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:
Aug. 15, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1997
Chris J Ryan, Mountain View, CA (US);
Donald R Gentner, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for generating improved command progress indicator including the steps of establishing at a location of a display at least one computer-generated graphic indicator associated with at least one computer executable operation in a first-state appearance, the graphic indicator having a first-state appearance and a dynamic second-state appearance, signaling the computer to conduct an operation, altering the appearance of the computer-generated graphic indicator from the first-state appearance to the dynamic second-state appearance while the computer is conducting the operation, and restoring the appearance of the computer-generated graphic indicator from the dynamic second-state appearance to the first-state appearance when the computer has completed the operation. An embodiment of the invention uses a button graphic as the computer-generated graphic indicator and further comprises the steps of establishing a cursor on the video display, positioning the cursor on the button graphic using a cursor control device, selecting the button graphic for signaling said computer to conduct the associated operation. When the button graphic is clicked and the computer begins executing the associated operation, the appearance of the button graphic will become a dynamic second-state appearance comprising the repeated steps of adding and subsequently removing a highlight color from the first-state appearance of the button graphic at predetermined intervals. Alternatively, the appearance of the button graphic could become an animated graphic superimposed upon a background comprising a version of the original icon graphic.