Apple Inc.

David Canfield Smith

Kurt W Piersol

Mark Ludwig Stern

David W Curbow

Jeffrey W Kreegar

Daniel Jordan

George Corrick

Michael Thompson

Jennifer Chaffee

James Clinton Spohrer

G Allen Cypher

Allen Cypher

A document-centered user interface architecture for a computer system employs parts as the fundamental building blocks of all documents. All data is stored in the system as a part, which is comprised of contents and an associated editor. The contents and the functionality of the editor are available to the user wherever the part is located, whether in a document, on a desktop or in a folder. Parts function as containers for other parts, thereby facilitating the compilation and editing of multimedia or compound documents.

Computer-human interface system which manipulates parts between a

Computer-human interface system for compound documents

A method and apparatus for constructing subroutines to define the behavior of simulation objects is provided. The apparatus includes a display, a processor, and an input device. The processor generates on the display a GRR set region associated with a simulation object. A user operates the input device to place visual representations of rules and/or subroutines within the GRR set region. When a visual representation of a rule or subroutine is placed within a GRR set, computer step sequences that implement the behavior specified for the rule or subroutine are generated for the simulation object. A user may operate the input device to activate a control on a visual subroutine indicator to cause a subroutine region to appear. When a visual representation of a rule or subroutine is placed within a subroutine region, the behavior specified for the rule or subroutine is incorporated into the subroutine associated with the subroutine region. Different types of subroutines are provided, where the type of a subroutine determines how the rules within the subroutine are processed during a simulation. Pretests may be specified for subroutines so that the behavior represented by the rules within the subroutine will not be exhibited unless the current state of the simulation satisfies the conditions of the pretest. During the performance of a simulation, the processor displays images associated with simulation objects on the display. The processor causes the images to behave according to the generalized computer step sequences that have been generated based upon the rules and/or subroutines represented in the GRR set regions for the respective objects.

Multi-type subroutines for graphical rewrite rules

A document-centered user interface architecture for a computer system employs parts as the fundamental building blocks of all documents. All data is stored in the system as a part, which is comprised of contents and an associated editor. The contents and the functionality of the editor are available to the user wherever the part is located, whether in a document, on a desktop or in a folder. Parts function as containers for other parts, thereby facilitating the compilation and editing of multimedia or compound documents. When material from one part is inserted into another part, the computer system automatically determines whether the added material is incorporated into the intrinsic contents of the receiving part or embedded as a separately identifiable part.

System for automatically embedding or incorporating contents added to a

An extensible simulation system and graphical programming method enable a simulation user to program the behaviors of objects in a simulation while requiring no knowledge of computer programming concepts or languages. The simulation user defines each object's behaviors by creating Graphical Rewrite Rules through programming by demonstration. The user can selectively abstract a given Graphical Rewrite Rule (GRR) such that it applies to states within the simulation according to hierarchical object types and object property conditions. The extensible simulation system comprises a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an input device, an output device, an external storage device, predetermined amounts of Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read-Only Memory (ROM), and an extensible simulator. The extensible simulator comprises an object source, a simulation viewer, a GRR editor, an action recorder, an abstractor, a drawing editor, an object property editor, an object rule viewer, a subroutine editor, and a simulation execution controller. Each element of the system has an input and an output coupled to a common system bus. Preferably, each element of the extensible simulator is a computer program step sequence stored in RAM. The graphical programming method comprises the steps of: selecting an object for which a GRR is to be defined; establishing a simulation context corresponding to the GRR; defining for the GRR a set of actions to be performed by or upon one or more objects within the simulation context, each action defined through programming by demonstration; automatically recording a computer program step sequence for each action defined; and allowing the GRR to be abstracted.

Extensible simulation system and graphical programming method

Growing community of inventors

Saratoga, CA, United States of America

David Canfield Smith