newman
• Granted Patent: US 7,190,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/027 by controlling a display operation or backlight unit
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Efficiently displaying customized data on the display of a mobile computing device. Layout files, which are created, using an XML based language, receive data from data generating applications and format the received data to a user'"'"'s specification. Multiple layout files may be included in a mobile computing device, allowing a user to select from a variety of display formats. Data generated by data generating applications is received and stored in an intermediate status store. Data consuming applications register with the status store indicating which portions of content they consume. When data changes and one or more data consuming applications have registered for the data, the status store notifies the registered data consuming applications so they may receive the data. Specialized data consuming applications called “plug-ins” may be include in layout files. A “plug-in manager” may control when plug-ins update a display device.

Claims

1. In a mobile computing device that includes a display device, wherein the mobile computing device is associated with one or more networks, and wherein the display device may receive content from the mobile computing device and from the one or more associated networks, a method for customizing the arrangement of content displayed on the display device so as to allow a user to personalize the displayed content for their specific needs, the method comprising:

creating a layout that defines how content is displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device, by performing the acts of;

selecting one or more content generating elements from which content may be received;

setting attributes associated with content received from the one or more selected content generating elements that cause the appearance of content displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device to be customized; and

specifying a portion of the display device of the mobile computing device where content received from each of the one or more selected content generating elements may be displayed, thereby causing the arrangement of content displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device to be customized.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein creating a layout that defines how content is displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises the following:

an act of using a markup language to create a layout that defines how content is displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the act of using a markup language to create a layout that defines how content is displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises the following:

using an XML based markup language to create a layout that defines how content is displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of selecting one or more content generating elements from which content may be received comprises the following:

an act of including one or more plug-ins in a layout file.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of setting attributes associated with content received from the one or more selected content generating elements that cause the appearance of content displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device to be customized comprises the following:

setting attributes associated with content received from one or more tags associated with a markup language that cause the appearance of content displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device to be customized.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the act of setting attributes associated with content received from one or more tags associated with a markup language that cause the appearance of content displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device to be customized comprises the following:

an act of setting attributes associated with content received from one or more tags associated with an XML based markup language that cause the appearance of content displayed on the display device of the mobile computing device to be customized.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of specifying a portion of the display device of the mobile computing device where content received from each of the one or more selected content generating elements may be displayed comprises the following:

an act of associating one or more attributes with one or more markup language based tags specifying a portion of the display device of the mobile computing device where content received from each of the one or more markup language based tags may be displayed.

8. In a mobile computing device associated with one or more networks, the mobile computing device including a display device and one or more layouts that may render content on the display device, the layouts including one or more attributes, which may be used to customize content before the content is rendered on the display device, and wherein the one or more layouts may receive content from the mobile computing device and from the one or more associated networks, a method for displaying a customized arrangement of content so as to allow a user to personalize the displayed content for their specific needs, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving a user selection of a layout from among the one or more layouts included in the mobile computing device, the individual layout to be used when interfacing with the user;

specifying one or more applications that may generate content for display on the display device of the mobile computing device;

associating attributes with content generated by the one or more applications;

customizing content generated by the one or more applications based on the attributes associated with the content and on information included in the layout; and

rendering the layout to the user on the display device of the mobile computing device.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of receiving a user selection of a layout from among the one or more layouts included in the mobile computing device comprises the following:

an act of receiving from an input user interface a user selection of a layout from among the one or more layouts included in the mobile computing device.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of specifying one or more applications that may generate content for display on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises the following:

an act of specifying one or more applications included on a network associated with the mobile computing device that may generate content for display on the display device of the mobile computing device.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of associating attributes with content generated by the one or more applications comprises the following:

an act of associating attributes included in markup language based tags with content generated by the one or more applications.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of associating attributes included in markup language based tags with content generated by the one or more applications comprises the following:

an act of associating attributes included in XML based tags with content generated by the one or more applications.

13. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of customizing content generated by the one or more applications based on the attributes associated with the content and on information included in the layout comprises the following:

an act of customizing the content generated by the one or more applications based on attributes included in markup language based tags that are associated with the generated content.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the act of customizing the content generated by the one or more applications based on attributes included in markup language based tags that are associated with the generated content comprises the following:

an act of customizing the content generated by the one or more applications based on attributes included in XML based tags that are associated with the generated content.

15. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of rendering the layout to the user on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises the following:

an act of rendering only those portions of the layout that are associated with updated content to the user on corresponding portions of the display device of the mobile computing device.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the act of storing generated content comprises the following:

an act of storing content generated from one or more content generating applications associated with the mobile computing device in an intermediate status store.

18. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein an act of receiving registrations from content consuming applications on the mobile computing device comprises the following:

an act of an intermediate status store receiving registrations from content consuming applications on the mobile computing device.

19. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the act of receiving registrations from content consuming applications on the mobile computing device comprises the following:

an act of receiving registrations for one or more content consuming applications on the mobile computing device from an intermediate application that monitors the one or more content consuming applications.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the act of receiving registrations for one or more content consuming applications on the mobile computing device from an intermediate application that monitors the one or more data consuming applications comprises the following:

an act of receiving registrations for one or more plug-ins on the mobile computing device from a plug-in manager that monitors the one or more plug-ins.

21. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the act of notifying at least some of the content consuming applications when a portion of generated content for which they have registered is modified comprises the following:

an act of notifying an intermediate application that monitors one or more content consuming applications when a portion of content which at least one of the content consuming applications have registered for is modified.

22. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein the act of notifying an intermediate application that monitors one or more content consuming applications when a portion of content which some of the content consuming applications have registered for is modified comprises the following:

an act of notifying a plug-in manager that monitors one or more plug-ins when a portion of the content which at least one of the plug-ins has registered for is modified.

23. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the act of sending the modified portion of generated content to the notified content consuming applications on the mobile computing device for subsequent rendering of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises the following:

an act of sending the modified portion of generated content to an intermediate program that monitors the notified content consuming applications on the mobile computing device for subsequent rendering of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device.

24. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein the act of sending the modified portion of generated content to an intermediate program that monitors the notified content consuming applications on the mobile computing device for subsequent rendering of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises the following:

an act of sending the modified portion of generated content to a plug-in manager that monitors plug-ins on the mobile computing device for subsequent rendering of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device.

25. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

an act of refreshing only the portions of the display device of the mobile computing device where a modified portion of generated content is to be rendered.

27. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the step for displaying content generated by the one or more specified content generating applications after the content has been modified by one or more formatting options so as to customize the display of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises:

an act of modifying the generated content by associating the generated content with one or more formatting options included in the layout.

28. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the step for displaying content generated by the one or more specified content generating applications after the content has been modified by one or more formatting options so as to customize the display of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises:

an act of displaying content only on portions of the display device associated data consuming applications for which content has been modified.

30. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein the step for updating the content used by some of the content consuming applications with modified portions of content, the modified portions of content being content the content consuming applications have indicated they will consume, so as to update rendering of content on the display device of the mobile computing device comprises:

an act of distributing modified portions of content from an intermediate status store associated with the content consuming applications to the content consuming applications.

16. In a mobile computing device that includes a display device, content generating applications, and content consuming applications, wherein at least some of the content consuming applications may display content on the display device, the mobile computing device receiving content from one or more associated networks, the received content originating from a plurality of content generating applications, a method for efficiently displaying content so as to conserve the power resources of the mobile computing device, the method comprising the acts of:

storing generated content;

receiving registrations from content consuming applications on the mobile computing device, the content consuming applications indicating which portion of the generated content they will consume;

notifying at least some of the content consuming applications when a portion of generated content for which they have registered is modified; and

sending the modified portion of generated content to the notified content consuming applications on the mobile computing device for subsequent rendering of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device.

26. In a mobile computing device associated with one or more networks, the mobile computing device including a display device and one or more layouts that may render content on the display device, the layouts including one or more attributes, which may be used to customize content before the content is rendered on the display device, and wherein the one or more layouts may receive content from the mobile computing device and from the one or more associated networks, a method for displaying a customized arrangement of content so as to allow a user to personalize the displayed content for their specific needs, the method comprising:

an act of receiving a user selection of a layout from among the one or more layouts included in the mobile computing device, the individual layout to be used when interfacing with the user;

an act of specifying one or more applications that may generate content for display on the display device of the mobile computing device; and

a step for displaying content generated by the one or more specified content generating applications after the content has been modified by one or more formatting options so as to customize the display of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device.

29. In a mobile computing device that includes a display device, content generating applications, and content consuming applications, wherein at least some of the content consuming applications may display content on the display device, the mobile computing device receiving content from one or more associated networks, the received content originating from a plurality of content generating applications, a method for efficiently displaying content so as to conserve the power resources of the mobile computing device, the method comprising:

an act of storing generated content;

an act of receiving registrations from content consuming applications on the mobile computing device, the content consuming applications indicating which portion of the generated content they will consume; and

a step for updating the content used by some of the content consuming applications with modified portions of content, the modified portions of content being content the content consuming applications have indicated they will consume, so as to update rendering of content on the display device of the mobile computing device.

31. A computer program product for implementing, in a mobile computing device associated with one or more networks, the mobile computing device including a display device and one or more layouts that may render content on the display device, the layouts including one or more attributes, which may be used to customize content before the content is rendered on the display device, and wherein the one or more layouts may receive content from the mobile computing device and from the one or more associated networks, a method for displaying a customized arrangement of content so as to allow a user to personalize the displayed content for their specific needs, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions, that when executed at the client system, cause the mobile computing device to perform the method, including the acts of;

receiving a selection of a layout from among the one or more layouts included in the mobile computing device;

designating, based on the received selection of a layout, one or more applications that may generate content for display on the display device of the mobile computing device;

associating attributes with content generated by the one or more applications;

customizing content generated by the one or more applications based on the attributes associated with the generated content and on information included in the layout; and

rendering the layout on the display device of the mobile computing device.

32. The computer program product as recited claim 31, wherein the computer-readable medium is a physical storage media.

33. A computer program product for implementing, in a mobile computing device that includes a display device, content generating applications, and content consuming applications, wherein at least some of the content consuming applications may display content on the display device, the mobile computing device receiving content from one or more associated networks, the received content originating from a plurality of content generating applications, a method for efficiently displaying content so as to conserve the power resources of the mobile computing device, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium carrying computer-executable instructions, that when executed at the client system, cause the mobile computing device to perform the method, including the acts of;

storing generated content;

receiving registrations from content consuming applications, the registrations indicating which portion of the generated content the content consuming applications will consume;

sending notifications to at least some of the content consuming applications when a portion of generated content for which they have registered is modified; and

sending the modified portion of generated content to the notified content consuming applications for subsequent rendering of the content on the display device of the mobile computing device.

34. The computer program product as recited claim 33, wherein the computer-readable medium is a physical storage media.