WO2002025423A2

WO2002025423A2 - Image display scheme for a computer

Info

Publication number: WO2002025423A2
Application number: PCT/IB2001/001764
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shane Hayes
Original assignee: Zip.Com Llc
Priority date: 2000-09-25
Filing date: 2001-09-25
Publication date: 2002-03-28
Also published as: GB2372419A; AU2001292145A1; WO2002025423A3; GB0023388D0; GB0123016D0

Abstract

An image display scheme for a computing device (the computing device including a processing and memory means, a display screen, and means for selecting items on the screen, and which is capable of displaying one or more overlapping itmes, and also a browser application capable of displaying content retrieved from the Internet), the image display scheme generating a superimposed element that appears on the screen permanently superimposed over any other displayed items displayed by the browser application at all items. The code for the content to be displayed may include an executable code embedded in the content code to implement the superipmosable element. Alternatively, the code for the content may include retrieval instructions to another Internet server, this server supplying the superimposable element. In alternative embodiments of the invention, the display scheme is implemented by a display application installed in the processing and memory means, or by a display application installed in the server computer.

Description

IMAGE DISPLAY SCHEME FOR A COMPUTER

The present invention relates to an image display scheme for a computer.

A typical computer 1, for example, a personal computer (PC), of the prior art is illustrated schematically in Figure 1, and comprises a display 9, a keyboard 11, a mouse 14 and a housing 10 which houses, amongst other things, a central processing unit (CPU) 2, memories 3, 4, 5, 6, a modem 7, and all the associated circuitry, as is well known to persons skilled in the art. As is also well known to persons skilled in the art, typically, the CPU 2 is coupled to the associated memories 3, 4, 5, 6, and the CPU 2 processes the software and data stored in the memories 3, 4, 5, 6 to operate the computer so as to perform its required tasks. Typically, the memories 3, 4, 5, 6 may comprise a hard disk 3, one or more Random Access Memories (RAM's) 5, 6, including CMOS memory 5 used, for example, to store semipermanent data, and one or more Read Only Memories (ROM's) 4, used, for example, to store essential code such as the Basic Input Output System (BIOS). The number and types of memories included will depend upon the functions and requirements of the computer. The modem is used, with appropriate software, for connections to remote servers, for example, for Internet connections. A well-known item of software is a browser application, which allows the user to gain access to such remote servers, and display the files provided by the servers on the computer's display 9.

The main actions, such as the keyboard 11, display 9, and the hard disk 3 of the computer 1 are controlled by an operating system, that is a machine code program stored, typically, on the hard disk 3. The operating system controls the actions of other programs, or applications, which are said to run under the operating system, and, in particular, looks after the details of such actions as disk access. Typical operating systems are MS-DOS and windows-based operating systems such as Windows 95 - both developed by the Microsoft Corporation. The mouse 14 controls a cursor 15 displayed on the screen 16. By moving the cursor 15 across the screen using the mouse 14, and by clicking a button provided on the mouse 14, one can select items displayed on the screen 16, thereby operating the various applications running on the computer 1, and performing other tasks.

According to the present invention, there is provided an image display scheme for a computing device, the computing device including a processing and memory means, a display screen, and means for selecting items on the screen, capable of displaying one or more overlapping items, including a browser application capable of displaying content retrieved from the Internet, the image display scheme generating a superimposed element that appears on the screen permanently superimposed over any other displayed items displayed by the browser application at all times.

The code for the content to be displayed may include an executable code embedded in the content code to implement the superimposable element.

Alternatively, the code for the content includes retrieval instructions to another Internet server, this server supplying the superimposable element.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image display scheme for a computing device, the computing device including a processing and memory means, a display screen, and means for selecting items on the screen, capable of displaying one or more overlapping items, the image display scheme generating a superimposed element that appears on the screen permanently superimposed over any other displayed items at all times, the display scheme being implemented by a display application installed in the processing and memory means.

