Patent · US Expired

Content-based depictions of computer icons

US5479602A · kind A · utility

246Cited by
9References
39Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 11, 1993
Grant dateDec 26, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 11, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S715/977
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A means and method for generating and displaying a contentbased depiction of a standard icon on the display of a computer is described. The depiction is generated upon the occurrence of predetermined events, such as the closure of the document or file associated with the icon, and is displayed in either a static or animated form in place of the standard icon in response to selection signals from a selection device. A single content-based depiction of an icon is generated by creating a representation of the object (file or document) to be depicted, and translating this representation into a scaled-down replica of the representation. This representation may be in the form of a bit-map, a full-scale image, etc. The replica is created by partitioning the representation into a number of equal segments, measuring the percentages of different colors (black and white, gray scale, or color) within each segment, and assigning a single color value to each display element or pixel of the replica based upon the color percentage measured from each corresponding segment of the representation. Animated depictions are created by forming a number of different replicas for each representation to be d…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.