Patent · US Expired

Method and system for graphically indicating the activity of a plurality of users within a shared data collection

US6049334A · kind A · utility

72Cited by
4References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 20, 1993
Grant dateApr 11, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 20, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F3/0481
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A display window is displayed in association with at least one scroll bar at a terminal associated with a first user. Along the shaft of one ore more scroll bars, a distinctive visual location cue, such as a line in a color associated with a second user, is displayed to indicate the relative location within the shared data collection of the current and historical activity of a second user. A user may temporarily prohibit manipulation of a region within the shared data collection by other users by establishing a "lock" on the region. A lock region may comprise several lines of text, a portion of a graphical object, or other data within the shared data collection. To indicate the location of lock regions, lock region location cues are also displayed along the scroll bar. In addition to indicating the location of lock regions, lock region location cues also indicate which user has established a lock region via a distinctive display attribute, preferably a distinctive color associated with the user who established the lock region. The location of a lock region is also indicated within the display area of a window by displaying the lock region with the same distinctive display attribute…

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