Customizable user interface for a mailing apparatus

US6307571A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Pitney Bowes Inc. · US

Inventors

• Joseph M. Mozdzer · Beacon Falls, US
• Robert G. Arsenault · Redondo Beach, US
• Gary S. Jacobson · Norwalk, US
• Wesley A. Kirschner · Hamden, US
• Daniel Lanin · Town of West Hartford, US
• Sharon A. McNeal · Monroe, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 15, 2001
• Grant date: Oct 23, 2001
• Expiry date: Mar 15, 2021

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G07B2017/00298
• WIPO field: Control
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A customizable user interface for a mailing apparatus, such as a postage meter or other mailing equipment, provided as input data to a user interface control program, the input data specifying all aspects of the look and feel of the user interface. The invention provides a specific organization of the input data suitable for providing the required specifications. At a high level, the data is organized into a screen tree component, for providing the feel of each screen, i.e. the response by the mailing apparatus (usually the execution of a function) to any key pressed by a user in association with each screen of the user information as well as for providing what screens to display in response to an event so as to communicate the occurrence of the event to a user; and a screen language component, used in conjunction with a font component, for providing the look of each screen, i.e. for providing its content and layout, where the characters or symbols to be painted on a screen is specified in the screen language component, and how to paint the characters and symbols is specified in the font component.