Patent Publication Number: US-7714875-B2

Title: Method and apparatus for using a color table scheme for displaying information on either color or monochrome display

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 09/579,792, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING A COLOR TABLE SCHEME FOR DISPLAYING INFORMATION ON EITHER COLOR OR MONOCHROME DISPLAY,” filed May 26, 2000, to be issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,075,555, and assigned to the assignee of the present application. The subject matter in the above-identified commonly owned application is incorporated herein by reference. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to the field of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) within computer systems. The present invention can relate to the field of palmtop computers. Specifically, the present invention discloses an efficient method and apparatus of operating computer systems with multiple screen display capabilities. 
   2. Related Art 
   As the components required to build a computer system have reduced in size, new categories of computer systems have emerged. One of the new categories of computer systems is the “palmtop” computer system. A palmtop computer system is a computer that is small enough to be held in the hand of a user and can be “palm-sized.” Most palmtop computer systems are used to implement various Personal Information Management (PIM) applications such as an address book, a daily organizer and electronic notepads, to name a few. 
   Since palmtop computer systems are very small, full-sized keyboards are generally not efficient input devices. Palmtop computers using keyboards have keyboard devices that are so small that a user cannot touch-mode. Furthermore, to use a keyboard device, a user must either place the palmtop computer system down onto a flat surface, so the user can move with both hands, or the user holds the palmtop computer system with two hands and moves with thumbs only. 
   Instead of a keyboard device, some palmtop computers utilize a touch screen and display an image of a small keyboard thereon. When a particular button is pressed or tapped, a small keyboard image is displayed on the display screen. The user then interacts with the on-screen small keyboard image to enter characters, usually one character at a time. To interact with the displayed keyboard image (e.g., “virtual keyboard”), the user taps the screen location of a character with a pen. That corresponding character is then recognized and added to a data entry field, also displayed on the screen. However, even for experienced users, the virtual keyboard input system can be a tedious input process. 
   Instead of using a keyboard device or a displayed keyboard, many palmtop computers employ a pen and a digitizer pad as an input system. The pen and digitizer pad combination works well for palmtop computers because the arrangement allows a user to hold the palmtop computer system in one hand while writing with the pen onto the digitizer pad with the other hand. 
   As technology is progressing, palmtop computers are developing greater display capability, such as: monochrome; gray-scale; and color display is suggested. Within each display capability a variety of display attributes are possible. That is, each shade of gray or each unique color constitutes a distinct display attribute. Application programs utilize these display capabilities in a variety of ways, such as: rendering objects with a display attribute that will cue the user that those objects are selectable; choosing an aesthetically pleasing display; and, organizing the screen information in a more meaningful way. However, the possible display attributes for an object depends upon the display capability of each device. That is, an object can be rendered either a shade of gray or a specific color, depending on the display capability of the device. Thus, the color of the object cannot be known until the screen capability is known. Heretofore, different variations of each application program have been written to accommodate the different display types because there are a number of different display types in the consumer palmtop market. This is inefficient, and will grow more inefficient as palmtop computer displays gain more modes of display. 
   A further problem is the application programmer&#39;s task of debugging display programs. As stated, these programs may render various objects in different colors from each other. However, for aesthetic reasons, the colors may be similar to each other. Therefore, when the program is tested, the programmer may not detect when an object is being displayed in the wrong color or gray-scale. The inherently small size of the display makes this especially problematic. 
   Not only do application programs face problems caused by multiple screen display capabilities, but Internet applications do as well, as it is possible to interface a palmtop computer to the Internet. Thus, Internet applications, such as e-mail, web-browsing, and downloading information all face problems displaying information. Additionally, the operating system of the palmtop must be able to handle the possibility of different display capabilities without resorting to adding substantially more code. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a more efficient way to produce screen display code. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Accordingly, what is needed is an effective mechanism and method for determining the screen display capability and to render objects with the appropriate display attribute accordingly. What is further needed is an information display system for allowing an application program to set the display attributes to be rendered according to its own needs, as well as the display capabilities of the computer system. What is still further needed is an information display system for easily debugging the appearance of application programs. What is additionally needed is an information display system that is very memory efficient. The present invention provides these advantages and others not specifically mentioned above but described in the sections to follow. 
   A method and system of determining the screen capability and rendering the appropriate display attribute is herein described. The present invention performs this task by using a color table, which contains a list of object types and a corresponding list of display attributes. The application program obtains the correct display attribute for the object by calling the color table, giving it an identifier of the object. The color table is indexed by the identifier of the object and a screen capability flag that is obtained, in one embodiment, from the operating system. The color table provides the display attribute for the specified object based on the screen capability flag. Advantageously, the application program does not need to know the computer&#39;s display capability. Furthermore, the application program needs only one piece of computer code, regardless of the number of display capabilities which are possible. Thus, memory space in the palmtop is conserved. In another embodiment of the present invention, the application program is allowed to modify the default values of the display attributes in the color table. Thus, an application program could use its own color to display an object if the default color is undesirable. 
   Examples of objects are a menu frame or a user selection button displayed on the screen. For example, the button could be orange if the display mode is color, black if the display mode is monochrome, or a specific shade of gray if the display mode is gray-scale. The application program does not need to know the display mode. It simply requests that the operating system provide the appropriate display attribute from the color table based on a request to display the object. 
   More specifically, an embodiment of the present invention includes a method of displaying information, the method having the steps of: a) accessing a flag indicating a display mode of a display screen of a computer system; b) an application program of the computer system making a call to request a display attribute for an object to be displayed on the display screen; c) in response to the request, indexing a table with the display mode and an identifier of the object to obtain a display attribute, wherein the table is located externally of the application program and comprises a list of the objects and a plurality of display mode attribute lists, each of the display mode attribute lists having a display attribute associated with each of the objects; and, d) the application program displaying the object on the display screen with the display attribute, wherein the display capability of the display screen is transparent to the application program. 
   Another embodiment of the present invention allows for easy debugging of application programs. In this embodiment, the present invention assigns a substantially different color to each object in the color table. Thus, if the button border is orange, the button interior may be purple. Consequently, if the application programmer accidentally did not call the operating system to get the correct color for the object the program is currently rendering, there is a very good chance that the error will stand out. 
   In still another embodiment of the present invention, the application program is allowed to modify the default values in the color table. Thus, for example, an application program could use its own color to display a menu frame if the default color is undesirable. Furthermore, this modified value can be made to stay in effect for a later application program. 
   Still another embodiment of the present invention signals the application programmer that an undefined color was chosen. The present invention accomplishes this by returning a randomly determined color whenever the application program attempts to render with an undefined color. 
   Yet another embodiment of the present invention allows the user to choose the colors that objects are rendered with. The user can make these modifications applicable to all programs, or to individual programs. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is system illustration of a palmtop computer system connected to other computer systems and the Internet via a cradle device. 
       FIG. 2A  is a top side perspective view of a palmtop computer system that can be used as a platform for the data entry embodiments of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2B  is a bottom side perspective view of the palmtop computer system of  FIG. 2A . 
       FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the components of the palmtop computer system of  FIG. 2A . 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the cradle device for connecting the palmtop computer system to other systems via a communication interface. 
       FIG. 5  is a logical block diagram of the palmtop computer system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 6  is a front view of a palm top computer system illustrating the display screen, digitizer regions and an exemplary menu in accordance with the present invention. 
       FIG. 7  is a logical block diagram showing the relationship between the application software and the palmtop operating system, which includes the color table. 
       FIG. 8A  is a color table used by the operating system to decide what color (or gray scale) should be rendered on the palmtop display. 
       FIG. 8B  illustrates an example list of object identifiers, which may be included in the color table. 
       FIG. 9  is a table used by the operating system to decide the color for an object to be displayed while in debug mode. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a flowchart of the steps of an embodiment of the present invention for determining the color for an object to be displayed. 
       FIG. 11  illustrates a flowchart of the steps of an embodiment of the present invention useful for debugging application display programs. 
       FIG. 12  illustrates a depiction of multiple color tables in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, which allows the user to have multiple color tables. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   In the following detailed description of the present invention, a method and system for providing a color table to be used with a universal display program to select display attributes on different displays, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be recognized by one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details or with equivalents thereof. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention. 
   Notation and Nomenclature 
   Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented in terms of procedures, steps, logic blocks, processing, and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits that can be performed on computer memory. These descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. A procedure, computer executed step, logic block, process, etc., is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a computer system. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. 
   It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present invention, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “translating” or “calculating” or “determining” or “scrolling” or “displaying” or “recognizing” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system&#39;s registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. 
     FIG. 1  illustrates a system  50  that can be used in conjunction with the color table scheme for displaying information system of the present invention. System  50  comprises a host computer system  56  which can either be a desktop unit as shown, or, alternatively, can be a laptop system  58 . Optionally, one or more host computer systems can be used within system  50 . Host computer systems  58  and  56  are shown connected to a communication bus  54 , which in one embodiment can be a serial communication bus, but could be of any of a number of well known designs, e.g., a parallel bus, Ethernet, Local Area Network (LAN), etc. Optionally, bus  54  can provide communication with the Internet  52  using a number of well known protocols. 
   Importantly, but  54  is also coupled to a cradle  60  for receiving and initiating communication with a palm top (“palm-sized”) portable computer system  100  of the present invention. Cradle  60  provides an electrical and mechanical communication interface between bus  54  (and anything coupled to bus  54 ) and the computer system  100  for two way communications. Computer system  100  also contains a wireless infrared communication mechanism  64  for sending and receiving information from other devices. 
     FIG. 2A  is a perspective illustration of the top face  100   a  of one embodiment of the palmtop computer system of the present invention. The top face  110   a  contains a display screen  105  surrounded by a bezel or cover. A removable stylus  80  is also shown. The display screen  105  is a touch screen able to register contact between the screen and the tip of the stylus  80 . The stylus  80  can be of any material to make contact with the screen  105 . The top face  100   a  also contains one or more dedicated and/or programmable buttons  75  for selecting information and causing the computer system to implement functions. The on/off button  95  is also shown. 
   Importantly,  FIG. 2A  also illustrates a handwriting recognition pad or “digitizer” containing two regions  106   a  and  106   b . Region  106   a  is for the drawing of alpha characters therein for automatic recognition and region  106   b  is for the drawing of numeric characters therein for automatic recognition. The stylus  80  is used for stroking a character within one of the regions  106   a  and  106   b . The stroke information is then fed to an internal processor for automatic character recognition. Once characters are recognized, they are typically displayed on the screen  105  for verification and/or modification. 
     FIG. 2B  illustrates the bottom side  100   b  of one embodiment of the palmtop computer system of the present invention. An optional extendible antenna  85  is shown and also a battery storage compartment door  90  is shown. A communication interface  108  is also shown. In one embodiment of the present invention, the serial communication interface  108  is a serial communication port, but could also alternatively be of any of a number of well known communication standards and protocols, e.g., parallel, SCSI, Firewire (IEEE 1394), Ethernet, etc. 
     FIG. 3  is an exploded view of the palmtop computer system  100  in accordance with one implementation. System  100  contains a front cover  210  having an outline of region  106  and holes  75   a  for receiving buttons  75   b . A flat panel display  105  (both liquid crystal display and touch screen) fits into front cover  210 . Any of a number of display technologies can be used, e.g., LCD, FED, plasma, etc., for the flat panel display  105 . A battery  215  provides electrical power. A contrast adjustment (potentiometer)  220  is also shown. On/off button  95  is shown along with an infrared emitter and detector device  64 . A flex circuit  230  is shown along with a PC board  225  containing electronics and logic (e.g., memory, communication bus; processor, etc.) for implementing computer system functionality. The digitizer pad is also included in PC board  225 . A midframe  235  is shown along with stylus  80 . Position adjustable antenna  85  is shown. 
