Computer display unit with attribute enhanced scroll bar
First Claim
1. In an interactive data display computer system including a processing unit for processing data, a memory for storing a data file, and a data display screen for displaying data to a user, said data display screen including a data display field in a first region and a scroll bar field in a second region separated form said first region, a method of presenting a user with an attribute-enhanced scroll bar comprising:
- display in said data display field a portion of some but not all of said data file;
displaying in said scroll bar field a shaft representing a length of said data file;
displaying in said scroll bar field a car within said shaft representing a position of said portion relative to said length; and
displaying in said scroll bar field an attribute map within said shaft comprising indicia representing a position of each occurrence of selected data in said data field relative to said length, said attribute map being visually distinguishable from said car.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An attribute-enhanced scroll bar is graphically displayed. A selected portion of a stored data file, for example a document, is displayed in a display field, and a scroll bar field including a scroll bar is used to indicate the position of the displayed portion relative to the entire data file. In addition, maps of significant task-specific attributes of the data file, for example particular character strings within a document, are displayed in the scroll bar field of the display along with the scroll bar. The attribute maps indicate the location of the significant attributes within the data file. In addition, the attributes are highlighted within the portion of the data file that is displayed in the display field.
334 Citations
34 Claims
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1. In an interactive data display computer system including a processing unit for processing data, a memory for storing a data file, and a data display screen for displaying data to a user, said data display screen including a data display field in a first region and a scroll bar field in a second region separated form said first region, a method of presenting a user with an attribute-enhanced scroll bar comprising:
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display in said data display field a portion of some but not all of said data file; displaying in said scroll bar field a shaft representing a length of said data file; displaying in said scroll bar field a car within said shaft representing a position of said portion relative to said length; and displaying in said scroll bar field an attribute map within said shaft comprising indicia representing a position of each occurrence of selected data in said data field relative to said length, said attribute map being visually distinguishable from said car. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer display unit comprising:
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a central processing unit; a memory accessed by the central processing unit; a display screen which receives data from the central processing unit; means for displaying a data display field in a first region of said display screen and a scroll bar field in a second region of said display screen separated from said first region; means for displaying in said data display field a portion containing some but not all of a data file stored in said memory; means for displaying in said scroll bar field a shaft representing a length of said data file; means for displaying in said scroll bar field a car within said shaft representing a position and size of said portion relative to said length; and means for displaying in said scroll bar field an attribute map within said shaft comprising indicia representing a position of each occurrence of selected data in said data file relative to said length, said attribute map being visually distinguishable from said car.
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14. In an interactive data display computer system including a processing unit for processing data, a memory for storing a data file, and a data display screen for displaying data to a user, said data display screen providing in separate regions a data display field and a scroll bar field, a method of visually presenting a user with an attribute-enhanced scroll bar comprising the steps of:
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displaying within said data display field a portion of said data file containing some but not all of said data file; and displaying within said scroll bar field; (i) a shaft representing a length of said data file, said length of said data file exceeding said displayed portion of said data file; (ii) a car within said shaft wherein a spatial relationship between said car and said shaft visually indicates to said user a relative size and position of said displayed portion of said data file with respect to said length of said data file; and (iii) an attribute map within said shaft visually distinguishable from said car wherein a spatial relationship between said attribute map and said shaft visually indicates to said user a position of each occurrence of selected information in said data file with respect to said length of said data file. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification