Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-23
2001-10-30
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, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06310633
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to user interfaces in computer systems and more particularly to a graphical user interface method and apparatus for assisting a user with the tasks of organizing and locating documents.
Increasingly, readers of documents are being called upon to assimilate vast quantities of information in a short period of time. Documents are becoming more widely available in electronic form. Some documents are available electronically by virtue of their having been created using word processing software. Other electronic documents are accessible via the Internet Yet others may become available in electronic form by virtue of being scanned in, copied or faxed. Typical documents can contain text, data, scanned images, applications, executable code, sounds, movies and so forth. Today's computing systems are becoming tools for organizing and manipulating documents. To facilitate this use, the user must be able to store and retrieve such documents quickly and efficiently. Naturally, this task becomes more complicated when the number of documents is large and the types of documents are varied.
Recently, the graphical user interface (GUI) has provided a more efficient way for the user to organize documents. As will be described below however, current GUIs have drawbacks that restrict the user's flexibility and ability to perform tasks efficiently.
FIG. 1A
illustrates a typical graphical user interface for manipulating documents.
FIG. 1A
illustrates a partial screen display
10
of a Macintosh computer running the System
7
operating system, both from Apple Computer, Inc. Screen display
10
includes a cursor
20
, icons representing folders such as System Folder
30
, Word
40
and System
50
, windows such as windows
60
and
70
, document icons such as text file
80
, file
90
, and font
100
.
A user operates the graphical user interface by typically using a mouse, or other pointing device, to control a cursor, shown at
20
, to select, or “click on,” icons such as System Folder
30
in a manner well-known in the art. Here, when System Folder
30
has been selected, window
60
appears on screen display
10
. Window
60
includes additional icons in the shape of folders, such as System
50
, and documents such as document
90
. When the user clicks on System
50
, window
70
appears. As shown, Window
70
includes documents representing type faces such as font
100
.
Icons, representing folders or documents, may be moved within the various windows by clicking upon a particular icon, dragging the icon to a destination window, and dropping the icon in the destination window. For example, text file
80
can be moved into Word
40
folder by clicking on text file
80
icon, dragging text file
80
icon on top of Word
40
folder, and dropping text file
80
icon on top of Word
40
folder.
Under the Macintosh operating system, icons can be in the shape of folders or documents, etc. The shapes of icons are often used to help the user organize documents. The operating system also allows icons to be labeled with a name, typically immediately below the icon, as well as to have different shapes, and to have additional ornamentation. These techniques provide the user with a visual indication of what the icon represents.
One drawback of the Macintosh operating system is that icons can be arbitrarily positioned on the screen. When there are many icons on the screen, often the screen becomes cluttered and is difficult to read.
Another drawback is that the operating system allows the user to arbitrarily place icons in virtually any window. As illustrated in
FIG. 1A
, window
60
and screen display
10
contain folders, documents and other icons all together, making it difficult for the user to conceptualize a document hierarchy. Because the operating system uses a scheme that is different from the way users typically use and organize documents, the scheme is not intuitive to users, especially novice users.
FIGS. 1B and 1C
illustrate another typical graphical user interface for manipulating documents.
FIGS. 1B and 1C
illustrate a partial screen display
120
and
130
under Microsoft Windows 3.1 by Microsoft, Inc.
In
FIG. 1B
, screen display
120
includes windows such as window
140
and icons such as icon
150
and
160
. Under Microsoft Windows, icons have a generic “menu” depictions such as icon
150
, although custom icons can also be used. Here window
140
includes icons including a file cabinet icon
160
. The function associated with file cabinet icon
160
allows the user to manipulate and organize files under Windows 3.1.
In
FIG. 1C
, a partial screen display
130
is presented to the user in response to the selection of file cabinet icon
160
of FIG.
1
B. Partial screen display
130
includes a left portion
180
, a right portion
190
, open folder
200
icon, folder icon
210
, and document icon
220
.
Left portion
180
illustrates file folders in a directory“tree” structure; and the right portion
190
illustrates the contents of a selected file folder
200
in left portion
180
. When selected, the selected folder icon is highlighted and open folder
200
icon replaces the original icon. The contents of open folder
200
icon are shown in right portion
190
and include folders such as images
210
and documents such as pcbkmark.zip
220
.
Drawbacks of the Microsoft Windows 3.1 user interface are similar to the drawbacks of the Macintosh user interface. Specifically, since icons can be arbitrarily positioned on the screen, when there are many icons on the screen, often the screen becomes cluttered and is difficult to read. Further, as illustrated in
FIG. 1C
, windows can contain a mix of folders, documents and other icons all together, making it difficult for the user to conceptualize a document hierarchy. Other interfaces, such as the OS/2 Presentation Manager, from IBM Corporation and the Microsoft Windows 95 user interface have similar drawbacks to the Macintosh system. Again, because the operating system uses a scheme that is different from users' everyday experiences, the scheme is not intuitive to users, especially novice users.
Other approaches to the problem of organizing documents exist. For example, tools exist to search for documents both on the Internet and locally based upon content. Once a document is identified and retrieved, automatic summarization techniques, such as the Reader's Helper™ help the reader to find as well as assimilate the information he or she wants more quickly. The Reader's Helper is described in a commonly owned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/995,616, entitled AUTOMATIC ADAPTIVE DOCUMENT HELP SYSTEM, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
While efforts to create personal agents for reading online documents represent significant contributions to the field in their own right, many readers continue to seek easier ways to organize and locate documents of interest. What is needed is a graphical user interface that provides the user an easy and efficient system for manipulating and organizing documents in a computer system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A graphical user interface that presents document organization in terms of objects readily familiar to the user is provided by the present invention. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for managing documents in a computer system includes a step of producing a representation of a document that indicates to the user the contents of the document. A step of associating the representation with the document in the memory of the computer is also part of the method. The method includes a step of displaying a metaphorical document closet image on the display. The document closet image can include a plurality of document images. A step of selecting a document image from the document closet in response to an input from the user is also part of the method. The method can also include turning the document image selected for display to the user so
Bayerl Raymond J.
Ricoh Company Limited
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
Vu Kieu D.
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