   A radio receiver/transmitter device  240  is also shown between the midframe and the rear cover  245  of  FIG. 3 . The receiver/transmitter device  240  is coupled to the antenna  85  and also coupled to communicate with the PC board  225 . In one implementation the Mobitex wireless communication system is used to provide two way communication between system  100  and other networked computers and/or the Internet via a proxy server. 
     FIG. 4  is a perspective illustration of one embodiment of the cradle  60  for receiving the palmtop computer system  100 . Cradle  60  contains a mechanical and electrical interface  260  for interfacing with serial connection  108  ( FIG. 2B ) of computer system  100  when system  100  is slid into the cradle  60  in an upright position. Once inserted, button  270  can be pressed to initiate two way communication between system  100  and other computer systems coupled to serial communication  265 . 
     FIG. 5  illustrates circuitry of computer system  100 , some of which can be implemented on PC board  225 . The computer system  100  can be used to perform color table scheme information display. Computer system  100  includes an address/data bus  99  for communicating information, a central processor  101  coupled with the bus for processing information and instructions, a volatile memory  102  (e.g., random access memory RAM) coupled with the bus  99  for storing information and instructions for the central processor  101  and a nonvolatile memory  103  (e.g., read only memory ROM) coupled with the bus  99  for storing static information and instructions for the processor  101 . Computer system  110  also includes an optional data storage device  104  (e.g., memory stick) coupled with the bus  99  for storing information and instructions. Device  104  can be removable. As described above, system  100  also contains a display device  105  coupled to the bus  99  for displaying information to the computer user. PC board  225  can contain the processor  101 , the bus  99 , the ROM  103  and the RAM  102 . 
   Also included in computer system  110  of  FIG. 5  is an optional alphanumeric input device  106  which in one implementation is a handwriting recognition pad (“digitizer”) having regions  106   a  and  106   b  ( FIG. 2A ), for instance. Device  106  can communicate information and command selections to the central processor  101 . System  110  also includes an optional cursor control or directing device  107  coupled to the bus for communicating user input information and command selections to the central processor  101 . In one implementation, device  107  is a touch screen device incorporated with screen  105 . Device  107  is capable of registering a position on the screen  105  where the stylus makes contact. The display device  105  utilized with the computer system  110  may be a liquid crystal device, cathode ray tube (CRT), field emission device (FED, also called flat panel CRT) or other display device suitable for creating graphic images and alphanumeric characters recognizable to the user. In the preferred embodiment, display  105  is a flat panel display. 
   Signal communication device  108 , also coupled to bus  99 , can be a serial port for communicating with the cradle  60 . Device  108  can also include an infrared communication port. 
     FIG. 6  is a front view of the palmtop computer system  100  with a menu bar  305  open displaying a pull down window. Also shown are two regions of digitizer  106   a  and  106   b . Region  106   a  is for receiving user stroke data for alphabetic characters, and typically not numeric characters, and region  106   b  is for receiving user stroke data for numeric data, and typically not for alphabetic characters. Physical buttons  75  are also shown. Although different regions are shown for alphabetic and numeric characters, the present invention is also operable within a single region that recognizes both alphabetic and numeric characters.  FIG. 6  also shows objects  405 , such as: on-screen buttons  301 , text  303 , and menu bar  305 . The present invention provides for a system for displaying these objects  405  in desired colors or gray-scales, depending upon the display capability of the computer  100 . 
