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:
Nov. 16, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 17, 1998
Christopher R. Jones, Seattle, WA (US);
Christopher R. Brown, Seattle, WA (US);
Michael A. Schmidt, Issaquah, WA (US);
Sankar Ramasubramanian, Redmond, WA (US);
Sean L. Flynn, North Bend, WA (US);
Edward Jason Anderson, Duvall, WA (US);
Mark H. Enomoto, Seattle, WA (US);
Gayna Williams, Seattle, WA (US);
Bryan T. Starbuck, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
In a graphical desktop environment displaying desktop components, a control is provided to track the position of a pointer on a screen, and when the pointer enters relevant regions with respect to a desktop component, a thin or thick border in displayed around the desktop component to enable a user to resize the desktop component, and/or a caption bar is displayed along an edge of the component to enable a user to move the desktop component on the desktop. The caption bar may additionally be provided with menu and close buttons, to enable the user to bring up a menu of properties and/or actions for the desktop component, and close the desktop component, respectively. When the pointer is outside any region relevant to a desktop component, no borders or caption bars are displayed, thereby resulting in a visually less cluttered appearance.