Unified hierarchical and tear off menus in a graphical event-driven computer system
US5627960A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 4, 1996 |
| Grant date | May 6, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 4, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S345/902
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Explicit support is provided at the system software level for application program tear-off menus in a manner that is essentially application-transparent. All menus are transformed into windows and grouped in a single menu layer for each application, greatly simplifying many of the complexities of navigating through hierarchical and tear-off menus. Each application has its own menu layer that is shown and hidden as the application moves to the foreground and background. Tear-off menus, as with all menus, are hidden and shown with the menu layer, generating the desirable "floating-window" behavior. More particularly, menus are managed in a graphical, event-driven computer system having a computer display by representing the menus as windows, providing a menu layer for containing menus of a computer program, and displaying a menu. Events occurring with respect to the menu layer are detected, in response to which display of the menu is varied.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.