Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-09
2002-05-21
Chang, Kent (Department: 2673)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S163000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06392676
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for displaying a mouse pointer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pointing devices are used to indicate locations on computer screens and of the available pointing devices, the most popular is the mouse. Since a mouse is small and light and provides excellent results, it is ideal for use with an operating system (OS) or “application” programs under a GUI (Graphical User Interface).
With the Internet is expanding rapidly, day by day, the amount of information available on it increases drastically. As a result, users of the Internet must be prepared to process an enormous quantity of data within a relatively short period of time. To improve the conditions under which such processing is performed, enhanced functions have been added to the mouse to improve its efficiency.
An example of an enhanced mouse is shown in FIG.
5
.
FIG.
5
(
a
) is a top view of the mouse and FIG.
5
(
b
) is a side view. A mouse
1
includes a main body
2
, a left button
3
and a right button
4
, which are formed on a portion of the main body
2
, and a ball
5
that projects downward from the bottom of the main body
2
. This arrangement corresponds to that of a conventional mouse. The enhanced mouse
1
, however, also includes a wheel
6
positioned between the left button
3
and the right button
4
. The wheel
6
is a disk generally small enough that it can be manipulated by using a finger. The wheel
6
cannot only be rotated forward and backward, but can also be depressed.
FIG. 6
illustrates a window
11
opened on a computer screen. A document
12
, including sentences and figures, is displayed in the window
11
(in
FIG. 6
, the portions of the document
12
that are not actually displayed, i.e., the portions identified by N and S, are also shown). Since there are many lines in the document
12
, only some of them are displayed in the window
11
.
To read a portion of the document
12
that is not displayed in the window
11
at the present time, a scroll bar
13
is used. The scroll bar
13
has a scroll arrow
14
at its top end and a scroll arrow
15
at its bottom end. In order to scroll the display in the window
11
(to scroll up), while the mouse pointer (an arrow that moves across the screen according to the movement of the mouse and is also called a mouse cursor) is positioned on the scroll arrow
15
, the left button
3
(or the right button
4
) of the mouse is clicked (the mouse button is quickly depressed and released, one time). Normally, in response to a single click, the document
12
is scrolled up one line. That is, e.g., in
FIG. 6
, the document
12
is moved up one line from “S” toward “IN.” To scroll multiple lines at one time, a scroll box
16
in the scroll bar
13
is used. With the mouse pointer positioned on the scroll box
16
, the left button (or the right button) of the mouse is depressed. While the mouse button is held down, the mouse is moved and the scroll box
16
is shifted (downward). Then, in accordance with the distance the scroll bar
16
has been moved, the document
12
moves upward from “S” toward “N.” As a result, multiple lines are scrolled up in the window
11
.
Although only the scrolling-up operation has been explained, the scrolling-down operation is performed in the same manner. It should be noted that the scroll arrow
14
at the top end of the scroll bar
13
is used for scrolling down, and that when the scroll box
16
is used, the mouse
1
is used to move it upward. As is described above, to scroll the document
12
, the mouse pointer has to be moved and positioned on one of the small scroll arrows
14
and
15
, and this is a tiresome operation. So to obviate the need for such an operation, the enhanced mouse
1
in
FIG. 5
was introduced.
The manner in which the enhanced mouse
1
in
FIG. 5
is manipulated will now be described with reference to FIG.
6
. First, a mouse pointer
17
is positioned in the window
11
as is shown in FIG.
6
. While the mouse pointer
17
is held stationary, the wheel
6
of the mouse
1
is, e.g., rotated backward causing the document
12
to move upward from “S” toward “N.” Each rotation of the wheel
6
is divided into a predetermined number of steps and the number of lines to scroll the document
12
in each step can be typically set by using the control panel of the OS. Normally, a scrolling distance of three lines is employed.
Also allocated to the wheel
6
are functions other than scrolling, e.g., a data zoom function, which can be practically and conveniently used on the Internet for so-called net surfing, during which many pages on many Web sites are scanned. To effectively use a WWW (World Wide Web) browser for this purpose, a mouse must frequently be moved and used to click on a “back” or a “forward” button, and manipulating a mouse in this manner is a very tiresome task. But when the data zoom function is used, only the manipulation of the wheel
6
is needed to implement the “back” and “forward” functions. Since no movement of the mouse is required, a user can more fully enjoy net surfing.
As is described above, since the wheel
6
is provided for the mouse
1
in
FIG. 5
, compared with a conventional mouse, its operational capability is considerably improved. However, there are many shortcomings that have not yet been resolved. One of these limitations is the possibility that the wrong button will be depressed. The mouse
1
shown in
FIG. 5
is generally called a three-button mouse because the wheel
6
can be effectively utilized not only by rotating it, but also by depressing it. There are conventional mice that have non-rotary head third buttons instead of wheel
6
. Generally, the third button on a three-button mouse is located between the left button and the right button. The right button as well as the left button of a mouse are both frequently utilized in current OSs. As a result the third button may be mistaken for either the left or the right button and depressed erroneously.
To resolve this problem, a method is provided whereby the shape of a mouse pointer is varied when the third button is depressed. An example of a mouse for which this method has been used is the IntelliMouse (Trademark) by Microsoft Corp., a description of the operation of which follows. It should be noted that the IntelliMouse is provided with a wheel instead of a third button, analogous to the mouse in
FIG. 5
, but that in the following description the wheel is called the third button. First, an explanation will be given for an automatic scroll mode in which automatic scrolling of a document is performed. In this mode, automatic scrolling of the document is initiated by clicking the third button once and moving the mouse (rotating the ball). The scrolling speed is proportional to the distance the mouse is moved. Therefore, if the mouse is moved only a little to reduce the scrolling speed, the document will be scanned slowly. Because of this, the automatic scroll mode is also called a reading mode.
A shape of the mouse pointer provided for the IntelliMouse in the automatic scroll mode is changed as follows. When the third button (wheel) is depressed, an original shape of the mouse pointer is varied. Then, when the third button is released (i.e., when it is clicked) and the mouse has not been moved (the ball has not been rotated), the IntelliMouse enters the automatic scroll mode. Subsequently, when the mouse is moved (the ball is rotated), scrolling of the document is initiated. This scrolling continues even after movement of the mouse has ceased. That is, automatic scrolling of the document is performed. In the automatic scroll mode, the varied shape of the mouse pointer is maintained. However, when the third button is again clicked, the automatic scrolling of the document is halted. At the same time the shape of the mouse pointer returns to its original shape.
The automatic scroll mode must be supported by an application program to make it work. Therefore, in a window wherein an application program is executed that
Ihde Steven C.
Mori Hidetoshi
Shibata Eiki
Yamada Satoru
Bracewell & Patterson LLP
Chang Kent
Grosser George E.
International Business Machines - Corporation
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