Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-14
2001-08-14
Bayerl, Raymond J. (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S419000, C709S241000, C709S241000, C709S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06275232
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to computing architectures which may be used in conjunction with a graphical user interface, and more particularly to zooming graphical user interfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
The available display screen area on a computer monitor has become increasingly inadequate in terms of the presentation of the variety of information and resources available to the user. In this regard, conventional computing systems have attempted to provide various solutions to address the problem of limited display screen area.
For example, windowing systems divide a screen into multiple tiled or overlapping display areas, resembling sheets of paper on a desktop, with one window in the foreground and others in the background. These windows remind the user that other information and control options are readily available to be brought to the foreground at the click of a mouse on an unobscured point in the window containing the desired material. However, such systems typically allow only a limited number of windows to be open and only the foreground window to be operable at any one time. In addition, information within a window that does not fit on the window's display screen area must be scrolled using an input device in order to access chosen information.
Another attempt to increase displayed information and control options is the use of hierarchical menuing through a sequence of display screens, offered to the user as a cascade of windows or a single designated screen area overwritten for each submenu. Typically, hierarchical menus rely upon information organized into decision trees. Abbreviating menuing options causes the menus to be less user friendly as menus do not always suggest sub-menu options. Further, cascaded windows introduce screen clutter and prevent the user from seeing all of the cascaded information simultaneously.
Zooming graphical user interfaces allow navigation into or out of the display screen, and can thus allow zooming graphical objects to be viewed from various perspectives at various levels of granularity. This provides the ability to variously view large numbers of objects at low resolution (e.g., by zooming away from them), or smaller numbers of objects at higher resolution (e.g., by zooming towards them). Thus, the user can review available resources from a broad perspective, and then focus with greater detail on particular resources.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Generally, computing architectures, and particularly zooming graphical user interfaces, provide rigid event responsive behavior which is difficult to customize and update. In accordance with the present invention, methods and apparatuses provide flexible event responsive behavior.
In one aspect of the present invention, a zooming engine for displaying zooming objects that reside in a zooming space provides flexible event responsive behavior. The zooming engine includes event handlers and an event manager. The event handlers, such as first and second event handlers, provide various event responsive behavior. Zooming objects in the zooming space are associated with event handlers. For example, a particular zooming object may reference first and second event handlers. The event manager receives events and identifies zooming objects that are targeted by the event. For example, the particular zooming object may be targeted. In that instance, the event is processed by the first and second event handlers which are associated with the particular zooming object.
According to another aspect of the present invention, although plural event handlers can be associated to zooming objects, individual event handlers can consume the event so that their event responsive behavior is invoked, and the event responsive behavior of other event handlers is not. In one embodiment, this aspect of the present invention is manifest in the form of a boolean value produced by each event handler, the boolean value indicating whether the event handler has (or has not) consumed the event.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the event handlers are associated with the zooming object at various class levels. For example, a particular zooming object may belong to a class that includes at least one super class. Certain event handlers are associated with the particular zooming object at its class level, while other event handlers are associated with the particular zooming object at the super class level. Various class level event handler associations can be provided, from the class level to the base or root class relating to the particular zooming object. The associated event handlers may be sequentially invoked, starting at the class level and proceeding through the various levels, until the base class level event handlers are finally invoked. Any event handler in the sequence may consume the event, whereupon the remaining event handlers are not invoked.
According to another aspect of the invention, event handlers can be associated to the particular zooming object at the instance level. There, the event handlers relating to the particular zooming object at the instance level are first invoked, followed by class, super class, and possibly other class level associated event handlers as described above. Again, any event handler, including an instance level event handler, can consume the event.
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Cataudella Salvatore
Cunningham Kathleen
Herndon Kenneth
Bayerl Raymond J.
Fujii Harold T.
Nguyen Thomas T.
Sony Corporation
Tobin Christopher M.
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