Other

Sony Corporation

Sony Electronics Inc

Salvatore Cataudella

Kenneth Herndon

Kathleen Cunningham

Franklin Servan-Schreiber

Method of advertising on-line during, for example, a world wide web session is provided by downloading full page advertisements from a predetermined site (e.g., remote server) to a user's computer during a communication link idle time. The downloaded advertising data are stored and then displayed when the user makes a request to retrieve new data, for example, a hyperlink request to a selected remote server. The advertisement remains displayed while the connection to the selected remote server is made and at least until a portion of new content data is transmitted to the user terminal.

Method of advertising on line during a communication link idle time

An object oriented zooming engine provides zooming graphical objects for a zooming graphical user interface. A zooming object residing in a zooming graphical user interface has attributes that are defined by graphical object classes having a particular class hierarchy. Color scheme object classes have a hierarchy that mirrors that of the graphical object classes. This provides an architecture wherein classes of zooming objects can have their own default color schemes, and can inherit the default characteristics of super classes in a predictable fashion. Thus, for example, an instance of an object may inherit the color attributes of other members of its class by default, or may specify an instance color scheme that differs from the default scheme. The architecture provides consistent encapsulation of the color attributes corresponding to graphical objects, and allows color information for the graphical user interface to be stored more efficiently.

Color scheme for zooming graphical user interface

A zooming engine for displaying zooming objects residing in a zooming space is disclosed. The zooming objects may be defined by a class in an object oriented architecture. The zooming objects are displayed on a display which provides a zooming view. A view manager manages the zooming objects that reside in the zooming view. Responsive to an event, such as the user's clicking on a viewed zooming object using mouse controls, a pick handler that is associated with the view manager determines which zooming objects in the view are targeted to process the event. The pick handler has a picking policy that is used to determine whether a zooming object is targeted to process an event. Providing the view manager to manage the zooming objects in the zooming view, along with a separate pick handler that can be interchangeably associated with the view manager allows the policy for responding to an event to be altered by merely introducing a new pick handler, without requiring reconfiguration of the view manager or zooming object classes.

Interchangeable pick handler for zooming graphical user interface

Flexible event responsive behavior in an object oriented computing environment is provided by associating a plurality of event handlers to objects. The event handlers can have various event responsive behavior, and can be sequentially invoked in order to provide various different types of behavior responsive to an event. Certain event handlers can consume an event, wherein the event is not processed by remaining event handlers. In certain embodiments, the event handlers can be associated with objects at various levels, such as class and super class levels. In that instance, the event handlers can be invoked starting with the class level, and proceeding to superior classes through the base class corresponding to the object. Alternatively, event handlers are associated with objects at an instance level, wherein the instance level event handlers are invoked prior to the class level ones. Preferably, the event responsive behavior is provided in a zooming engine for a zooming graphical user interface, where zooming objects reside in a zooming space and are displayed in a zooming view.

Polymorphic event handling for zooming graphical user interface

An object oriented zooming engine for providing a zooming graphical user interface is disclosed. The zooming engine includes classes that define zooming objects, an event manager, and a view manager. Events are received by the event manager, and alternatively assigned to the view manager or zooming objects for processing. The view manager and zooming objects have associated event handlers for providing event responsive behavior. Among the event handlers associated with the view manager is a pick handler that determines whether zooming objects in a zooming view have been targeted by an event. Thus, an event can be initially assigned to the view, and then assigned to the zooming objects within the view that may have been targeted. This allows more efficient handling of events and updating of the display, and provides a flexible system, where various behaviors can be variously and individually modified.

Growing community of inventors

Brooklyn, NY, United States of America

Salvatore Cataudella