Preferably the display application retrieves data which influences the form and characteristics of the superimposed element from across a network.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image display scheme for a computing device, the computing device including a processing and memory means, a display screen, and means for selecting items on the screen, capable of displaying one or more overlapping items, the computing device being connected across a network to a server computer, the image display the image display scheme generating a superimposed element that appears on the screen permanently superimposed over any other displayed items the display scheme being implemented by a display application installed in the server computer.

Preferably the superimposable element includes a shortcut or link causing a connection to be initiated over a network to a server.

Other aspects of the present invention include providing a permanent banner for displaying incoming messages and information, the display of a plurality of permanent icons^", leading to other icons, or lists of options, and the provision of dialog boxes accessible in a permanent banner.

The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of the components of a computer of the prior art; Figures 2 to 7 are views of the image display scheme as they appear on the computer screen; and

Figures 8 and 9 are views of another embodiment of the image display scheme as they appear on the computer screen.

The embodiments of the present invention described herein is designed to run under any PC operating system such as Windows 95, NT or 3.1 or Macintosh operating systems.

In Windows 95, applications designed to run under the operating system, and stored on the hard disk 3, are identified by icons on the display screen 16. Icons can also be displayed on a toolbar, which also typically displays a dedicated key, which can be used to run these application, or to shut down the operating system.

The computer 1 is capable of running a number of applications, including, for example, Internet connection programs or web browsers, word processing and computer games. In one embodiment, the scheme for a computer display for a computer comprises an display application which runs simultaneously and alongside any other running applications. This display application may be transferred onto the computer's hard drive from a diskette, CD-ROM, or downloaded from the Internet, or in some other way. The Referring to figure 2, a display element 19 with icons 20, 21, 22, 23 is caused to be displayed on the screen, and to remain on top of any other open windows or icons that are also on the screen, so long as the operating system is running. The window parameter is set so that there is no corresponding icon displayed in the main toolbar if this toolbar is present. This means that a user cannot close the display element 19, containing the icon 20, 21, 22, 23, and, in fact, the display element 19 is not closed until the whole operating system is closed down.

The display element 19 is typically about 40 by 300 pixels (the totally screen display usually being made up of 640 by 480 pixels), though of course differently sized and shaped display elements could be used as effectively.

There are four icons 20, 21, 22, 23, representing, reading from left to right, an e-mail sending application 20, an intranet application 21, an internet application 22, and a search application 23. With no application selected, the dialog box area 30 has a default setting which is capable of displaying messages sent to some or all of a network of computers, say a local area network of computers of a company, or of an academic institution. By this means, important information can be sent to all computer users, since the display element 19 cannot be closed, minimised, or hidden beneath other windows.

Selecting the e-mail sending application icon 20 causes the dialog box area 30 to request four parameters in dialog boxes 41, 42, 43, 44 as shown in figures 3 and 4 (though entries for all parameters are not mandatory), that is, the recipient of the message, the subject of the message, the recipient(s) of any copies of the message, and, the message itself. This last parameter is entered in a dialog box which appears when an arrow key 32, which appears simultaneously with the dialog boxes associated with the e-mail sending application as shown in figure 4. At the bottom of this latter dialog box, is located a send butto/t 34, which causes the a mail application to send the entered message to the entered recipient in the normal way. The e-mail application may either be part of the image display application, or it may be an independent program whose path has been specified when the image display scheme was installed.

Referring to figure 5, selecting the intranet application icon 21 causes the dialog box area 30 to request an intranet address. Entering an address in the dialog box 46 causes an intranet browser application to be executed, and so opening the file at the specified address.

In a similar way, selecting the internet application icon 22 causes the dialog box area 30 to request an internet address, which is shown in figure 6. Upon entering an address in the dialog box 47 the internet browser application is executed, so establishing a connection with the internet and locating and opening the file at the specified address.

