Abstract:
A parallel graphical user interface (“GUI”) according to the present invention permits use of display spaces having aspect ratios greater than or equal to 3:1. In one example, a parallel GUI includes discrete cartridges which may be added, modified or deleted permitting user specific organization of the cartridges and the functions/links thereon. In another example, a preferred embodiment uses a dial tuning metaphor. A plurality of cartridges compose a bar and each cartridge may be displayed singularly by rotating the bar. Actuation of a selection device such as a button on a cartridge may initiate an application, document, file, utility, network link or simply rotation of the bar.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/135,385 filed May 21, 1999Expired, where this provisional application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to computer user interfaces and more specifically to a parallel graphical user interface for a digital computer. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The advent of the computer age saw users struggling with text based interfaces to manage and use a computer. The introduction of graphical user interfaces simplified computer use and prompted many people to buy and use computers. Generally, a computer has a single “primary” graphical user interface and all other programs run under it. As computer processor speed and complexity has increased it has become possible for computers and their displays to handle more and more tasks simultaneously as illustrated by the growth of multitasking applications. There is no more reason for a computer user to be limited to a single graphical user interface for computer control and interaction. 
     What is needed is a parallel graphical user interface that may be used with conventional user interfaces to allow a computer user to exploit the capability of conventional displays and processors with a minimal impact on the functionality of the conventional user interfaces. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In a first aspect, the present invention includes a parallel graphical user interface (GUI) modeled as a dial tuning metaphor. This provides an intuitive interface that remains useable in spaces with high aspect ratios for convenient use in parallel with another more conventional GUI to increase the efficiency of a users computer experience. 
     In another aspect of the present invention, a GUI according to the present invention may operate in display areas having aspect ratios of 3:1 or greater. 
     These and other features and advantages of this invention will become further apparent from the detailed description and accompanying figures that follow. In the figures and description, numerals indicate the various features of the invention, like numerals referring to like features throughout both the drawings and the description. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example computer apparatus according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a line drawing of an example parallel GUI according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a simplified example of a menu tree according to the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is a line drawing of an example parallel GUI with an accessory container or cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIGS. 5-14 are example screen images from an example parallel GUI. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, the general architecture of a digital computer system  10  for implementing the present invention is shown. The present invention may be implemented in any electronic device presenting a GUI on a display for user control and interaction. Processor  12  may be any conventional digital computer processor running any appropriate conventional operating system such as the Windows 98™ operating system (Windows 98™ is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Washington). System software  14  may be stored on storage unit  16  which may be any conventional storage device such as an internal fixed disk drive or any other conventional device. Also preferably stored on storage unit  16  may be parallel GUI software  18  as described in greater detail below. An interactive user input, where referenced below, may be provided via any standard input peripherals such as keyboard  20  and/or mouse  22 . Graphical output created by processor  12  under control of GUI software  18  may be transmitted to any conventional display device such as video monitor  24  for display to users; equivalently, output may also be transmitted to any conventional hard copy output device to generate conventional hard copy output such as printer  13 . Computer system  10  may also be connected to a network such as network  15 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 2, display area  26  includes a parallel GUI  28  according to the present invention. Display area  26  may be located anywhere on screen  24 S of video monitor  24 . For example, with long axis L oriented horizontally display area  26  may be located adjacent edge  24 T or edge  24 B. Alternatively, with long axis L oriented vertically, display area  26  may be located adjacent edge  24 L or edge  24 R. 
     Aspect ratio  34  of parallel GUI  28  is the relationship between dimension  32  measured along long axis L and dimension  30  expressed as 34:1 where aspect ratio  34  is determined by equation  36 . 
       36  →Aspect ratio  34 =dimension  32 ÷dimension  30   
     According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, parallel GUI  28  includes bar  38  surrounded by area  28 A. Bar  38  may include one or more containers or cartridges such as cartridge  86  of FIG.  3 . Area  28 A may be any color, in one preferred embodiment, area  28 A is black. Bar  38  may be composed of separate elements such as title area  40 , one or more help areas such as help area  42  and or help area  56 , one or more rotators such as rotator  44  and or rotator  48 , and one or more buttons such as button  46 , button  50 , ticker  52  and button  54 . A button may be depressible such as button  46  or non-depressible such as button  40 . A depressible button such as button  46  may perform an associated action and display highlighting when selected and clicked on using any conventional pointing device such as mouse  22 . A non-depressible button such as button  40  may act as a label and or initiate apparent rotation of the elements of bar  38  to the right of button  40  along with all the associated sound, apparent motion, and highlighting as described below. 
     Examples of some of the possible behaviors of bar  38  are now described. 
