Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Erik A Gavriluk

Mark A Malamud

David A Barnes

John E Elsbree

Joyce A Grauman

Russell S Johnson

David E McCauley, Iii

J Alison Grauman

Valerie Horvath

Steve Madigan

A system supports the use of information pointers. The information pointers provide audio and/or visual information about objects to which the cursors point. For instance, an information cursor may provide output specifying the name of an object to which the cursor points. In addition to information about the object pointed to by the cursor, information windows provide information about the user's interaction with the object. For example, 'Deleting Source File.' Information windows may contain information pertaining to a pair of objects, such as the source and target object in a drag and drop operation, or to a collection of objects.

Information pointers

Information cursors are provided for use in an operating system and/or application programs. Each information cursor includes a pointing portion to point to objects displayed on a video display and an information portion to display information about an object to which the pointing portion points. The information displayed in an information cursor may include the name of the object, a preview of the contents of the object, or property information about the object.

Information cursors

A system supports the use of information pointers. The information pointers provide audio and/or visual information about objects to which the cursors point. For instance, an information cursor may provide output specifying the name of an object to which the cursor points. In addition to information about the object pointed to by the cursor, information windows provide information about the user's interaction with the object. For example, &ldquo;Deleting Source File.&rdquo; Information windows may contain information pertaining to a pair of objects, such as the source and target object in a drag and drop operation, or to a collection of objects.

A method and system for grouping and manipulating windows in a window system is provided. In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of displayed windows are grouped into a project group. A project group has associated information regarding which windows belong to the project group, an associated project group appearance for differentiating the windows in the project group from other windows, and a set of project group commands for operating upon the project group. A window is designated as a project group folder, this window containing indicators to the other windows belonging to the project group. For each window belonging to the project group, project group commands are added to menus of the windows belonging to the project group. Later, when a window is activated and a project group command selected for operating upon the project group, certain behaviors occur. For example, when the project group command is a request to close the project group, the current state of each window in the project group is saved and each window is displayed according to the closed state of the window. Also, for example, when the project group command is a request to open the project group, then each window in the project group is displayed according to its previously saved state.

Method and system for grouping and manipulating windows

File rack icons are provided to logically group object icons on the screen of a video display. The file rack icon consolidates the grouped icons so that they occupy less of the screen of the video display. The file rack icon is available in alternative forms. In addition, object icons may be dragged into or dragged out of a file rack icon so as to dynamically alter the icons grouped by the file rack icon.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Erik A Gavriluk