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:
Feb. 08, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 10, 1998
Mark A Malamud, Seattle, WA (US);
Renee Marceau, Seattle, WA (US);
Joyce A Grauman, Seattle, WA (US);
Royce A Levien, Bellevue, WA (US);
Daniel P Oran, Brookville, NY (US);
David A Bolnick, Seattle, WA (US);
David A Barnes, Jr, Seattle, WA (US);
Russell Scott Johnson, Bothell, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A system and method are described for presenting a continuously accessible computer system tool interface. The interface of the present invention comprises a separated applications section and system tray section. The applications section provides a portion of the graphic user interface for running applications programs. The tray section provides an alternative region of the graphic user interface for objects to surface their key features while occupying only a small portion of the display space. The tray section is supported by a Tray Object which provides a frame work for tray aware applications to dock.