     During a ‘mouse over’ condition, that is when a pointer such as arrow  64  is moved over a depressible button such as button  46 , the appearance of button frame  62  may be changed such as by changing its color and thus the apparent intensity of emitted light. The change evoked in a button frame such as button frame  62  may be localized to a portion of the button frame such as comer  62 A. In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention, a ‘mouse over’ condition causes light to apparently emit from the lower left comer of the button frame such as comer  62 B. 
     Clicking on or ‘mouse down’ condition of a depressible button such as button  46  may evoke apparent movement of the button and or apparent lighting changes adjacent the effected button. In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention, ‘mouse down’ of a depressible button such as button  46  causes button  46  to apparently move into bar  38  and an apparent increase of light from behind button frame  62 . Apparent motion and light emission changes may be accomplished by any conventional means. 
     Following a click on or ‘mouse down’ condition of a depressible button such as button  46  a ‘mouse up’ condition is initiated thus completing a button selection cycle. A ‘mouse up’ condition may initiate an action such a hyperlink or launch an application associated with the acting button such as button  46 . Additionally, a ‘mouse up’ condition may cause a button such as button  46  to reverse the apparent motion caused by the prior ‘mouse down’ condition, thus as in the prior example, button  46  apparently springs back out of bar  38  into alignment with bar  38 . At the conclusion of a button selection cycle, a highlighting change of a selected button may also be included. In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention, a post selection highlighting is the same as the earlier described ‘mouse over’ highlighting and is maintained until another button such as button  54  is selected or some other action within parallel GUI  28  is initiated. 
     Actuation of a complete button selection cycle on a non-depressible button such as button  50 , a title button such as title area  40 , or on a rotator such as rotator  44  may initiate rotation about long axis L of the display area. In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention a click of right mouse button  22 R initiates rotation of  38  in a first direction D and a click of left mouse button  22 L initiates rotation of  38  in a second direction U, opposite first direction D. 
     Accompanying a complete button selection cycle as described above, sound may be used to enhance the experience and thus heighten the similarity of a virtual metaphor to a real 3-dimensional device. In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention, sound  66  may issue from computer system  10 , sound  66  may resemble a sound or sounds issued from a real device such as a subtle mechanical click. Any other appropriate sound or sounds may also be used. 
     A non-depressible button such as button  50  may be used a title button or a placeholder, and thus may not invoke a utility, URL or any other function if subjected to a complete button selection cycle. Accordingly, no highlighting or other special indicia would accompany a ‘mouse over’ condition of a non-depressible button such as button  50 . In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, a non-depressible button such as button  50  may include the functionality of a rotator such as rotator  44  or  48 . Thus a complete button selection cycle on such a non-depressible button would result in the apparent rotation of non-depressible button  50  and all the elements of bar  38  to its right such as ticker  52  and button  60 . 
     Tickers such as ticker  52  may be dynamic reading areas within a cartridge such as cartridge  86  as shown in FIG.  3 . Scrolling updateable text such as text  53  can be displayed and the text reading area can also be dynamically linked to launchy an application or URL. A ticker such as ticker  52  may be as long as a single button or any combination of multiple buttons. The text such as text  53  that is displayed may be scrolling or otherwise made to move through ticker window  52 A. In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention text enters ticker window  52 A at right side  52 R and scrolls to the left to left side  52 L. The scrolling text such as text  53  may repeat in a loop at the end of the text string. Ticker text such as text  53  may be updated locally or over a network such as network  15 . A ticker such as ticker  52  may activate a hyperlink through a network such as network  15  when ticker  52  is clicked on, or subjected to a complete button cycle. 
     Referring now to FIG. 3, an example of a menu tree that may be displayed and accessed through parallel GUI  28  is shown. Menu  70  includes title bands  72 ,  74 ,  76 ,  78  and  80  which correspond to title area  40 , button  46 , button  50 , ticker  52  and button  54  respectively. Rotators  44  and  48  are represented by bands  82  and  84  respectively. In this example, title area  40  includes  6  containers or cartridges, cartridges  86 ,  87 ,  88 ,  89 ,  90  and cartridge  91 . Many more cartridges and titles may be available, the number of cartridges or titles available may only be limited by the resources of the computer. Cartridges such as cartridge  90  or cartridge  91  may include accessories such as a web browser or media player or any other accessory. Accessories for a cartridge such as cartridge  90  may be installed for use with system software  14 , or they may be components of parallel GUI software  18 , or they may be available via a network such as network  15 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 4, parallel GUI  28  is shown with accessory cartridge  90  visible. Accessory cartridge  90  may include function specific actuators such as fast forward or next track for a CD player. A section of accessory cartridge  90  or any other cartridge selected may also be dedicated to a single function such as web browser  92 , to permit the browser to remain visible at all times that parallel GUI software  18  is running. 
