Showing papers on "Graphical user interface published in 2000"

System and method for simultaneous display of multiple information sources

Abstract: A computerized method of presenting information from a variety of sources on a display device. Specifically the present invention describes a graphical user interface for organizing the simultaneous display of information from a multitude of information sources. In particular, the present invention comprises a graphical user interface which organizes content from a variety of information sources into a grid of tiles, each of which can refresh its content independently of the others. The grid functionality manages the refresh rates of the multiple information sources. The present invention is intended to operate in a platform independent manner.

Instrumental interaction: an interaction model for designing post-WIMP user interfaces

Abstract: This article introduces a new interaction model called Instrumental Interaction that extends and generalizes the principles of direct manipulation. It covers existing interaction styles, including traditional WIMP interfaces, as well as new interaction styles such as two-handed input and augmented reality. It defines a design space for new interaction techniques and a set of properties for comparing them. Instrumental Interaction describes graphical user interfaces in terms of domain objects and interaction instruments. Interaction between users and domain objects is mediated by interaction instruments, similar to the tools and instruments we use in the real world to interact with physical objects. The article presents the model, applies it to describe and compare a number of interaction techniques, and shows how it was used to create a new interface for searching and replacing text.

Distributed electronic entertainment method and apparatus

Abstract: A distributed electronic entertainment method and apparatus are described. In one embodiment, a central management resource is coupled to multiple out-of-home venues through a wide area network (WAN). The central management resource stores content and performs management, monitoring and entertainment content delivery functions. At each venue at least one entertainment unit is coupled to the WAN. Multiple entertainment units in a venue are coupled to each other through a local area network (LAN). In one embodiment, an entertainment unit includes a user interface that comprises at least one graphical user interface (GUI). The entertainment unit further comprises a local memory device that stores entertainment content comprising music, a peripheral interface, and a user input device. A plurality of peripheral devices are coupled to the at least one entertainment unit via the peripheral interface, wherein a user, through the user input device and the user interface, performs at least one activity from a group comprising, playing music, playing electronic games, viewing television content, and browsing the Internet.

User interface for providing consolidation and access

Abstract: Methods and systems for providing graphical user interfaces are described. To provide greater access and consolidation to frequently used items in the graphical user interface, a userbar is established which includes a plurality of item representations. To permit a greater number of items to reside in the userbar, a magnification function can be provided which magnifies items within the userbar when they are proximate the cursor associated with the graphical user interface.

System and method for communicating selected information to an electronic device

Abstract: Disclosed are a system and method for communicating selected information to an electronic device. The disclosed system may include a digital engine operable to maintain data representing the selected information in a digital format. In some embodiments, the digital engine may be communicatively coupled to a graphical user interface that allows a user to identify the selected information. The system may also include a communication engine communicatively coupled to the digital engine, the communication engine may be operable to wirelessly communicate the data representing the selected information to an electronic device.

A flexible transparent touch sensing system for electronic devices

Abstract: A transparent, capacitive sensing system particularly well suited for input to electronic devices is described. The sensing system can be used to emulate physical buttons or slider switches that are either displayed on an active display device or printed on an underlying surface. The capacitive sensor can further be used as an input device for a graphical user interface, especially if overlaid on top of an active display device like an LCD screen to sense finger position (X/Y position) and contact area (Z) over the display. In addition, the sensor can be made with flexible material for touch sensing on a three-dimensional surface. Because the sensor is substantially transparent, the underlying surface can be viewed through the sensor. This allows the underlying area to be used for alternative applications that may not necessarily be related to the sensing system. Examples include advertising, an additional user interface display, or apparatus such as a camera or a biometric security device.

