Graphical navigation control for selecting applications on visual walls
US6002403A · kind A · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 17, 1996 |
| Grant date | Dec 14, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 17, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S715/978
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A graphical user interface displays a first menu image on a display for an operating system on a computer. The first menu image includes a taskbar image which carries button images selectable by the user to carry out a function. The GUI also displays a second menu image on the display for a navigator software which is running under the operating system. The navigator software provides a quasi-operating system environment. The GUI displays the taskbar image in the second menu image whereby the user can carry out functions of the operating system from within the quasi-operating system environment provided by the navigator software. Three visual walls are arranged on the GUI as if the user is standing inside a three-dimensional cube and open to the sky. Clicking once either on the side walls moves the contents of the side wall to the center, in effect rotating the cube. When a wall is centered, the user can activate any function in the wall by clicking on a button. Buttons displayed in the side wall may be immediately activated by double clicking so the user does not have to center the side wall.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.