Patent Document

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to the field of graphical user interfaces, and more specifically to the manipulation of visual components in such interfaces. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Many of today&#39;s computers are accessible through graphical user interfaces (GUIs). One popular implementation is Windows 95, by Microsoft Corporation, of Redmond, Wash., which is a windows-based operating system, in which multiple applications may independently execute under the operating system, each within its own separate window. 
     In a windows-based operating system, interaction with the computer is presented to the user through a desktop theme, under which commonly used applications and/or documents are displayed and accessed using graphical icons on the desktop. 
     In recent years, there has been a tremendous proliferation of computers connected to a global network known as the Internet. A “client” computer connected to the Internet can download digital information from “server” computers connected to the Internet. Client application software executing on client computers typically accept commands from a user and obtain data and services by sending requests to server applications running on server computers connected to the Internet. A number of protocols are used to exchange commands and data between computers connected to the Internet. The protocols include the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and the “Gopher” document protocol. 
     The HTTP protocol is used to access data on the World Wide Web, often referred to as “the Web.” The World Wide Web is an information service on the Internet providing documents and links between documents. The World Wide Web is made up of numerous Web sites around the world that maintain and distribute electronic documents. A Web site may use one or more Web server computers that store and distribute documents in one of a number of formats including the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). An HTML document contains text and metadata or commands providing formatting information. HTML documents also include embedded “links” that reference other data or documents located on any Web server computers. The referenced documents may represent text, graphics, or video in respective formats. 
     A Web browser is a client application or operating system utility that communicates with server computers via FTP, HTTP, and Gopher protocols. Web browsers receive electronic documents from the network and present them to a user. Internet Explorer, available from Microsoft Corporation, of Redmond, Wash., is an example of a popular Web browser application. 
     In addition to data and metadata, HTML documents can contain embedded software components containing program code that perform a wide variety of operations. These software components expand the interactive ability of an HTML document&#39;s user interface. The components can perform other operations, such as manipulating data and playing audio or video clips. ActiveX is a specification developed by Microsoft Corporation for creating software components that can be embedded into an HTML document. Java is a well-known programming language that can be used to develop components called “applets,” which are transmitted with HTML documents from Web servers to client computers. JavaScript and VBScript are scripting languages that are also used to extend the capabilities of HTML. JavaScript and VBScript scripts are embedded in HTML documents. A browser executes each script as it reaches the position in the script during interpretation of the HTML document. 
     With today&#39;s windows-based operating systems, which are multi-tasking, a user may use a web browser to open multiple windows, each with different content. Since each HTML document may contain scripts of various types, which may in turn open additional windows, a user&#39;s desktop display can quickly become visually cluttered due to each window having such elements as borders, control tabs, menu bars, title bars, scroll bars, minimize, maximize, and restore buttons, resizing corners, and other elements which provide functionality to windows. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a control which tracks the position of a pointer on the display screen to monitor its location relative to one or more desktop components. These desktop components, some of which normally benefit from having associated borders, caption bars, and/or other window functionality elements displayed therewith, are displayed as images lacking these elements until relevant pointer events are detected by the control, whereupon the associated element is displayed, thereby reducing visual clutter. For instance, when the control detects that the pointer has completely entered a region defined by a desktop component, a thin, one-pixel border is displayed around the desktop component. When the pointer intersects with an edge of the desktop component, a thicker, three-pixel border is displayed. When the pointer is close to the top edge of the desktop element, a caption bar is displayed atop the desktop component. When the pointer moves away from the desktop component, the control disappears, rendering borders and caption bars invisible. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a general purpose computer system for implementing the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 depicts a desktop component having no border; 
     FIG. 3 depicts a desktop component having a thin border; 
     FIG. 4 depicts a desktop component having a thick border; 
     FIG. 5 depicts a desktop component having a title bar; 
     FIG. 6 illustrates regions around a desktop component representing relevant pointer events according to an aspect of the present invention; 
     FIG. 7 is a state diagram illustrating an overall operating concept of an embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 8 illustrates a desktop component and a control for implementing the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In accordance with the present invention, the system of the present invention executes on a computer, such as a general purpose personal computer. FIG.  1  and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a personal computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. 
     With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a conventional personal computer  20 , including a processing unit  21 , a system memory  22 , and a system bus  23  that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit  21 . The system bus  23  may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. System timing is provided by a clock signal (not shown) applied to the system bus  23 . The system memory includes read only memory (ROM)  24  and random access memory (RAM)  25 . A basic input/output system  26  (BIOS), containing the basic routines that helps to transfer information between elements within the personal computer  20 , such as during start-up, is stored in ROM  24 . The personal computer  20  further includes a hard disk drive  27  for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magnetic disk drive  28  for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk  29 , and an optical disk drive  30  for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk  31  such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The hard disk drive  27 , magnetic disk drive  28 , and optical disk drive  30  are connected to the system bus  23  by a hard disk drive interface  32 , a magnetic disk drive interface  33 , and an optical drive interface  34 , respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the personal computer  20 . Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk  29  and a removable optical disk  31 , it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer-readable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks (also known as Digital Video Disks or DVDs), Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment. 
