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.

Date of Patent:
Oct. 26, 1999

Filed:

Oct. 17, 1997
Applicant:
Inventors:

Joseph Saib, San Diego, CA (US);

Kazuto Mugura, San Francisco, CA (US);

Assignees:

Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;

Sony Electronics, Inc., Park Ridge, NJ (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F / ; H04N / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
345327 ; 345430 ; 345467 ; 345354 ;
Abstract

A method and apparatus for indicating functional areas of a graphical user interface are provided. A graphical interface in the form of an electronic program guide is generated. A non-textured portion of the electronic program guide is generated wherein the user can interact with functions of the electronic program guide. A textured background for the electronic program guide is generated wherein the user cannot interact with functions of the electronic program guide. The textured background of the electronic program guide is generated using a noise-pattern generator. The noise-pattern generator provides a tiled color pattern on the textured background. The tiled color pattern is randomly generated from a selectable number of colors using a selectable tile size and selectable colors.


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