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:
Mar. 16, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 31, 1997
Howard Justin Glaser, San Jose, CA (US);
Karl David Johnson, Round Rock, TX (US);
Stewart E Nickolas, Round Rock, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for providing a selectively docking and floating menu/tool bar for windows displayed on a monitor connected to a computer. The docking or floating nature of the menu/tool bar is selectable by the user, generally by selecting either a docking mode or floating mode from a menu displayed on the monitor. When floating mode is selected, the menu/tool bar automatically floats apart from the window. When docking mode is selected, the menu/tool bar automatically docks adjacent to the window. In floating mode, the selection of a window as an 'active' window results in the activation of the menu/tool bar. In docking mode, the selection of a window as an 'active' window results in the activation and immediate docking of the menu/tool bar to that window. Thereafter, any manipulation of the active window results in an identical manipulation of the docking menu/tool bar.