METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERFACING WITH A COMPUTER USER VIA VIRTUAL THUMBNAILS

• US 20090070781A1
• Filed: 09/07/2007
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Managelq Incorporated
• Inventors: Hennessy, Thomas C., Clarizio, Daniel A., Barenboim, Oleg, Winchell, Eric, Fitzgerald, Joseph J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,146,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34

Abstract

Methods and apparatus of interfacing with a computer user via virtual thumbnails are disclosed. The system determines the number of zones for each virtual thumbnail, the variable to represent in each zone, and the current state of each of those variables. The system then dynamically renders each of the virtual thumbnails accordingly. For example, if the top-left zone of a virtual thumbnail is to indicate the current operating system associated with a virtual machine, and the current operating system for that virtual machine is Microsoft Windows, then the system displays a flying window icon in the top-left zone of that virtual thumbnail. Once the virtual thumbnail are displayed, the system looks for events associated with the virtual thumbnails (e.g., a click in one of the zones) and executes instructions in response to detecting those events (e.g., show virtual thumbnails indicative of the operating system'"'"'s services if the operating system zone of a virtual thumbnail is clicked).

Claims

1. A method of interfacing with a computer user to display computer systems management information, the method comprising:

determining a first association between a first systems management variable and a first zone of a first multi-zone shape;

determining a second association between a second systems management variable and a second zone of the first multi-zone shape;

determining a first state associated with the first systems management variable;

determining a second state associated with the second systems management variable;

rendering the first multi-zone shape to be indicative of (i) the first state of the first systems management variable in the first zone of the first multi-zone shape and (ii) the second state of the second systems management variable in the second zone of the first multi-zone shape;

generating a first software event in response to receiving a first user action associated with the first zone of the first multi-zone shape; and

generating a second software event in response to receiving a second user action associated with the second zone of the first multi-zone shape, the second software event being different than the first software event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first association between the first variable and the first zone is a user definable association.

3. The method of claim 1, including sorting a plurality of multi-zone shapes based on a value associated with one of multiple zones contained within the plurality of multi-zone shapes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the first multi-zone shape includes rendering a multi-faceted multi-zone shape.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-faceted multi-zone shape includes a cube.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-faceted multi-zone shape includes a tabbed layers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first software event causes a computer to display a plurality of multi-zone shapes indicative of a plurality of virtual machines.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first multi-zone shape represents a virtual machine.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first variable is indicative of an operating system associated with the virtual machine.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first variable is indicative of a run state associated with the virtual machine.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second variable is indicative of an operating system associated with the virtual machine.

12. The method of claim 1, including determining a first number of zones for the first multi-zone shape.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first number of zones is a constant number of zones.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first number of zones is a variable number of zones.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the first number of zones is a user definable number of zones.

16. The method of claim 12, including:

determining a second number of zones for a second multi-zone shape, the second number of zones being different than the first number of zones; and

displaying the second multi-zone shape.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein displaying the second multi-zone shape includes displaying the second multi-zone shape contemporaneously with the first multi-zone shape.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user action includes at least one of a single mouse click, a double mouse click, and a right mouse click.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first software event causes execution of a first user defined software routine, and the second software event causes execution of a second user defined software routine, the first user defined software routine being different then the second user defined software routine.

31. The method of claim 1, including sorting a plurality of virtual thumbnails based on a value associated with at least one of the first plurality of variables.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the virtual thumbnail in the first size includes rendering a first multi-faceted multi-zone shape.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein rendering the virtual thumbnail in the second size includes rendering a second multi-faceted multi-zone shape, the second multi-faceted multi-zone shape being different than the first multi-faceted multi-zone shape.

20. A method of interfacing with a computer user to display computer systems management information, the method comprising:

determining a first user definable association between a first systems management variable and a first zone of a first multi-zone shape;

determining a second user definable association between a second systems management variable and a second zone of the first multi-zone shape;

determining a first state associated with the first systems management variable;

determining a second state associated with the second systems management variable; and

rendering the first multi-zone shape to be indicative of (i) the first state of the first systems management variable in the first zone of the first multi-zone shape and (ii) the second state of the second systems management variable in the second zone of the first multi-zone shape.

21. The method of claim 20, including sorting a plurality of multi-zone shapes based on a value associated with one of multiple zones contained within the plurality of multi-zone shapes.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein rendering the first multi-zone shape includes rendering a multi-faceted multi-zone shape.

