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:
Oct. 08, 2002
Filed:
May. 26, 1999
Patrick H. Cox, Jr., Raleigh, NC (US);
David J. Schell, Raleigh, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
User interfaces, methods, and computer program products can conserve space on a computer system screen by associating an icon with a plurality of operations. In an illustrative embodiment, an icon's visual appearance is used to associate the icon with a particular operation. In response to input from a user, the icon's appearance changes to indicate that the icon is now associated with an alternative operation. Thus, a graphical user interface (GUI) for operating a computer system can use a single icon to represent and provide access to a plurality of operations that otherwise may require several icons, which can consume valuable space on a computer system display or monitor. Therefore, the user interfaces, methods, and computer program products may be particularly useful in small computer systems, such as laptop computers, handheld computers, palmtop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and pervasive computing devices.