Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-16
2001-11-06
dela Torre, Crescelle N. (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S215000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06313854
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer systems, and more particularly to a method and system for viewing or examining electronic documents, including those transmitted across a computer network. The present invention is adapted for use with the Internet's World Wide Web, but it is generally applicable to any system which provides related computer files wherein it is desirable to view the files concurrently.
2. Description of Related Art
As illustrated
FIG. 1
, conventional computers often employ a graphical user interface (GUI) to present information to the user. The GUI is provided by software that is loaded on the computer, specifically, the computer's operating system acting in conjunction with application programs. Two well-known GUIs include OS/2 (a trademark of International Business Machines Corp.) and Windows 95 (a trademark of Microsoft Corp.). In the example of
FIG. 1
, a primary application window (a “parent” window)
1
is presented on a display device (i.e., video monitor)
2
, the application window including several secondary windows (“child” windows)
3
a
,
3
b
and
3
c
which are enclosed by parent window
1
. These “sibling” windows
3
a
,
3
b
and
3
c
depict the contents of various files or documents. A standard set of menu commands
4
and a toolbar
5
may be provided as part of the GUI, to simplify manipulation and control of the objects (text, charts and graphics) within the child windows. While
FIG. 1
illustrates the sibling windows arranged side-by-side, they can also overlap one another, in multiple layers.
A given file may be too large to be represented within the physical confines of a child (or parent) window, and so scroll bars may be used to move (i.e., pan) the file within the confines of the window's boundaries. A horizontal scroll bar
6
and a vertical scroll bar
7
are shown associated with document window
3
a
. Graphic window
3
b
is depicted only with a horizontal scroll bar
8
, while chart window
3
c
is shown without any scroll bars; in other words, the depicted chart file is of a small enough size or scale to be shown completely within the confines of window
3
c
without the need for any scroll bars. Scroll bars can be dynamically created when a previously small document gets so big that it more than fills the window (such as when a user is writing a letter).
Scroll buttons, such as those indicated at
9
,
10
and
11
, are often used to indicate the relative placement of a document within the confines of the particular document window. For example, a document whose upper left hand corner is displayed within a document might have a scroll button at the leftmost portion of its horizontal scroll bar, and a scroll button at the uppermost portion of its vertical scroll bar (as show with respect to window
3
a
in FIG.
1
). The scroll bars are manipulated by the use of a visual pointer
12
displayed on the video monitor, which is controlled by a hardware pointing device, such as a “mouse.” In
FIG. 1
, visual pointer
12
takes the form of an arrowhead. Users generally interact with scroll bars according to one of three methods: by clicking on one of the arrow (triangle) icons at either end of the scroll bar (that is, the left and right arrows of a horizontal scroll bar, or the up and down arrows of a vertical scroll bar); by clicking in the area between an arrow icon and a scroll button; or by dragging a scroll button (sometimes referred to as an “elevator”) towards one of its associated arrow icons.
Besides scrolling, there are other GUI operations which might be applied to windows. Two common window operations are known as minimizing and maximizing. Generally, a window may be in one of three forms—“minimized,” “maximized,” or “restored.” A parent window is maximized when it fully occupies the display area available to the application (usually the full screen on video monitor
28
, less any area that is reserved for interfacing with the operating system). A child window is maximized when it fully occupies the display area available in its parent window. When a window is minimized, it “disappears,” or is reduced to a small icon representation or title bar, so that it no longer is presented to receive user inputs. In the case of a minimized parent window, the application is not actually terminated, but is running in the background. Similarly, in the case of a minimized child window, the document is not actually closed, but is simply set aside. A window is in the restored form when its size is somewhere between the minimized and maximized form. In
FIG. 1
, parent window
1
is maximized, and child windows
3
a
,
3
b
and
3
c
are restored. These latter three windows can be maximized or minimized using buttons provided in the upper right-hand corner of each window, respectively. Similar window control buttons are provided for parent window
1
.
Windows (parent or children) can be moved within the available display area if they are in a restored state, typically by placing graphical pointer
12
on the window's title bar and then “dragging” the title bar to another location. Windows can also usually be resized, typically by graphical pointer
12
on one of the corners of the window and then dragging the corner to another location.
The electronic documents depicted in child windows
3
a
,
3
b
and
3
c
may reside locally on a storage device which is physically integrated into the computer, or they may be provided via transmission across a computer network. A generalized client-server computing network
13
is illustrated in FIG.
2
. Network
13
has several nodes or servers
14
a
,
14
b
,
14
c
and
14
d
which are interconnected, either directly to each other or indirectly through one of the other servers. Each server is essentially a stand-alone computer system (having one or more processors, memory devices, and communications devices), but has been adapted (programmed) for one primary purpose, that of providing information to individual users at another set of nodes, or computer workstations (clients)
15
. A client is a member of a class or group of computers or computer systems that uses the services of another class or group to which it is not related. Clients
15
can be stand-alone computer systems (like personal computers, or PCs), or “dumber” systems adapted for limited use with network
13
(like network computers, or NCs). A single, physical computer can act as both a server and a client, although this implementation occurs infrequently. A network can be local in nature, or can be further connected to other systems (not shown) as indicated with servers
14
c
and
14
d.
The construction of network
13
is also generally applicable to the Internet. Conventional protocols and services have been established for the Internet which allow the transfer of various types of information, including electronic mail, simple file transfers via FTP (file transfer protocol), remote computing via Telnet, “gopher” searching, Usenet newsgroups, and hypertext file delivery and multimedia streaming via the World Wide Web (WWW). A given server can be dedicated to performing one of these operations, or running multiple services. Internet services are typically accessed by specifying a unique address, or universal resource locator (URL). The URL has two basic components, the protocol to be used, and the target pathname. The URL specifies a hypertext transfer protocol (“http”) and a pathname of the server. The server name is associated with a unique numeric value (a TCP/IP address, or “domain”).
World Wide Web files (or “pages”) are interrelated by providing hypertext links in each of the files; closely interrelated pages are commonly referred to as a “web site”. A hypertext link is an image which is viewable on the workstation's display and can be selected by the user using the mouse (or via a keyboard command), and which then automatically instructs the client workstation
15
to request another page associated with the selected hypertext
Bracewell & Patterson, LL
dela Torre Crescelle N.
International Business Machines - Corporation
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