Patent Document ID: 7814432
Application ID: 10389550
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for developing images for use in graphical user interfaces, the system comprising: a display device to display a graphical user interface; and a computer having an operating system in which the operating system includes an imaging object structure that is an abstract base class from which subclasses of text imaging objects, picture imaging objects, and pattern imaging objects are derivable, wherein the imaging object structure comprises a subclass of imaging objects that inherit method and static functions of the imaging object structure, wherein the method and static functions inherited by each of the subclasses of imaging objects define other specialized methods that are relevant to subclasses, including text imaging objects, composite imaging objects, picture imaging objects, pattern imaging objects, and icon imaging objects, wherein the static function in the imaging object base class finds and instantiates, a particular imaging object and returns a reference to it, the subclass comprising singular imaging objects and composite imaging objects, the imaging object structure included in the operating system and utilized to generate images in any of a plurality of differing elements displayed in the graphical user interface with rendering of the images in the plurality of differing elements by the subclass of imaging objects; wherein the computer includes a mechanism for retrieving image data, retrieving a desired imaging object, and creating an image reference with the image data for the desired imaging object, associating the image reference with an element of the user interface, and displaying the desired image on the graphical user interface; wherein the creating of an image reference further includes an image reference of a singular type when the desired image is a singular image, and encapsulating the image data as the image reference for the desired image; and wherein the derivable subclasses of text imaging objects, picture imaging objects, and pattern imaging objects are used to respectively generate text imaging objects, picture imaging objects, and pattern imaging objects for display in the graphical user interface, wherein the imaging object structure comprises a first static function to allow a client caller to create a new image by specifying as parameters of the first static function: 1) a type of the new image indicating the new image being created is a composite image; and 2) a reference to be used to access the new image being created, wherein the first static function is configured to allocate a new composite imaging object by invoking and encapsulating a subclass associated with the composite imaging object, and wherein the newly created composite image can be accessed by the reference provided when calling the first static function, and a second static function to allow the client caller to add one or more subimages into the composite imaging object by specifying as parameters of the second static function: 1) the reference to the composite image previously created via the first static function; and 2) a subimage identifier representing the one or more subimages being added within the composite image.