23. A method of interfacing with a computer user to display computer systems management information, the method comprising:

determining a first association between a first systems management variable and a first zone of a first multi-zone shape;

determining a second association between a second systems management variable and a second zone of the first multi-zone shape;

determining a first state associated with the first systems management variable;

determining a second state associated with the second systems management variable;

rendering the first multi-zone shape to be indicative of (i) the first state of the first systems management variable in the first zone of the first multi-zone shape and (ii) the second state of the second systems management variable in the second zone of the first multi-zone shape; and

sorting a plurality of multi-zone shapes based on a value associated with one of multiple zones contained within the plurality of multi-zone shapes.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein rendering the first multi-zone shape includes rendering a multi-faceted multi-zone shape.

25. A method of interfacing with a computer user to display computer systems management information, the method comprising:

determining a first association between a first systems management variable and a first zone of a first multi-faceted multi-zone shape;

determining a second association between a second systems management variable and a second zone of the first multi-faceted multi-zone shape;

determining a first state associated with the first systems management variable;

determining a second state associated with the second systems management variable; and

rendering the first multi-faceted multi-zone shape to be indicative of (i) the first state of the first systems management variable in the first zone of the first multi-zone shape and (ii) the second state of the second systems management variable in the second zone of the first multi-zone shape.

26. A method of displaying a virtual thumbnail, the method comprising:

determining a first plurality of associations between a first plurality of variables and a first plurality of zones for a first size of the virtual thumbnail;

determining a first plurality of states associated with the first plurality of variables;

rendering the virtual thumbnail in the first size to be indicative of the first plurality of states associated with the first plurality of variables;

receiving an instruction to change the virtual thumbnail from the first size to a second different size;

determining a second plurality of associations between a second plurality of variables and a second plurality of zones for the second size of the virtual thumbnail, the second plurality of zones having a different number of zones than the first plurality of zones;

determining a second plurality of states associated with the second plurality of variables; and

rendering the virtual thumbnail in the second size to be indicative of the second plurality of states associated with the second plurality of variables.

27. The method of claim 26, including moving a plurality of adjacent virtual thumbnails in response to rendering the virtual thumbnail in the second size.

28. The method of claim 26, including:

generating a first software event in response to receiving a first user action associated with a first zone in the first plurality of zones; and

generating a second software event in response to receiving a second user action associated with a second zone in the first plurality of zones, the second software event being different than the first software event.

29. The method of claim 28, including:

generating a third software event in response to receiving a third user action associated with a third zone in the second plurality of zones; and

generating a fourth software event in response to receiving a fourth user action associated with a fourth zone in the second plurality of zones, the fourth software event being different than the third software event.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein first plurality of associations between the first plurality of variables and the first plurality of zones are user definable associations.

34. The method of claim 26, wherein the first plurality of variables and the second plurality of variables are systems management variables.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein the virtual thumbnail represents a virtual machine.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the first variable is indicative of an operating system associated with the virtual machine.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the first variable is indicative of a run state associated with the virtual machine.

38. An apparatus for interfacing with a computer user, the apparatus comprising:

a controller;

a display device operatively coupled to the controller; and

a memory device operatively coupled to the controller, the memory device storing a software program to cause the controller to;

determine a first plurality of associations between a first plurality of variables and a first plurality of zones for a first size of the virtual thumbnail;

determine a first plurality of states associated with the first plurality of variables;

render the virtual thumbnail in the first size to be indicative of the first plurality of states associated with the first plurality of variables;

receive an instruction to change the virtual thumbnail from the first size to a second different size;

determine a second plurality of associations between a second plurality of variables and a second plurality of zones for the second size of the virtual thumbnail, the second plurality of zones having a different number of zones than the first plurality of zones;

determine a second plurality of states associated with the second plurality of variables; and

render the virtual thumbnail in the second size to be indicative of the second plurality of states associated with the second plurality of variables.

39. A computer readable media storing software instructions to cause a computing device to:

determine a first plurality of associations between a first plurality of variables and a first plurality of zones for a first size of the virtual thumbnail;

determine a first plurality of states associated with the first plurality of variables;

render the virtual thumbnail in the first size to be indicative of the first plurality of states associated with the first plurality of variables;

receive an instruction to change the virtual thumbnail from the first size to a second different size;

determine a second plurality of associations between a second plurality of variables and a second plurality of zones for the second size of the virtual thumbnail, the second plurality of zones having a different number of zones than the first plurality of zones;

determine a second plurality of states associated with the second plurality of variables; and

render the virtual thumbnail in the second size to be indicative of the second plurality of states associated with the second plurality of variables.