Patent ID: 8756524

Claim:
A portable electronic device comprising: at least one processor; a display connected to said at least one processor and controllable by said at least one processor; and non-volatile storage configured to maintain a plurality of applications and an application programming interface that is commonly used by said plurality of applications for enabling said at least one processor to generate and control a title bar under control of said plurality of applications, wherein said application programming interface includes a private part for managing the state of the title bar and a public part, including a TitleBar component, that provides an interface to said plurality of applications, and wherein the title bar is configured to be controlled by said plurality of applications through the use of said application programming interface, the title bar divided into a plurality of areas including an information area representing current state of information relating to one of said applications, and an additional area representing notifications, pushed icons and signals selected for display based on requirements of said plurality of applications; wherein said title bar is under control of the one of said applications through said application programming interface, and wherein the current state information includes an application icon reflecting the current state of the one of said applications currently controlling the title bar, a title string providing a title of one of said applications currently controlling the title bar and a current time.