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:
Dec. 17, 2002
Filed:
May. 27, 1998
Christian Beaumont, Issaquah, WA (US);
Gregory S Lindhorst, Woodinville, WA (US);
Stephen J. Millet, Seattle, WA (US);
James F. Springfield, Woodinville, WA (US);
Victor A. Stone, Mercer Island, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
The present invention generates graphical user interface (GUI) components with GUI regions on a GUI display using web technology such that the GUI components are substantially independent of the host application. The host application defines a respective size and a respective location for each GUI region on the GUI display. The host application also instantiates a corresponding web browser for each GUI region. Each corresponding browser retrieves and executes an associated web page that defines the appearance and/or the functionality of a GUI region. The web page is written in a standard high-level language such as hypertext markup language such that the appearance and functionality of the GUI regions may be easy to create and modify. Because the web page defining a GUI region can be located anywhere on the world wide web, the functionality of the GUI regions is extensible beyond the capabilities of the host terminal running the host application. In addition, the corresponding browser determines an appropriate time for performing the corresponding functionality of each GUI region. The corresponding browser may also bind to an object model within the host application to provide the host application functions via a GUI region.