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:
May. 19, 1998
Filed:
Oct. 02, 1995
Chris Crawford, Fort Worth, TX (US);
AST Research, Inc., Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
A system for implementing a pop-up help system for a computer graphical user interface is disclosed. In a departure from the art, the pop-up help system provides help information on graphical display elements (GDEs), such as icons and text instructions, in the form of a help window that is not character or format limited and that is displayed when the associated GDE is selected. The pop-up help system also allows direct access to additional help information and provides for the display of graphics and the execution of multimedia objects. The pop-up help system comprises a GDE (a 'help window'), which is displayed when the mouse pointer is moved over a GDE associated therewith. The help window comprises information regarding the associated GDE and may comprise multimedia objects or user activated buttons for accessing additional help information or for performing other actions. The help window is displayed until the neither the help window or GDE are selected and a user-specified time period has elapsed.