System and method for dynamic assistance in software applications using behavior and host application models

Abstract: A Cooperative Help Assistance (CHA) system and method provide real-time user assistance for one or more windows-based Graphic User Interface (GUI) applications or a single application's different subsections such as web pages, running concurrently in any operating system. The CHA System enables the development of an informative assistance object independently from the original source code or development environment of the target Host Application. The assistance object can be selected by any number of user interfaces from sophisticated inference driven interactive interface search tools or categorized lists. By intercepting and monitoring user actions on a Host Application, the CHA system performs intelligent assistance in the context of the target host application program. Utilizing a Host Application Model, the CHA System and method dynamically assemble many elements in real-time or just-in-time to produce assistance sequences or elements very efficiently without having to code every interface path permutation. Paths can be dynamically generated from the Host Application Model, which enables a real-time module to offer intelligent, contextual assistance as well as real-time construction of automated, accelerated CHA Sequences or Procedures that require little or no user interaction. All assistance and information are processed and expressed by an extensive multitasking, multimedia subsystem for two dimensional (2D) and real-time three-dimensional (3D) application interfaces, which greatly enhances and extends the effectiveness of any explanation or material expression. The production of Assistant Sequences is facilitated by the Host Application Model and 2D and 3D GUI “drag and drop” interface tools.

Dynamic market equilibrium management system, process and article of manufacture

Abstract: A dynamic market equilibrium management system is especially adapted for the sale of goods and services through an online buying group (referred to herein as a "co-op`) formed for the specific purpose of purchasing a particular product at (102) by defining a start time, end time, critical mass, any minimum number of units offered, any maximum number of units offered, starting price and product cost curve. As data is gathered from buyers, by means of their making binding purchase offers, the co-op is modified at (108) using the market equilibrium manager, so as to take into account market forces such as supply and demand for the item to be sold and their interrelationship with the purchase price for such item. When used with the online buying group, the dynamic market equilibrium management system permits dynamic, real time yield management decisions based on true market data. A graphical user interface receives user inputs for directly manipulating graphical display of data from a database on a display device and displays feedback dependent variable data on the display device, such as in the form of a changed numerical value in response to the user moving at least one data point in the graphical display.

Method and system for controlling a complementary user interface on a display surface

Abstract: An alternate display content controller provides a technique for controlling a video display separately from and in addition to the content displayed on the operating system display surface. Where the display is a computer monitor, the alternate display content controller interacts with the computer utility operating system and hardware drivers to control allocation of display space and create and control one or more parallel graphical user interfaces adjacent the operating system desktop. An alternate display content controller may be incorporated in either hardware or software. As software, an alternate display content controller may be an application running on the computer operating system, or may include an operating system kernel of varying complexity ranging from dependent on the utility operating system for hardware system services to a parallel system independent of the utility operating system and capable of supporting dedicated applications. The alternate display content controller may also include content and operating software delivered over the internet or any other LAN. The alternate display content controller may also be included in a television decoder/settop box to permit two or more parallel graphical user interfaces to be displayed simultaneously.

Communication device and software for operating multimedia applications

Abstract: The present invention relates to a communication device and a software for operating multimedia applications in one or more communication networks, with a computing manager unit (52) for managing and providing multimedia applications on the basis of a communication with one or more communication devices in the one or more communication networks, whereby the computing manager unit (52) controls a device discovery manager unit (58) for detecting the availability of one or more devices and/or one or more communication networks, a service discovery manager unit (56) for providing available services from and/or for said one or more communication networks, and a virtual device manager unit (60) providing a graphical user interface for controlling devices and/or services of the one or more communication networks. The present invention particularly enables mobile multimedia applications to effectively use mobile ad-hoc networks in a simple and effective way.