Referring to figure 7, when the search application icon 23 is selected, two dialog boxes 48, 49 appear ^"and request a subject (upon which to search) and a category (in which to search for the specified subject) which may include predetermined categories available upon pressing an arrow button 51. Upon this being entered, the internet browser locates a previously specified search engine address on the internet, and submits the entered subject and area to the search engine.

When one of the application icons is selected, a further icon 25 appears at the far right of the display element, and selecting this icon returns the display element 19 (in particular the dialog box area) to its default setting.

The operator can manipulate the display element 19, and therefore the icons 20, 21, 22, 23, so as to be able to drag the display element 19 around the screen 16, but it will always remain on top of any other open windows already displayed on the screen 16.

Referring to figure 8, the display element 19 could include icons 36,37 relating to particular web addresses, such as a home page of a sponsor company, selection of this icon (which may feature the trade mark of the company concerned) causing the web browser application to locate that home page. The icons 21, 22, 23, 24 relating to the internet applications described in the first embodiment are in this embodiment accessible by pulling down a dialog box 53 using the arrow key 38, as shown in figure 9.

A series of advertising icons 36,37 relating to the different web sites could be displayed upon the display element in a rotational manner, that is, after a particular icon has been displayed for a period, a different icon is displayed in the same position, replacing the first icon, each successive icon associated with its own web address.

New icons and there associated web addresses can be incorporated into the image display application automatically, for example when the user makes an internet connection (not necessarily to our site), the new icon information is downloaded to the display application.

The use of internet applications which have already been installed ensures that the display element 1? of the image display scheme makes an efficient use of the memoiy upon which the application will be stored (typically the computer's hard drive).

In order for this display system to operate, an initialisation file containing the program settings for the application must be created. These settings will include : a) the initial stored position of the display element 19, that is the position of the display element on the screen 16, when the display element and operating system were last closed; b) the path-name for the programs for changing the dialog boxes, and capturing the data entered, and the internet applications associated with each icon, c) the path-names for each icon 20, 21, 22, 23.

Once an internet application has been opened in this way, it runs independently of further manipulation of the image display scheme's display element, and may be closed in the conventional manner. Alternatively, each application may be closed when a new application is selected on the image display scheme's display element, or may close automatically after completing one or more tasks (such as sending an e-mail message).

After an application has been opened, it operates in the conventional way, displaying the contents of the file at the specified address. Ideally, the display usually associated with opening such applications prior to the location and display of the specified file is suppressed.

As previously discussed, ideally the display element cannot be closed by the user. The image display application is also such that, should the user nevertheless manage to close the display element, the next time the windows operating system is rebooted the display element will also reopen.

This is of course only a particular embodiment. The display application could provide any user interface within its panel, as specified by the provider of the display application. A commercial company, for example, or some other customer of the display application (that is, the person who wishes to control the content of the display application) may wish to promote their brand, and so may adapt the display application in order to change the display element's size, shape, colour, content (such as text and images) and features offered. The display application is a small executable program that includes an interpreter, so that the customer may customise and define the display element's characteristics (both the appearance and behaviour) by inputting instructions as a naturalistic language. The display application can fetch such description text over a network to set up its characteristics. Where description text is fetched over the Internet, the customer may update the description text as frequently as is wished, thereby ensuring that the characteristics of the display element are up to date. Alternatively, the display application could initiate the downloading of updated description text or other modified material for the display application.

The display text, when obtained via the Internet, may be used to provide real time information, delivering news and sports, personal special offer notifications, emails, weather reports, etc. as soon as the information is available in a continuous manner, such as a running tickertape display on the computer display. Other tools, either executable by the user's computer or requiring a network o Internet connection, may be provided in the display element. Such tools include search engine interfaces, email interfaces and chatroom interfaces, but of course many other types could be provided. The display element could provide a secure link so that a bank could exchange account and billing information with the user. The display element may expand to show more features or a text box, or may open other windows. As part of the display element's behaviour as controlled by the input instructions, the display element will respond to user events (such as mouse clicks) for example, these events triggering some action in the display element. The user events are prompted by user interface elements, such as buttons, text boxes and clickable areas. The response to the events may include changing the size, shape and appearance of the display element.

