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:
Apr. 01, 1997
Filed:
Dec. 13, 1994
Daniel P Oran, Cambridge, MA (US);
Teresa A Serrador, Kirkland, WA (US);
Joseph D Belfiore, Redmond, WA (US);
George H Pitt, III, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A system visual notification area is provided to display visual notifications to a user. The visual notifications provide visual cues to a user of the nature of the intended notification. The visual notifications may notify a user of events, status information, or other information. The visual notifications may be interactive so as to display information about a notification when a cursor is positioned to point at the notification. Moreover, the visual notifications may be interactive so as to provide a means for activating a program or displaying a menu to respond to the notification. The visual notifications are displayed without substantially interrupting execution of any currently active programs. Furthermore, the visual notifications may be displayed without the program that is provided to respond to the notifications having a currently active window.