Jazz: an extensible zoomable user interface graphics toolkit in Java

Abstract: : In this paper the authors investigate the use of scene graphs as a general approach for implementing two-dimensional (2D) graphical applications, and in particular Zoomable User Interfaces (ZUIs) Scene graphs are typically found in three-dimensional (3D) graphics packages such as Sun's Java3D and SGI's OpenInventor They have not been widely adopted by 2D graphical user interface toolkits To explore the effectiveness of scene graph techniques, the authors have developed Jazz, a general-purpose 2D scene graph toolkit Jazz is implemented in Java using Java2D, and runs on all platforms that support Java 2 This paper describes Jazz and the lessons we learned using Jazz for ZUIs It also discusses how 2D scene graphs can be applied to other application areas (5 figures, 27 refs)

Data entry for personal computing devices

Abstract: In one aspect of the present invention the user can rapidly enter and search for text using a data entry system through a combination of entering one or more characters on a digitally displayed keyboard with a pointing device and using a search list to obtain a list of completion candidates. The user can activate the search list to obtain a list of completion candidates at any time while entering a partial text entry with the data entry system. When the search list is active, a list of completion candidates is displayed on a graphical user interface for the user to select from and the user can perform one of several actions. The user can deactivate the search list and return to modifying the current partial text entry and other text. The user can select one of the completion candidates in the search list and use the selected completion candidate to replace the partial text entry which the user is currently entering. When the user deactivates the interactive search list, the user can immediately continue adding to or modifying the current partial text entry being entered, and may re-invoke the search list to further search for completion candidates based on the modified partial text entry. In the second case, the selected completion candidate is used to replace the partial text entry that the user is currently entering, and the data entry system begins monitoring for a new partial text entry from the user.

Medical apparatus using selective graphical interface

Abstract: A programmable medical device, such as an infusion pump, is programmed or configured to display, or make, as active, only those keys which can provide valid input during each particular programming or operational step. Similarly, a remote controller for controlling a programmable medical device is programmed or configured to display, or make, as active, only those keys which can provide valid input during each particular programming or operational step.

System and method for delivering a graphical user interface of remote applications over a thin bandwidth connection

Abstract: A method and system are disclosed for delivering interactive links for presenting applications and second information at a client computer from remote sources in a network-configured computer processing system. In one embodiment, the method includes retrieving over a first communication connection, in response to a request of a client computer, informational content having computer program code embedded therein, and executing the embedded computer program code for establishing a second communication connection to an application server. The method further includes retrieving over the second communication connection first information including presentational information for presenting the application and the second information. The method also includes presenting the application and the second information based upon the presentational information, and storing on the client computer an interactive link for selectively re-establishing the second communication connection to the application server for retrieving the first information and presenting the application and the second information on an as-needed basis. Preferably, the storing of the interactive link includes downloading a graphical representation of the interactive link and storing a file containing information representing an operating environment of the client computer and a network address of the application server.

Modal display, smooth scroll graphic user interface and remote command device suitable for efficient navigation and selection of dynamic data/options presented within an audio/visual system

Abstract: The efficient and intuitive presentation, navigation, and selection of AV information in a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on a display apparatus of an AV system. Related AV information is organized as items within lists that correspond to various navigable fields of a status bar of the GUI during the GUI interactive mode. A highlighted navigable field of the status bar displays its list of related AV information and the items of the list are scrolled through the navigable field by a user causing a scrolling cylinder of a navigation and selection device to move in a scroll. A different field of the status bar may be selected by the user moving the scrolling cylinder in a lateral movement. Activation of the selection mechanism of the navigation and selection device will cause an AV device to be controlled in accordance with the currently displayed AV options.

System and method for accessing, manipulating and viewing internet and non-internet related information and for controlling networked devices

Abstract: Fig. 1 shows a system and method which are disclosed for accessing, generating, presenting and manipulating Internet and non-Internet related information, data, and content, including information netcast over the Internet (10). The system is also capable of controlling operatively connected, privately networked devices (11-12). A number of graphical user interfaces are time and topic oriented, are customizable by the user, and allow for the manipulation of information, data, content and operatively connected networked devices from the graphical interfaces themselves. The system is preferably enhanced through the use of an intelligent, dynamically updated user profile that is fully integrated with the system.

