Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Cursor mark position control device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-10
2003-06-17
Mengistu, Amare (Department: 2673)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Cursor mark position control device
C345S156000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06580416
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS:
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to actuators which are triggered directly by an intelligent operator and for which the decision to actuate is a choice of the operator.
Most such actuators require a well-defined physical action on the part of the operator to initiate actuation. Traditional wall-mount light switches work by an operator physically moving a lever to one position or another thereby connecting or disconnecting a circuit, and software based actuators have traditionally attempted to model the experience of the traditional actuators.
Most software based actuators triggered by pointing devices work as follows:
1. An actuator region exists on the screen. Example: an underlined link on an html page or a submit button on that same page.
2. The operator positions the target of pointing device (cursor), within the graphical region of the actuator causing a “rollover” event to occur.
3. In superior software, the cursor changes shape to reinforce the operator's assumption that the graphical object under the cursor is indeed an actuator. Also in superior software, this “rollover” event causes additional text or graphic information to be displayed, typically on or around the actuator.
4. The operator presses a button (mouse down event) on the pointing device to indicate they want to activate the actuator. If a button were activated without the operator pressing the button, it would typically be considered a “bug”.
5. The actuator either actuates immediately, or, in superior software, changes appearance to indicate that the operator has pressed the button.
6. In the latter case, if the operator releases the button (mouse up event) while the cursor is still within the actuator, the actuator activates. If the operator moves the cursor out of the actuator's region ok before releasing the button (mouse up event), the actuation is cancelled.
Recent touch-sensitive switches can be activated just by touching them. In both cases the actuation is immediate: a touch-sensitive switch would be regarded as defective if it did not activate immediately on touch.
Touch pads and touch screens on computers substitute a “tapping” action on the part of the operator for pressing the button, but the action is still a positive and deliberate physical one.
Some racing and first person point of view computer games use the cursor to control the direction of navigation. Moving the cursor to the top left of the screen causes the game world to immediately shift to the north-west, for example. Cursor movement from left to right can be used to control the steering wheel of an on-screen race car in a racing game. In such uses a delay between the positioning of the pointer and the turning of the steering wheel would be seen as a defect in the program.
The use of actuators pervades everything in our lives, and extensive work has gone into establishing rules for how actuators should work. Apple Computer's “Human Interface Guidelines” have been instrumental in defining the state of the art in software control. Two quotes here summarize much of the prior art:
“In general, just moving the mouse changes nothing except the location, and possibly the shape, of the pointer. Pressing the mouse button indicates the intention to do something, and releasing the mouse button completes the action.”
“Clicking has two components: pushing down on the mouse button and then quickly releasing it while the mouse remains stationary. (If the mouse moves between button down and button up, dragging—not clicking—is what happens.) Some uses of clicking are to select an object, to move an insertion point, to activate a button, and to turn on a control such as a checkbox. The effect of clicking should be immediate and evident. If the function of the click is to cause an action (such as clicking a button), the selection is made when the button is pressed, and the action takes place when the button is released.”
But for all the pervasiveness of these actuators, they suffer from serious disadvantages:
1. Physical effort is required on the part of the operator to press and release a button or to tap on a touch-pad or touch-screen. At the extreme, clicking has been identified as a cause of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Handicapped operators are at an additional disadvantage.
2. The use of a click interface for actuators means that the click interface can not be used for other instructions. This is significant given the limited input bandwidth of most computer interfaces: i.e., the keyboard and the one or two-button mouse. The birth of the multi-button mouse can be seen as evidence of this need.
3. The physical task of clicking the button can unwittingly move the pointing device and cause the cursor to move out of the actuator's region. It is instructional to watch a 4-year-old learn to use a mouse: they carefully position the mouse over the object they want to click on. They then move their little hand to the big mouse button. By the time they nudge the button down, they have moved the mouse and pushed the cursor off of the object they are trying to click! Even given the coordination of an adult, this conflict inherent in the design of the current majority of popular pointing devices limits the accuracy of mouse clicks and hence increases the minimum size of the actuator's region.
4. Since the user must press down on a button and then release it, it makes sense for the software to be designed in such a way as to make the onscreen actions correspond to the physical actions. For this reason, many on-screen buttons appear to “press down” when the mouse is pressed down on them. This adds an extra layer of complexity to the interface, and restricts the freedom of the designers from making actuators that more accurately model their true function and are more suggestive of the actuator's result.
5. There is an inherent conflict between the good software design goal of providing feedback for all operator actions and between the goal of a clean simple interface. Feedback for the mouse down and mouse up events, the rollover of the actuator, and for the actuation itself is becomes more significant than the task at hand, i.e., actuation. Current actuator designers must make the unfortunate choice between either providing insufficient feedback for the operator's action or overloading the operator's senses by providing good feedback but thus distracting him or her from other more useful tasks such as anticipating the actuation results or gathering last minute information about the current state prior to actuation.
DEFINITION OF OPT-OUT
Definition: to “opt-out” of something is to choose not to allow it to happen.
Definition: “opt-out time interval”, or “opt-out period” is the amount of time during which the operator can choose not to allow actuation.
Definition: “opting-out” audio, visual, tactile or other sensory feedback” is feedback delivered to the operator when the operator chooses not to allow (opts out of) the actuation after having started the opt-out period.
The following excellent definition of “opt-out” is published at http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/opt out/:
(1) type of program that assumes inclusion unless stated otherwise.
(2) to remove oneself from an opt-out program.
Additionally, the online dictionary: http://www-dictionary.com/search?q=opt+out&r=3 describes it as follows:
Phrasal Verb:
opt out Slang
To choose not to participate in something: “give individual schools the right to opt out of the local educational authority” (Newsweek).
It has become common for commercial interests to send a single email message, typically containing advertisements or promotional material, to thousands of recipients who have been placed on a mailing list often without their consent. The mailing list is termed an “opt-out” mailing list if the recipients have some way of removing themselves
CodeHorse, Inc.
Mengistu Amare
LandOfFree
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