Patent ID: 8059092

Claim:
A user interface apparatus comprising: input means for receiving information from an input device; display means for displaying a user interface of a design subject apparatus on a display device; elementary display part storing means for storing elementary display parts designed previously as a part to be displayed at the user interface of the design subject apparatus; composite display part storing means for storing composite display parts, wherein each composite display part defines dispositions of the elementary display part and of an other composite display part, which are displayed in each of states of the composite display part; and simulation means for simulating size, position, external appearance, and behavior of the composite display stored in the composite display part storing means, based on the information received from said input means, to display the user interface at the display device, wherein the composite display part has an event handler making a transition between the states and performing a process based on the states and the information received from said input means in each of the states of the composite display part, said composite display part storing means stores the composite display part having a plurality of states and defining hierarchically the elementary display part and the other composite display part to be displayed in each of the states of the composite display part, and said simulation means displays the elementary display part and the other composite display part which are defined by the composite display part to be displayed in a state corresponding to current state of the composite display part, and displaying, with respect to the other composite display part, an elementary display part and another composite display part, which are defined by the other composite display part in said composite display part storing means, to be displayed in a state corresponding to current state of the other composite display part, and repeating the displaying with respect to each of the other composite display parts.