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:
Apr. 06, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 16, 2000
Pete Grillo, Portland, OR (US);
Alvin Pivowar, Portland, OR (US);
Palm Source, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A non-modal help mode uses a verb/object paradigm where the current context of the application program for which the user needs help is determined and a help screen is provided which shows all of the actions that can be taken from that context. The non-modal help system includes a display screen providing a window for a number of output displays of an application program, a collection of pre-defined images mapped to the output displays by their context, a user input device for initiating non-modal help, and a non-modal displayer which displays one of the predefined images within the window in the place of its contextually-related output display. Preferably, the predefined images are stored as static bit map images including a dithered representation of the context in which the help was requested and a number of help balloons strategically positioned on the dithered image. Even more preferably, the balloons are positioned manually by a graphic artist to maximize their placement on the dithered image. By providing a balloon to described the functionality of every (or most) of the active elements, a user is provided with a quick framework or “Skeleton” view of the meaning and operation of the various elements in the display.