     FIG. 7  is a diagram showing the relationship between the application program  400  and the operating system  402  of the palmtop computer  100 , which contains the color table  404 . The application program  400  is universal, in that it does not need to have any information as to the display capability of display  105 .  FIG. 7  shows example subroutines  407 : SET-COLOR and DRAW-LINE, which the application program  400  uses to assist in rendering objects  405  on the display  105 . The subroutine SET-COLOR, having the object identifier  409  MENU-FRAME is used to obtain the correct display attribute for an object  405 —in this case, the menu frame. The application program  400  makes a call to the operating system  402 , which has a color table  404  and access to a display capability flag  401 . The display capability flag reflects the type of display screen  105  that is installed in computer system  100 . (Or the display mode of a display screen.) Based on the display capability flag  401 , the operating system  402  returns to the application program  400  the appropriate display attribute  403  for the object  405  to be displayed. Thus, the application program  400  does not need to know the display capability. This greatly simplifies the application programmer&#39;s task, and different applications do not have to be written for each possible display capability. Additionally, the application program  400  only needs one piece of code for this operation. Thus, memory space in the palmtop is conserved. 
     FIG. 8A  shows a color table  404  which is used by operating system  402  to determine the appropriate display attribute  403  for an object  405  to be rendered. The color table  404  comprises an object identifier list  406 , including object identifiers  409 , such as button border  408 , menu frame  410 , menu fill  412 , and menu foreground  414 . The table also has display mode attribute lists  450 . The various display attribute lists  450  shown in table  404 -are: I-bit or monochrome display attribute list  420 , 2-bit gray display attribute list  422 , 4-bit gray display attribute list  424 , and &amp;bit color display attribute list  426 . Each of these display attribute lists corresponds to one screen display capability. Thus, the attribute list for 4-bit gray includes 16 shades of gray and 8-bit color includes up to 256 unique colors. In order to obtain the correct display attribute  403 , the operating system  402  indexes the color table  404  with the display capability flag  401  and the object identifier  409  passed to it by the application program  400 . 
   As the color table  404  shows, when using a monochrome display all objects are rendered in black or white. For all other screen display modes, a default display attribute  403  is assigned to each object  405 . The color table  404  could be expanded to include more display attribute lists  450 , as well as more object identifiers  409 . 
     FIG. 8B  is an exemplary object identifier list  406 . Each object identifier  409  in  FIG. 8B , such as UIMenuFrame or UIMenuFill is in the object identifier list  406  in the color table  404  in  FIG. 8A . 
     FIG. 9  shows a color table  404  according to one embodiment of the present invention, which is useful for debugging application display programs. In this embodiment, one of the display attribute lists is a debug mode. When the application programmer desires to debug programs, the application program  400  sets the display capability flag  401  to debug mode. In this embodiment, the color table  404  has a debug attribute list  428 . When in debug mode, all calls to the operating system  402  requesting display attributes  403  for objects  405  will reference the debug mode attribute list  428 . The colors in the debug mode attribute list  428  are substantially different from each other. This aids in debugging application programs  400  as follows. 
   After the application program  400  calls the operating system  402  for the display attribute  403  to render an object  405 , all objects  405  will be rendered with that attribute  403  until a new call is made to the operating system  402 . Thus, if the application  400  fails to call the operating system  402  when necessary, or if it calls with the wrong object identifier  409 , the object  405  could be rendered with the wrong display attribute  403 . This could be difficult to detect if there is little difference between the two display attributes  403 , for example, if they are two similar shades of red. However, because all of the colors in the debug mode attribute list  428  are substantially different from each other, the mistake should be obvious. 
     FIG. 10  is a flowchart showing the process of rendering an object on the display in the appropriate color given the display capability in accordance with the present invention. In step  1002 , a flag  401  is stored that indicates the display capability of the display  105 . In step  1004 , the application program requests a display attribute  403  for a specific object  405 . In step  1006 , the operating system  402  indexes a color table  404  with the display capability flag  401  and an identifier  409  corresponding to the object  405 . The table  404  contains the appropriate display attribute  403  for the given object  405  and display capability. Thus, the operating system  402  is then able, in step  1008 , to return the display attribute  403  to the application program  400 . In step  1010 , the application program  400  displays the object  405  with the correct display attribute  403  on the display screen  105 . In step  1012 , the returned display attribute  403  remains as the display attribute  403  for all other objects  405  until another call is made to the operating system  402  to access the color table  404 . 
