An authoring environment for creating and/or editing user interface elements such as widgets used in a unified interest layer. The authoring environment facilitates creation of widgets that have a consistent appearance and mechanism, and allows third-party developers to easily create widgets that have a look and feel that is consistent with a predefined set of widgets.

Widget authoring and editing environment

A user-activatable dashboard (also referred to as a unified interest layer) contains any number of user interface elements, referred to herein as “widgets,” for quick access by a user. In response to a command from a user, the dashboard is invoked and the widgets are shown on the screen. The user can activate the dashboard at any time, causing the dashboard to temporarily replace the existing user interface display on the user's screen. Once the dashboard has been activated, the user can interact with any or all of the widgets, and can configure the dashboard by adding, deleting, moving, or configuring individual widgets as desired. When the user wishes to return to the normal user interface he or she was working with, the user issues a command causing the dashboard to be dismissed. Once the dashboard has been dismissed, the previous user interface state is restored, allowing the user to resume normal interactions with the operating system.

Unified interest layer for user interface

Magnetic-field generating elements or magnetic-field detecting elements are fixed into an insertion part having elasticity, which is inserted into a subject, by an insulating material while ensuring that forms of the respective magnetic-field generating elements or the respective magnetic-field detecting elements are not changed. Even when the insertion part is bent, there is no change in either the function of magnetic-field generation or the function of magnetic-field detection. Magnetic-field detecting elements or magnetic-field generating elements which are arranged at known positions around the subject are combined with each other to calculate three-dimensional positions of the magnetic-field generating elements or the magnetic-field detecting elements within the insertion part. Further, a form of the insertion part is estimated, and a three-dimensional image corresponding to a form of the insertion part is produced. Moreover, a three-dimensional image is projected onto a screen surface to display a stereoscopic image corresponding to the form of the insertion part.

Endoscope form detecting apparatus in which coil is fixedly mounted by insulating member so that form is not deformed within endoscope

A dashboard manager can be used to create, manage and deploy dashboards. Each dashboard can include one or more user interface elements (“widgets”). The dashboard manager can be invoked for providing a variety of management functions. In another aspect, dashboards, widgets and other content can be bundled together and distributed to users over a distribution channel. Users can created custom bundles using a tool that is provided for such purpose.

Management and generation of dashboards

Dashboards and widgets are tailored for use with a variety of devices having different capabilities. In some implementations, a device includes a touch-sensitive display and a processor operatively coupled to the display. The processor is operable for presenting a widget on the display in response to touch input. The widget is capable of displaying dynamic behavior determined by a scripting language file associated with the widget. The display can be multi-touch-sensitive.

Dashboards, widgets and devices

A graphics editor generates an Appearance Construction Graph (ACG) which represents an image formation process as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). The ACG image transformation operations (transforms), and outputs (viewable images--sinks) which can be displayed, for example, in a window of a display screen, and manipulated to construct and edit complex images. Accordingly, the displayed ACG is a user interface that permits complex graphics images to be constructed in a straightforward manner, and thus easily understood and manipulated (edited) by an operator. The nodes in the ACG are selectively interconnected by links (edges). The complex image represented by the ACG can be constructed and displayed in a viewer window on the display screen by "running" the ACG. The graphics editor "runs" the ACG by performing operations on the image fragments as defined by the interconnected nodes of the ACG. When the ACG is "run", each output (or viewer) node displays its image in a viewer window which is automatically created.

Image generator using a graphical flow diagram with automatic generation of output windows

A graphics editor generates an appearance construction graph (ACG) which represents an image formation process as a directed acyclic graph (DAG). The ACG includes nodes representing image fragments (sources), image transformation operations (transforms), and outputs (viewable images - sinks) which can be displayed, for example, in a window of a display screen, and manipulated to construct and edit complex images. Accordingly, the displayed ACG is a user interface that permits complex graphics images to be constructed in a straightforward manner, and thus easily understood and manipulated (edited) by an operator. The nodes in the ACG are selectively interconnected by links (edges) therebetween. The complex image represented by the ACG can be constructed and displayed in a viewer window on the display screen by "running" the ACG. The graphics editor "runs" the ACG by performing operations on image fragments as defined by the interconnected nodes of the ACG.

Daniel Eli Rabin

Papers

Image generator using a graphical flow diagram with automatic generation of output windows

Electronic image generation