Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Light pen for fluid matrix display panel
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-19
2001-04-17
Wu, Xiao (Department: 2674)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Light pen for fluid matrix display panel
C345S157000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06219028
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to displaying content and managing a cursor in a graphical user interface of a computer system.
Computer system graphical user interfaces, such as are provided by the Mac OS® or Windows® 95 operating systems, typically include a floating cursor. The user interface displays the floating cursor on a display screen superimposed over the “real” content of the screen, such as graphics or text. A user typically causes the floating cursor to move in response to gestures applied to a pointing device, such as a mouse, or by commands entered through a keyboard. Because the floating cursor would otherwise be displayed, the user typically moves the cursor to a different portion of the screen to see content obscured by the cursor.
In some conventional word processing application programs, the program causes the floating cursor to disappear when the user begins to type to enter text. While this is useful, the floating cursor still obscures text when the user performs some action other than typing text, such as scrolling through the document or opening a new document.
In addition, other application programs which display images typically do not alter the cursor when displaying new content. For example, in a web browser application, such as Netscape Navigator™, when a user clicks on a link, the browser displays a new page of content. The cursor, however, is still in the same location on the screen and often obscures some of the new content.
SUMMARY
The invention provides apparatus and methods implementing a technique for displaying content on a display device of a computer system and removing a cursor so it does not obscure the content as it is being displayed. In general, in one aspect, the technique includes identifying a cursor region occupied by the cursor on a display device screen, detecting collisions between new content and the cursor region, and removing the cursor from its position on the screen in response to collisions. As a result, the cursor does not obscure the new content on the screen.
Advantages that may be seen in implementations of the invention include one or more of the following. The user does not need to move the cursor manually to reveal graphics obscured by the cursor. Because the user does not have to move the cursor repeatedly to reveal obscured content, the efficiency and comfort of the user's interaction with the computer system is improved. If the cursor is automatically moved to a functional location, such as a button or a scroll bar, the user's efficiency may be improved.
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Adobe Systems Incorporated
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Wu Xiao
LandOfFree
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