Silicon Graphics, Incorporated

Xerox Corporation

William A Buxton

George William Fitzmaurice

Eric Allan Bier

Gordon P Kurtenbach

Beverly L Harrison

Maureen C Stone

Thomas P Baudel

Russell N Owen

Kim J Vicente

Jeffrey Allen Bell

A system and method for providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for maximized user performance and system efficiency. The GUI utilizes variable-transparency to merge images (or layers) of objects onto a graphical display. For example, 'see through' objects (such as menus, tool palettes, windows, dialogue boxes, or screens) are superimposed over similar objects or different background content (such as text, wire-frame or line art images, or solid images). A critical factor in the usability of variably-transparent GUI is the effect of visual interference on user performance. That is, the interaction between superimposed objects of varying types measurably alters performance to unacceptable levels in terms of user selection error rates and response times. The present invention provides a system and method of using optimal threshold transparency levels for user performance optimization. Correspondingly, the present invention does not substantially rely on visual enhancement techniques within the transparency ranges delineated by the optimal thresholds, thereby providing enhanced system efficiency. Additionally, the present invention provides hybrid windows having both variably-transparent regions and opaque regions for further performance gains.

Graphical user interface with optimal transparency thresholds for

A system that includes a flat panel display that can change three-dimensional orientation in a continuous way, such as when the display is horizontally rotated on a turntable. Position or orientation of the display relative to a reference orientation is sensed by orientation sensors coupled to the display. A computer compares the orientation of the display to a fixed reference orientation. When the orientation of the display has changed from the reference, the computer maps the orientation of a user interface onto the display in such a way as to maintain the same orientation of the interface with respect to the reference. User input through an overlaid input device correlates to the oriented user interface. In this way if the display is rotated into, for example, a sideways or upside-down orientation, the user interface elements will still be displayed in a normal upright orientation for the user and the user inputs in a normal manner. When multiple users interact with the display, the orientation of each user with respect to the reference is tracked by the computer and the particular user's interface orientation is maintained constant with respect to the particular user's reference.

System for maintaining orientation of a user interface as a display

A system and method for a graphical keyboard that benefits from the expressive power and intuitive ease of use associated with pen strokes and gestures, yet does not require complex character-recognition software. The graphical keyboard responds differently to different kinds of pen strokes. For example, lowercase 'a' is entered by tapping a stylus on the 'a' key of the graphical keyboard. Uppercase 'A' is entered by an upward stroke initiated over the 'a' key. Likewise, by stroking in other directions, a user can express other modifiers to the basic character, such as 'control', 'alt', 'command,' etc. Also, strokes in distinct directions can be used to express space, backspace, delete, and return characters, for example. Multiple strokes can be applied in sequence to a single key to express multiple modifiers. Visual feedback of pen strokes can be provided in the form of marks made by the pen. Pop-up menus can be used to provide help with and to facilitate memorization of command strokes and stroke sequences. The graphical keyboard thus lets the expert user proceed by 'feel,' and prompts the novice user when and as necessary.

Graphical keyboard

A temporal data control system that uses a hand held, mobile scrubwheel that includes two position indicators and an activation switch. As a user moves the scrubwheel about on a surface of a position sensing tablet a computer controls the movement of a cursor on a display. The computer also displays one or more temporal sequences, such as video sequences, on the display. Movement of the scrubwheel is detected by the computer allowing the user to position the cursor on a sequence to be controlled which the computer interprets as selecting the sequence. The computer detects rotation of the scrubwheel and controls the forward and backward motion (and speed) of the sequence responsive to the rotation. By moving the device to another location on the surface the user can select another sequence to control. The user can 'point-and-scrub' temporal sequences.

Temporal data control system

A system and method that maps temporal control functions into a six degree of freedom pointing device. The six degree of freedom pointing device controls both transport and view modes within a time-based media editing system and allows a user to toggle between modes without losing visual contact with graphical objects appearing on a video screen.

System for editing time-based temporal digital media including a

A graphical user interface with clickaround tools for enhanced user interaction with an application program utilizing 'two-handed' techniques. The 'tool-handed' technique provides two displayed cursors controlled by two distinct pointing input devices. Actuation of a secondary input device, corresponding a secondary cursor, provides a tool palette or menu near a displayed primary cursor. This technique allows a user to select and activate tools to perform substantive operations on displayed objects of the application program. The interface allows the user to invoke tools in a fluent and seamless fashion, thus maintaining the user's focus on the substantive operations and not the procedural motions of tool access.

Clickaround tool-based graphical interface with two cursors

A user interface technique operates in the environment of a processor-controlled machine for executing a program that operates on a set of underlying data and displays a visible representation thereof. The system further provides a visual depiction of a set of tools. The tools include click-through tools that can be combined with other tools (including other click-through tools) to provide composite tools. A click-through tool includes a generally transparent delineated active area that is movable so that it can be placed over a desired portion of the visible representation. When the user interacts with the visible representation through the active area, the action takes on an attribute of the particular click-through tool. A click-through tool can be superimposed on another click-through tool, whereupon an action taken through the two click-through tools onto the visible representation takes on attributes of both tools.

User interface having click-through tools that can be composed with

A user interface technique operates in the environment of a processor-controlled machine for executing a program that operates on a set of underlying data and displays a visible representation thereof. The system generates a visual depiction of a movable sheet having a number of delineated regions (active areas), responds to a first set of signals for positioning the sheet relative to the visible representation, responds to a second set of signals characterized by position information (typically cursor position) relative to the sheet and the visible representation, and generates a third set of signals to the program. The third set of signals depends on the relative position of the sheet and the visible representation and on the position information that characterizes the second set of input signals. The delineated regions may be thought of and referred to as click-through tools.

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Toronto, Canada

William A Buxton