The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 06, 2026
Filed:
Jun. 29, 2023
Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc, Redmond, WA (US);
Thomas Henry Alphin, III, Kirkland, WA (US);
Jan-Kristian Markiewicz, Redmond, WA (US);
Jan H. Karachale, Redmond, WA (US);
Benjamin J. Schoepke, Seattle, WA (US);
Ryan Brennen Cuppernull, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
William Scott Stauber, Seattle, WA (US);
Aury Fuchsia Delmar, Seattle, WA (US);
Yashraj M. Borse, Redmond, WA (US);
Albert Peter Yih, Seattle, WA (US);
Jeffrey Matthew Smith, Monroe, WA (US);
Michael Pe Von Hippel, Seattle, WA (US);
Robert Armen Mikhayelyan, Seattle, WA (US);
Eric Norman Badger, Redmond, WA (US);
Ryan Lee Solorzano, Redmond, WA (US);
Nishitha Burman, Seattle, WA (US);
Juan Sebastian Sepulveda Varon, Vancouver, WA (US);
Jerome Healy, Seattle, WA (US);
MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
Disclosed is an operating system (OS) discovery mode that identifies and provides access to OS and/or third-party provided features within an applicable region of a desktop. In some configurations, once the discovery mode is activated, the content displayed by the applicable region is analyzed to identify content usable by OS and/or third-party provided features. Visual cues are rendered in the applicable region near the identified content, highlighting the availability of the OS and/or third-party provided features. Users may interact with the visual cues to manipulate the underlying content or to invoke the OS and/or third-party provided features. OS and/or third-party provided features may modify content displayed by an application, launch an inline micro-experience, crop or export images, etc. While in the discovery mode, visual cues are highlighted as a discovery mouse cursor moves around the desktop. In some configurations the discovery mode is triggered automatically, causing an OS service to automatically identify and display a set of entity visual cues across the applicable region.