Computer user interfaces that are generated as needed

Abstract: A computer user interface generation system and method is disclosed, wherein computer user interfaces can be generated dynamically during activation of the computer application for which the generated user interface provides user access to the functional features of the application. The generated user interface may be a graphical user interface (GUI) that uses instances of various user interaction techniques. A user interface specification is provided in a configuration database for generating the user interface, and by changing the user interface specification in the configuration database, the user interface for the computer application can be changed during activation of the application.

Generating test cases for GUI responsibilities using complete interaction sequences

Abstract: Testing graphical user interfaces (GUI) is a difficult problem due to the fact that the GUI possesses a large number of states to be tested, the input space is extremely large due to different permutations of inputs and events which affect the GUI, and complex GUI dependencies which may exist. There has been little systematic study of this problem yielding a resulting strategy which is effective and scalable. The proposed method concentrates upon user sequences of GUI objects and selections which collaborate, called complete interaction sequences (CIS), that produce a desired response for the user. A systematic method to test these CIS utilizes a finite-state model to generate tests. The required tests can be substantially reduced by identifying components of the CIS that can be tested separately. Since consideration is given to defects totally within each CIS, and the components reduce required testing further, this approach is scalable. An empirical investigation of this method shows that substantial reduction in tests can still detect the defects in the GUI. Future research will prioritize testing related to the CIS testing for maximum benefit if testing time is limited.

System and method for creating validation rules used to confirm input data

Abstract: A graphical user interface is provided for creating a set of validation rules. A form is represented in a tree structure with nodes representing fields to be filled out in the form. Rules are added to the fields using a dialog box and are represented as subnodes of fields. Expressions are added to the rules as subnodes of the rules through a menu. The completed tree structure is translated into a set of validation rules.

Comprehensive, multi-dimensional graphical user interface using picture metadata for navigating and retrieving pictures in a picture database

Abstract: A comprehensive, multi-dimensional graphical user interface (GUI) using metadata provides for multiple methods and displays for browsing and retrieving pictures in a picture database. The main level display 100 , which is linked to other level displays has in the preferred embodiment, a hierarchical picture grouping iconic region ( 104 ) with directories and files containing pictures in the database, a main display area ( 102 ) for displaying pictures, thumbnails and graphical browsers, a picture content iconic region ( 106 ) according to predefined content categories and picture metadata, and a graphical browser region ( 108 ) having indicia of the graphical browsers utilized by the GUI. In addition to the main level ( 100 ), the present-inventive GUI also has a number of display levels linked to the main display level ( 100 ) via one or more icons ( 104, 106, 108 and 110 ) in the main display level.

On-demand presentation graphical user interface

Abstract: A graphical user interface (“GUI”) is described comprising: a video region for displaying a video of a presenter giving a presentation; a primary slide region for displaying slides used by the presenter during the presentation; and a thumbnail region containing thumbnails representing slides in the presentation, the thumbnails selectable by a user via a cursor control device.

User interface with dynamic menu option organization

Abstract: A graphical user interface for a data processing device or system has a plurality of menu options arranged in multiple pages. The menu options are dynamically distributed among the pages in accordance with a user history to reduce the effort of user-navigation among the options. A dynamically adaptable GUI is relevant to remote controls, Internet portals or e-commerce sites.

User interface declarative models and development environments: a survey

Abstract: Model-Based User Interface Development Environments (MB-UIDEs) provide a context within which user interface declarative models can be constructed and related, as part of the user interface design process. This paper provides a review of MB-UIDE technologies. A framework for describing the elements of a MB-UIDE is presented. A representative collection of 14 MB-UIDEs are selected, described in terms of the framework, compared and analysed from the information available in the literature. The framework can be used as an introduction to the MB-UIDE technology since it relates and provides a description for the terms used in MB-UIDE papers.

