Patent · US Expired

Menu state system

US6259446A · kind A · utility

44Cited by
47References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 23, 1992
Grant dateJul 10, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 23, 2012

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F8/38
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus for a menu based system containing size and location information is disclosed. Each menu contains a list of menu items containing a command and variables that reflect the command's current appearance. This includes status information determinative of the menu item's state (enabled/disabled), its name, its associated graphic, and whether its appearance is currently valid. Each of these were initialized when the menu item was created. The invention creates a menu item from a command, where a menu item is another object data structure containing a command sequence. The menu item is added to a list of menu items, and initialized as an invalid appearance. Later when the menu item is selected from a pull down menu, the appearance state is recomputed based on the system state.

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