In the first instance, the question is not whether someone could have done something similar in the past but whether they actually did and then proving it.
To have the features of the claim, you would need to open a window, drag several folder icons into the window and perfectly align them one over another along the Z axis. The you need some way of selecting one of the folders to bring it to the front. With a tabbed dialog this is usually the tabs, but one could used page numbers or icons in a margin area for example.
The claims are directed to a user-configurable tabbed dialog or the like.
1. A method for combining on a computer display an additional set of information [some control option, e.g. colour chooser or whatever] into a group of multiple sets of information needed on a recurring basis [e.g. tabbed dialog], comprising
the steps of:
establishing an area on the computer display in which the group of multiple sets of information is to be displayed, the area having a size which is less than the entire
area of the computer display; [OK lets have a tabbed dialog in our program]
providing within the area a plurality of selection indicators, one associated with a corresponding one of the multiple sets of information; [mustn't forget the tabs] and
selecting a second of the multiple sets of information from the group for display within the area by activating a selection indicator associated with a corresponding one
of the multiple sets of information, whereby the second of the multiple sets of information is substituted within the area of the display for the first set of information; [make it operate as a tabbed dialog]
and
[this is the important bit]
combining the additional set of information, displayed in a different area of the display from the established area, into the group of multiple sets of information so that
the additional sets of information may be selected in the same manner as the other sets of information in the group. [add a new page to the tabbed dialog which has our colour chooser or whatever]
Seems like a neat useful idea to me. Anyone know of user-configurable dialogs from before 1994?
Slashdot Mirror
In the first instance, the question is not whether someone could have done something similar in the past but whether they actually did and then proving it.
To have the features of the claim, you would need to open a window, drag several folder icons into the window and perfectly align them one over another along the Z axis. The you need some way of selecting one of the folders to bring it to the front. With a tabbed dialog this is usually the tabs, but one could used page numbers or icons in a margin area for example.
IAAL.
The claims are directed to a user-configurable tabbed dialog or the like.
1. A method for combining on a computer display an additional set of information [some control option, e.g. colour chooser or whatever] into a group of multiple sets of information needed on a recurring basis [e.g. tabbed dialog], comprising the steps of:
establishing an area on the computer display in which the group of multiple sets of information is to be displayed, the area having a size which is less than the entire area of the computer display; [OK lets have a tabbed dialog in our program]
providing within the area a plurality of selection indicators, one associated with a corresponding one of the multiple sets of information; [mustn't forget the tabs] and
selecting a second of the multiple sets of information from the group for display within the area by activating a selection indicator associated with a corresponding one of the multiple sets of information, whereby the second of the multiple sets of information is substituted within the area of the display for the first set of information; [make it operate as a tabbed dialog] and
[this is the important bit]
combining the additional set of information, displayed in a different area of the display from the established area, into the group of multiple sets of information so that the additional sets of information may be selected in the same manner as the other sets of information in the group. [add a new page to the tabbed dialog which has our colour chooser or whatever]
Seems like a neat useful idea to me. Anyone know of user-configurable dialogs from before 1994?