     A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magnetic disk  29 , optical disk  31 , ROM  24  or RAM  25 , including an operating system  35 , one or more application programs  36 , other program modules  37 , and program data  38 . A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer  20  through input devices such as a keyboard  40  and pointing device  42 . Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit  21  through a serial port interface  46  that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor  47  or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus  23  via an interface, such as a video adapter  48 . One or more speakers  57  are also connected to the system bus  23  via an interface, such as an audio adapter  56 . In addition to the monitor and speakers, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as printers. 
     The personal computer  20  may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computers  49  and  60 . Each remote computer  49  or  60  may be another personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the personal computer  20 , although only a memory storage device  50  or  61  has been illustrated in FIG.  1 . The logical connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN)  51  and a wide area network (WAN)  52 , Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and global networks such as the Internet. As depicted in FIG. 1, the remote computer  60  communicates with the personal computer  20  via the local area network  51 . The remote computer  49  communicates with the personal computer  20  via the wide area network  52 . 
     When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer  20  is connected to the local network  51  through a network interface or adapter  53 . When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer  20  typically includes a modem  54  or other means for establishing communications over the wide area network  52 , such as the Internet. The modem  54 , which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus  23  via the serial port interface  46 . In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer  20 , or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used. 
     In the present invention a composite document including one or more subdocuments visually embedded therein is output to a display. In a present embodiment of the invention, a desktop  300  environment is displayed with one or more desktop components  310 . Referring to FIG. 2, desktop component  310  is shown in a first state in which the desktop component merely appears as an image on the desktop  300 , rather than as a window with accompanying windows functionality elements such as borders, caption bars, etc. This is the default state for all desktop components where the pointer  320  is not within a predefined region with respect to the desktop component. The concept of regions will be described more fully in the discussion of FIG.  6 . 
     FIG. 3 depicts a desktop component  310  in a second state in which pointer  320  is displayed completely within an area defined by the desktop component. In this situation, a thin border  330  is displayed around the desktop component  310 . In a present embodiment, the thin border  330  has a one-pixel width, and is used to visually indicate the boundaries of the desktop component. This allows a user to more easily position the pointer on the desktop component boundary for resizing the desktop component, and is especially helpful where there is little contrast between the colors of the desktop  300  and the desktop component. 
     FIG. 4 depicts the desktop component  310  in a third state in which pointer  320  is in close proximity to, or actually intersecting, an edge of the desktop component. In this situation, a thick border  340  is displayed. In a present embodiment, a three-pixel border is used so that the user may more easily interact with the border, such as for resizing the desktop element. 
     FIG. 5 depicts the desktop component  310  in a fourth state, in which a caption bar  500  is displayed along an edge of the desktop component. In a present embodiment of the invention, the caption bar is displayed along the top edge of the desktop component for allowing a user to interact with the desktop component, such as for moving the desktop component on the desktop. In a present embodiment of the invention, the caption bar is displayed with a thick border  340  around the other edges, and is provided with a minimize button  510  and a close button  520 , for allowing the user to respectively minimize and close the desktop component. The caption bar is displayed along the top border when pointer  320  is in close proximity to the upper edge of the desktop component. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the caption bar  500  may be displayed along any edge of the desktop component, that any edge may be used as the relevant edge for determining whether the caption bar should be displayed, and that any type of border, including no border may be displayed in conjunction with the caption bar. The caption bar may also include other features, such as a title, not specifically shown in the figures. 
     FIG. 6 depicts several regions relative to a desktop component  310  and illustrates the creation and deletion of borders and the caption bar based on the position and movement of the pointer  320 . The solid lines in FIG. 6 represent the boundary or perimeter of the desktop component  310 . The dashed lines delineate regions proximate to the desktop component perimeter. For example, when a user positions the pointer  320  within region A  606 , the mechanism of the invention displays a thin border  330  (FIG. 3) surrounding the desktop component  310 . When the pointer  320  is positioned within region B  608 , the mechanism of the invention displays a thick border  340  (FIG. 4) surrounding the desktop component  310 . When the pointer  320  is positioned within region C  610 , the mechanism of the invention displays a caption bar  500  (FIG. 5) above the desktop component  310  and a thick border  340  surrounding the remaining three sides of the desktop component. 
     Region D  612  represents an area for the caption bar  500 , and only exists when the caption bar  500  is visible. When the caption bar is visible as a result of the pointer being moved into region C  610 , positioning of the pointer within region D  612  causes the mechanism of the invention to maintain the visibility of the caption bar. At times when the caption bar is not visible, the area represented by region D  612  is considered to be part of the external region E  614 , which is the entire area outside of all of the other regions discussed above. When the pointer  320  is moved into region E  614 , the caption bar  500 , the thin border  330 , and the thick border  340 , are not visible. As discussed below, preferably a timer is used to delay changing the state when the pointer moves into the external region E  614 . 
