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:
Jun. 11, 1996
Filed:
Feb. 28, 1994
Dennis C York, Corvallis, OR (US);
Evan P Smouse, Corvallis, OR (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A computer has an operating system with a graphical user interface. This computer also has a key manager for graphically associating objects, such as data or application programs, with keystrokes, such as Fn-Fx key combinations, where Fn is a special shift key and Fx is a numbered function key. A key group or folder contains icons which represent objects. This key group can be built or modified by the user by copying an icon contained in another program group or folder via a drag and drop or similar operation. The key manager interrogates the operating system for the contents of the key group, and receives a key array. The key array contains objects associated with keystrokes. The key manager then monitors the operating system for any keystrokes received from the user. Upon receipt of a keystroke, the key manager determines whether the keystroke is in the key group. If so, the key manager intercepts the keystroke from the operating system, and retrieves the object associated with the keystroke from the key array. If the object is not already executing, the key manager executes the object.