Patent ID: 8156445

Claim:
A method for providing an extensible canvas for use in interfacing with heterogenic objects, the method comprising: an act of formulating a two-dimensional canvas onto which may be positioned a plurality of heterogenic objects of a plurality of types, each of the plurality of types having associated therewith a set of one or more controls that are at least collectively distinct; upon detecting user input, performing the following: an act of identifying an object of the plurality of heterogenic objects that the user is interfacing with via the detected user input; an act of identifying a type of the identified object that the user is interfacing with; an act of detecting which of the one or more controls of the identified type are being invoked via the user input; and an act of invoking the detected control of the identified type of the identified object; and wherein the two-dimensional canvas is fixed in a first dimension, but extensible in a second dimension, at least in a first direction in the second dimension, such that if an object is to be placed in the first direction in the second dimension beyond a boundary of the two-dimensional canvas, the boundary is extended in the first direction such that the two-dimensional canvas includes the object.