     Cartridges such as cartridges  86 - 91  may be pre-loaded with links and accessories. Alternatively, the elements or buttons of a cartridge may be blank for loading by a user. User cartridge(s) may include access to applications, documents, files, or network links such as URLs and or embedded functions. Some embedded functions which may be launched from a cartridge may include, for example, a browser, an MP 3  player, instant messaging, trading notices for marketplace functions, alerts for auction results and or trades, agent checking regarding price comparison searches. User items such as, for example, applications, documents, files, or network links may be added to a user button via any conventional method such as copy and paste or drag and drop functions of system software  14  or of any web browser. In addition, the button may include access to an application which interprets text that is entered into an area on the button itself. In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention user buttons may be renamed or cleared in any conventional manner. 
     A parallel GUI such as parallel GUI  28  may also include a help function. Help screens or menus may be implemented in any conventional manner. A map of the contents and organization of bar  38  may be provided in the form of a menu or tree such as menu  70  of FIG.  3 . Menu  70  and other help screens may extend from display area  26  in any conventional manner. In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention in which menu  70  is visible extending away from edge  26 T thus allowing bar  38  to remain visible, actuation of a complete button cycle on a title such as title  87 C will initiate rotation of bar  38  to bring cartridge  87  and title  87 C to visibility on bar  38 . 
     In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention display area  26  includes  4  preset actuators  94 . Activation of a complete button cycle on an actuator such as actuator  96  will rotate bar  38  to a pre-selected position. A user may initially load, change or delete a preset setting associated with an actuator such as actuator  96 . 
     Parallel GUI software  18  may also include a screen saver component such as idle component  96 . If parallel GUI  28  is notified that system software  14  is in idle, rather than blanking display area  26  as in some conventional techniques, parallel GUI  28  may auto rotate through all possible cartridge displays of menu  70 . When system software  14  returns to active mode, bar  38  will automatically return to the last active position prior to idle. 
     If parallel GUI  28  is oriented with a title cartridge such as cartridge  86  with title  86 A visible on title area  40 , a complete button cycle of title area  40  as described above may result in apparent rotation of bar  38  and thus display an adjacent cartridge such as cartridge  87  or cartridge  85  (not shown). Title area  40  may also include all buttons and rotators to the right of title area  40  as well. In an alternate embodiment, a complete button cycle of title area  40  changes the visible title such as title  86  and apparently rotates elements of bar  38  to the right of title area  40  such as rotator  44 , rotator  48 , button  46 , button  50 , ticker  52  and button  54 . The result of changing a cartridge and thus the title visible in title area  40  is that as cartridge  87  is visible, title  87 A may be visible as well as a set of it&#39;s subordinate titles such as titles  87 B,  87 C,  87 D and  87 E. Additional cycling of title area  40  will result in display of additional cartridges and thus additional titles of band  72  such as titles  88 A and  89 A. 
     If title  89 A is visible in band  72 , execution of a complete button cycle on rotator  44  corresponding to band  82  will cause apparent rotation of bar  38  at button  46  corresponding to band  74  including everything to the right of button  46 . Subsequent button cycles of a rotator such as rotator  44  cause titles which appear on button  46  to sequentially cycle through titles  89 B,  89 C,  89 D,  89 E and  89 F with a new title appearing after each button cycle. 
     In a currently preferred embodiment of the present invention a merge function may be included to allow cartridges such as cartridges  86 - 91  to be added to an existing parallel GUI such as parallel GUI  28 . A cartridge such as cartridge  86  may be added or merged with any existing cartridges in a parallel GUI such as parallel GUI  28  using any conventional technique such as copy and paste or drag and drop. A merged cartridge such as cartridge  86  may be added between any two adjacent cartridges such as cartridges  88  and  89 . Similarly, existing cartridges may be reordered using a conventional sort function. 
     New cartridges may be merged or added to an existing parallel GUI from any conventional media such as magnetic storage media, optical storage media, or from network resources such as the Internet, or any local or intranet network. A delete and or a sort function may also be included to permit a user to organize or personalize a bar such as bar  38  in parallel GUI according to their own wishes consistent with parallel GUI software  18 . 
     Although specific embodiments of, and examples for the present invention are described herein for illustrative purposes, it is not intended that the invention be limited to these embodiments. Equivalent methods, structures, processes, steps, and other modifications within the spirit of the invention fall within the scope of the invention. Also, those skilled in this art will understand how to make changes and modifications to the present invention to meet their specific requirements or conditions. For example, the teachings provided herein of the present invention can be applied to other types of computer systems, including those that control non-integrated display surfaces. Also, for example, the teachings provided herein can be applied to other types of user interface elements and other behaviors of such user interface elements. In addition, the teachings may be applied to other types of devices that have display surfaces and other organizations of computer operating systems and environments. These and other changes may be made to the invention in light of the above detailed description. Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the disclosure and is set forth in the following claims.