Another facility present in this embodiment of the display application is the ability to access resources, such as images, sound files, video files etc. over a network, using, for example, TCP/IP. Additionally, the display application contains a HTML Tenderer, and graphic primitives such as lines and boxes. The display application may therefore be used to display HTML files without relying upon a default Internet browser.

As for the previous embodiment, this display application may be transferred to the user's computer's hard drive via a floppy disc, CD-ROM, or downloaded over the Internet. The size of the file, being a small executable program, is such that it may be downloaded from the Internet or uploaded from a disc or CD-ROM j?n a uncompressed form, and install itself in an intelligent manner without the need for user intervention.

Different display application versions may co-exist and run independently in parallel. Furthermore, a single display application may cause different display elements to manifest themselves for different users of a single system. Features of a display element may be accessible only to a particular user, and the display element may to this end offer a username and password logon system; the verification system may be installed in the computer, or on a remote server. The display element may provide an advertising banner and/or a shortcut to, for example, a Web site. The shortcut may be for example to a Search Engine Web site, where the user has already entered the terms to be searched for in a text box in the graphical element. Thus the user may interact with complex systems over a network through the display element.

Where the display application causes an Internet connection, such as were a user clicks upon a shortcut logo image to connect to a Web site, or a search engine site is accessed, the display application may be configured to send information to the customer's server so that the customer may compile usage patterns.

Because the display application can initiate connection to the Internet, request and receive files using TCP/IP, and parse and display files written in HTML, the customer can ensure that the display element is in a standard format irrespective of the type of browser application that may be installed on the user's computer. Some Internet Web sites, for example search f engine sites, allow tools to be downloaded and displayed in the browser window as a semi-permanent toolbar, the other information that is displayed being configured to accommodate this toolbar. Typically, a particular toolbar will be supported by some browsers but not by others, so only users having the right browser application can download the tool. If however, the tool is provided or downloaded in association or as part of the display application, the Web site can be confident that the user can utilise the tool even if the user has no browser or the browser is not running.

In another embodiment of the invention, the display application is embodied as Javascript code. When the user views a Web site using a browser application, the display application may be provided on a remote server separate to the Web site the user is viewing (the Web page containing a HTML request for the display element to the remote server), or through the Web site itself, the Javascript being embedded in the HTML code. As the browser displays the requested Web page, the Javascript, via the DOM (Document Object Model) tree and the CSS (Cascading Style sheet), causes the display element to be inserted or generated anywhere within the body of the HTML document. The content of the display element may also be determined by Flash content embedded in the HTML code and rendered by the Macromedia flash plug-in, which is particularly suited to moving the display element.

The display element is generated to appear on top of all other content display by the Web browser. As in previous examples, it may include various interactive features, or simply advertise a brand in a non-interactive manner. The features may include providing links to other sites, tools such as search engines, site guides, real-time information provision, product and site wizards, animated characters, banner-type adverts and rotating adverts.

The display element can also be made to appear in a similar fashion to a frame. Currently, important content, functions applicable to several pages, or functions required over a long page to be scrolled, may be kept in view on the browser display by partitioning it into a permanent frame displayed by the browser, whilst other content is displayed in one or more transient frames. Each frame is a separate Web page and has its own URL. The user may navigate between different transient frames by following links, while the permanent frame containing important information remains displayed, both frames each being allocate space in the browsers display window. Since the frames are different Web pages however, it may not be possible to bookmark what appears on the browser, since only one frame (which is an entire page) will be bookmarked at a time. Either the permanent frame or the transient frame may appear singly on the browsers display, and since they may be designed to be displayed in conjunction, the frames may be meaningless on their own.