     FIG. 11  is a flowchart showing the steps of the process for the debug mode embodiment of the present invention. In step  1102 , the application program  400  sets the display capability flag  401  to debug mode. In step  11   04 , the application program  400  requests a display attribute  403  for a specific object  405 . In step  1106 , the operating system  402  indexes a table  404  with the display capability flag  401  and an identifier  409  of the object  405 . The table  404  contains the appropriate display attribute  403  for the given object  409  when in debug mode. Thus, the operating system  402  is then able, in step  1108 , to return the display attribute  403  to the application program  400 . In step  1110 , the application program  400  instructs that the object  405  be displayed with the correct display attribute  403  on the display screen  105 . If the application program  400  called the operating system  402  with the wrong object identifier  409 , the error should stand out as the object  405  will be displayed in a different color than normal. In step  1112 , the returned display attribute  403  remains as the attribute  403  for all other objects  405  until another call is made to the color table  404 . Therefore, if the application program  400  fails to call the operating system  402  when displaying a different object  405  from the last call, the lack of different color for the two different kinds of objects  405  should alert the programmer of the mistake. 
   Another embodiment of the present invention allows the application program  400  to modify the colors that objects  405  are rendered with. This is very desirable for some applications. For example, astronomers need to limit the amount of light in their environment to facilitate stellar viewing. An application program  400  might render all objects  405  in red, thus limiting undesirable light in the environment. The application program  400  accomplishes this by changing all the values in the 8-bit color display attribute list  426  to, for instance, red. 
   Furthermore, one embodiment of the present invention allows the modified values selected by one application program  400  to affect later application programs  400 . Thus, in the above example, a first program might be an astronomy mode program which would 1) set all the display attributes  403  in the color table  404  to red, and 2) instruct that the display attributes  403  stay in effect for later programs. Thus, if an astronomer puts the computer  100  into astronomy mode, then whatever programs run afterwards, such as a calendar program, an address book, or an Internet program would have all objects  405  displayed in red, and stellar viewing would not be compromised. 
   Another embodiment of the present invention allows the user to change the display attributes  403 . This can be accomplished by displaying the object  405  along with a color palette menu on the display screen  105  and having the user touch the desired color with stylus  80 . Alternatively, the color table  404  could be shown on the display screen  105  and the user allowed to modify it. However, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that there are numerous other ways for the user to choose a new display attribute  403  for objects  405 . In another embodiment, the user need only set the new display attribute  403  once, and all application programs  400  will render objects  405  in this new user defined display attribute  403 . 
   However, the user defined display attributes do not have to affect all programs  400 . For example, the user could set the display attributes one way for a astronomy program, another way for a calendar program, and still another way for a photolab program. Thus, the present invention allows the user to effectively have multiple color tables  404 .  FIG. 12  is a diagram reflecting the multiple color tables  404  that the user may have. For example, the user could have an astronomy program color table  1200 , a calendar program color table  1202 , an address book color table  1204 , a memo program color table  1206 , and a photolab program color table  1208 . 
   In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the application programmer is signaled that the program  400  is rendering an object  405  in an undefined color. Some of the 256 possible colors for an 8-bit color display capability may be undefined. It is possible, however, for the application programmer to use the values for these colors when rendering objects  405 . In the future, when colors are assigned for these undefined colors, the application program  400  could experience unexpected results. For example, an object  405  which was always rendered black may be rendered a vibrant color in a later version of the computer system  100 . The present invention cues the application programmer that an undefined color is being used by assigning a randomly generated color to undefined values each time the operating system  402  starts up. Thus, if the application program  400  were to use an undefined color, it will be rendered in a random color each time the palmtop is turned on and the application programmer should see something is wrong. 
   The preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method and system providing information display for a computer, is thus described. While the present invention has been described in particular embodiments, it should be appreciated that the present invention should not be construed as limited by such embodiments, but rather construed according to the below claims.