Visual software engineering system and method for developing visual prototypes and for connecting user code to them
US5883639A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 3, 1997 |
| Grant date | Mar 16, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 3, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T1/00
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system for providing a simple, easy to learn and flexible means of creating user interfaces to products under development without the need of a programming language or the need to learn a large set of complicated commands. The Visual Software Engineering ("VSE") system of the invention uses a simple concept of defining both input to and output from graphical objects in an object-oriented system by providing examples of what the user desires the graphical object to do. This technique is referred to herein as "animation by example". In accordance with this process, the user creates a user interface by drawing the user interface with a graphics editor and then defining the output behavior (i.e., graphics manipulation) of the user interface components by showing each state or frame as an animation. This is accomplished by changing the object using a graphic editor function such as move or rotate and storing each of the frames with the object as a behavior state. Just as with defining the output, the input is defined by giving the graphic object an example of what type of input to look for, and once it finds that input, it tells the object which frame to output or change to. Applicati…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.