The display application can^" generate a display element incorporating the content and functionality of the permanent frame into the display element. Since the display element may be generated by Javascript code in the HTML code of the Web page, or called from a remote server, the Web page may be bookmarked or accessed via a search engine and the display element will still be displayed. Not only is the display element superimposed upon the Web page being displayed, but remains stationary as the Web page is scrolled, so that it always remains in view. The display element also remains superimposed above other instances of the browser application which are subsequently opened.

The display element may also be provided to computers on an Intranet system by a display application installed on a server connected to that Intranet. The display element is superimposed above any other applications (the computer settings may be adjusted such that the display element cannot be disabled without authorisation), and may be used to provide company announcements and distribute messages emails and faxes, and applications such as database searches and the like, if necessary through a drop down menu created on the display element. The display element could offer different applications and functionality to different users depending upon their area of competence and security access level.

r

As will be understood to persons skilled in the art, variations are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, the display clement may take the form of banners, windows, dialog boxes and icons having any shape, form or dimension, within the scope of the computer's operating parameters. The display element may comprises a single permanent icon, which upon selection reveals a menu or dialog box containing other network based icons.

It will be realised that the invention is not limited to particular operating systems or programming languages, and is equally applicable to windows 2000, Windows NT, and Linux, and may of course be implemented in future programming languages and operating systems. It will be equally recognised where an embodiment is implemented using TCP/IP, HTML and Javascript, CSS etc, other similar protocols, languages and systems may be used with similar results. Further, the invention may be adapted to other wireless network devices having displays, such as digital televisions, mobile telephones, and portable wireless internet devices and the like.

Claims

1. An image display scheme for a computing device, the computing device including a processing and memory means, a display screen, and means for selecting items on the screen, capable of displaying one or more overlapping items, including a browser application capable of displaying content retrieved from the Internet, the image display scheme generating a superimposed element that appears on the screen permanently superimposed over any other displayed items displayed by the browser application at all times.

2. An image display scheme according to claim 1, wherein the code for the content to be displayed includes an executable code embedded in the content code to implement the superimposable element.

3. An image display scheme according to claim 1, wherein the code for the content includes retrieval instructions to another Internet server, this server supplying the superimposable element.

4. An image display scheme for a computing device, the computing device including a processing and memory means, a display screen, and means for selecting items on the screen, capable of displaying one or more overlapping items, the image display scheme generating a superimposed element that appears on the screen permanently superimposed over any other displayed items at alj, times, the display scheme being implemented by a display application installed in the processing and memory means.

5. An image display scheme according to claim 4, wherein the display application retrieves data which influences the form and characteristics of the superimposed element from across a network.

6. An image display scheme according to either of claims 4 or 5, wherein the display application includes an renderer for HTML or the like.

7. An image display scheme for a computing device, the computing device including a processing and memory means, a display screen, and means for selecting items on the screen, capable of displaying one or more overlapping items, the computing device being connected across a network to a server computer, tr/e image display the image display scheme generating a superimposed element that appears on the screen permanently superimposed over any other displayed items the display scheme being implemented by a display application installed in the server computer.

8. An image display scheme according to any previous claim, wherein the superimposable element includes a shortcut or link causing a connection to be initiated over a network to a server.

9. An image display scheme according to claim 8, wherein the shortcut or link is to a Web site.

10. An image display scheme according to claim 9, wherein there are a plurality of shortcuts or links, and a plurality of image representations associated with the shortcuts or links and which initiate activation of the shortcuts or links, different image representations being displayed in a rotating manner.

11. An image display scheme for a computing device according to any previous claim, wherein the network applications include an e-mail sending and/or receiving application.

12. An image display scheme for a computing device according either previous claim, wherein the network applications include an internet search engine application.

13. An image display scheme for a computing device substantially as herein described.

14. Any novel and inventive feature or combination of features specifically disclosed herein within the meaning of Article 4H of the International Convention (Paris Convention).