     FIG. 7 is a state diagram  702  that illustrates the changes in the caption bar and the borders, as affected by movement of the pointer. FIG. 7 is discussed with reference to the regions of FIG.  6 . At a state  704 , the desktop component  310  is displayed with no border and no caption bar. This is the state depicted in FIG.  2 . Movement of the pointer into region A  606  causes a change to state  706 , where a thin border is displayed. This is the state depicted in FIG.  3 . Continued movement of the pointer within region A  606  causes no further change in state. 
     Returning to state  704 , movement of the pointer within region B  608  causes a change to state  708 , where a thick border is displayed. This is the state depicted in FIG.  4 . Continued movement of the pointer within region C  608  causes no change of state from the state  708 . Returning once again to the no border state  704 , movement of the pointer within the region C  610  causes a change of state to the caption bar state  710 . This is the state depicted in FIG.  5 . Continued movement of the pointer within the caption bar state  610  causes no change of state. 
     From the thick border state  708 , or the caption bar state  710 , movement of the pointer into the thin border region  606  causes a change to the thin border state  706 . Similarly, movement of the pointer into the thick border region  608  causes a change of state to the thick border state  708 , and movement of the pointer into the caption bar region  610  causes a change of state to the caption bar state  710 . Additionally, because the caption bar is displayed when in the caption bar state  710 , movement of the pointer into the maintain caption bar state  612  causes a return to the caption bar state  710 . 
     From the thin border state  706 , the thick border state  708 , or the caption bar state  710 , movement of the pointer to the external region E  614  results in a change to the timer state  712 . When the timer state  712  is first entered, a timer is started to count down a predetermined amount of time. While the timer is running, movement into the thin border region  606 , the thick border region  608 , or the caption bar region  610  causes the mechanism of the invention to turn off the timer and return to the thin border state  706 , the thick border state  708 , or the caption bar state  710 , respectively. Additionally, if the caption bar is visible, movement into the maintained caption bar region  612 , while the timer is on, causes a change of state to the caption bar state  710 . 
     When in the timer state  712 , pointer movements within the external region  614  result in continuation of the timer. If the timer times out, the state changes back to the no border state  704 , where there is no visible border or caption bar. 
     Although FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate one actual embodiment of the invention, these are to be considered exemplary, and the invention may include various modifications. For example, it is not required that a timer be used. Instead, any movement of the pointer into the external region  704  can cause a change to the no border state. Additionally, the regions depicted in FIG. 6 may be altered without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention may also include a state where a caption bar is visible but no border is visible. 
     FIG. 8 depicts a control for implementing the features of the present invention according to the state diagram shown in FIG.  6 . While, to the user, the appearance on the display is of a desktop component  310  having borders and/or a caption bar, preferably, these elements are not elements of the desktop component. Rather, a border  330  and a caption bar  500  are elements of the control  800 . In a present embodiment of the invention, the control  800  is implemented as an ActiveX control referred to as deskmovr. The deskmovr control may be used both with desktop components that are windowed objects as well as those that are windowless objects. A present embodiment of a desktop environment according to the present invention is known as the Active Desktop by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Under this desktop environment, a windowless object cannot be displayed in front of a windowed object. Since the deskmovr control is displayed directly a desktop component, both a windowed instance and a windowless instance is provided for in the deskmovr control. A parameter is passed to the deskmovr control indicating whether the desktop component is a windowed object or a windowless object so that the appropriate instance of the deskmovr control is used. The deskmovr control may also be used in an HTML environment, where the components, or subdocuments, are portions of HTML pages. In order for the present invention to operate in an HTML environment, the environment should support Dynamic HTML and in-line style sheets with positioning. In a present embodiment of the invention, the HTML environment is provided in the IE4/Trident object model in the Internet Client SDK by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. This HTML environment is described more fully in Scott Issacs, Inside Dynamic HTML, 
     Microsoft Press, Oct. 30, 1997, which is incorporated into the present specification by reference. 
     The deskmovr control includes a border  330  and a caption bar  500  (not shown in FIG.  8 ). When a relevant pointer event occurs, such as when the pointer completely enters the region defined by the desktop component (region A  606  in FIG.  6 ), the control moves directly underneath the desktop component, and resizes itself such that each edge of the control is one pixel farther out from a centerpoint than the corresponding edge of the desktop component (state  706  in FIG.  7 ). Since the desktop component is superimposed and displayed directly on top of the control, a one-pixel border appears around the desktop component. If the pointer event indicates that a caption bar should be displayed (region C  610  in FIG. 6; state  710  in FIG.  7 ), the deskmovr control additionally displays the caption bar. When a thick border is indicated (e.g., when the pointer enters region B  608  of FIG.  6 ), the deskmovr control changes the thickness of the border to three pixels (state  708  in FIG.  7 ). In a present embodiment of the deskmovr control, whenever the caption bar is indicated, a thick border is concurrently displayed; however, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that another element or other combinations of elements may be displayed for any given pointer event without departing from the spirit of the invention. 
     While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Technology Category: 3