Graphic user interface display method

Abstract: A method of displaying graphic user interface layouts including the steps of accessing a data repository storing an instruction set for constructing a graphic user interface layout through a network connection, rendering the graphic user interface layout associated with the instruction set and reducing the graphic user interface layout to a bitmap image. Once the graphics and text are laid out, the screen display is reduced to a bitmap image and associated with a uniform resource locator string. When a search query that retrieves the uniform resource locator string, the bitmap image and the uniform resource locator string are displayed to the end-user. As an alternative to displaying the actual text of the resource locator string, it may be embedded as an image hyperlink.

Automated test oracles for GUIs

Abstract: Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) are critical components of today's software. Because GUIs have different characteristics than traditional software, conventional testing techniques do not apply to GUI software. In previous work, we presented an approach to generate GUI test cases, which take the form of sequences of actions. In this paper we develop a test oracle technique to determine if a GUI behaves as expected for a given test case. Our oracle uses a formal model of a GUI, expressed as sets of objects, object properties, and actions. Given the formal model and a test case, our oracle automatically derives the expected state for every action in the test case. We represent the actual state of an executing GUI in terms of objects and their properties derived from the GUI's execution. Using the actual state acquired from an execution monitor, our oracle automatically compares the expected and actual states after each action to verify the correctness of the GUI for the test case. We implemented the oracle as a component in our GUI testing system, called Planning Assisted Tester for grapHical user interface Systems (PATHS), which is based on AI planning. We experimentally evaluated the practicality and effectiveness of our oracle technique and report on the results of experiments to test and verify the behavior of our version of the Microsoft WordPad's GUI.

RSES and RSESlib - A Collection of Tools for Rough Set Computations

Abstract: Rough Set Exploration System - a set of software tools featuring a library of methods and a graphical user interface is presented. Methods, features and abilities of the implemented software are discussed and illustrated with a case study in data analysis.

Program-development environment for use in generating application programs

Abstract: The present invention relates to a program-development environment that allows developers to seamlessly switch between a visual programming paradigm and a textual programming paradigm, thereby permitting developers to choose the paradigm best suited for creating each aspect of the desired program. A graphical user interface (GUI) may be generated by the program-development environment, and displayed on the screen of a computer system. The GUI has several elements including a form window and a designer window. The form window is configured to receive one or more control objects selected by the developer, and the designer window is configured to display a symbolic representation of those control objects placed in the form window. According to the invention, these symbols can be linked together by the developer in the form of a data flow or block diagram that logically represents the flow of data and control information into, out of, and between the selected control objects, and that corresponds to the application program being generated. In response to such graphical inputs, the program-development environment generates event handler procedures or code for use with the application program being developed. The program-development environment additionally affords the developer, preferably through the use of a selectively displayable code window, the ability to provide or modify event handlers textually.

Displaying graphical objects

Abstract: Aspects of the present invention relate to a method of controlling the appearance of a graphical object in a graphical user interface In an embodiment of an aspect of the invention, an object, such as a widget, in a graphical user interface comprises an instance of a widget class in which arr defined properties and/or methods which control operation of the object; and an associated instance of a look object class in which are defined properties and/or methods which control the look of the object

Automatic generation of programs with GUI controls for interactively setting or viewing values

Abstract: A system and method for automatically (i.e., programmatically) generating a computer program based on program information, such as a prototype, wherein the program includes a graphical user interface (GUI) for specifying input values to or viewing output values from the program. The prototype may comprise a series of functional operations. One or more input and/or output parameters may be associated with each functional operation. In response to a user's request for a program implementing the prototype to be automatically generated, a list of parameters associated with the operations included in the prototype may be displayed. The user may select from the displayed list the input parameters which are desired to be interactively changeable. In response, the program may be generated such that the program has a graphical user interface including a user interface control associated with each selected input parameter.

Javascript Calendar Application Delivered to a Web Browser

Abstract: The present invention is a calendaring system implemented as a JavaScript application for program execution on individual Internet browsers alter being downloaded by a webserver. The JavaScript application generates HTML on-the-fly and a graphical user interface is displayed on a user's screen. The result is an interactive scheduling system that can be shared between users on the Internet.