System for providing peripheral awareness of information automatically, and method for providing dynamic object

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD [Detailed description of the invention]

【0001】

[Technical field to which the invention belongs]

The present invention relates to new systems and processes that provide dynamic communication access and information awareness on interactive peripheral displays.

【0002】

[Conventional technology]

As a background, in environments where current information is saturated, such as the Internet, local computer networks, or remote computer networks, or a combination of the Internet and such networks, users often have the potential to be of interest to them. It is difficult to track a large amount of various communications and information. Such communications and information include, for example, email, instant messaging, file transfers, nearby weather, bookings, schedules, personal contacts, statistics, file status, stock quotes, etc. Includes sports results, local traffic, or other types of communications or information that the user may be interested in. The problem is that communication and / or information is dynamic, and quick, numerous, or large changes in communication status or channels, or in information that the user is interested in, are often delayed relatively useless to the user. It becomes especially serious when it comes to communication and / or information.

【0003】

In response to this issue, each time a user wants to look up a communication or information, the user attempts to track a particular communication or information without having to manually search for or manually inspect and update the communication or information. Several traditional methods have been developed to assist users in doing so. However, such methods usually facilitate the type of communication or information that can be tracked or displayed, the form of accessing or otherwise providing the communication or information to the user, or the communication or information sharing between users. Limited by the inability to. In addition, traditional methods that have attempted to address these issues simply enable parallel information retrieval, display, or access in combination with communication and communication access points in a dynamically integrated environment. It tends to be limited by the inability to provide one interface. As a result, users are often annoyed by a messy display that provides access or interaction to either a particular type of communication or certain information, but to both communication and information in an integrated environment. Has no access and dialogue.

【0004】

Several traditional messaging type schemes have attempted to partially address some of these issues. However, such schemes usually provide a relatively large window that occupies a significant amount of screen or display area. Further, such a scheme provides some communication function along with some information gathering or information display function, but tends to separate the communication function from the information function via one or more tabs and the like. As a result, certain information cannot be easily shared or communicated within the applications provided by these methods. Moreover, such schemes become more cumbersome as the amount of information the user tracks increases and as the number of communication contacts maintained by the user increases. Specifically, as the amount of contacts and / or information grows, users have to scroll through large amounts of data or communication channels to find what they are looking for.

【0005】

For example, multiple traditional messaging type schemes track or monitor information such as stock quotes, weather, news, or other information via the Internet or other local or remote networks, or a combination thereof. Provides similar functionality. In addition, these traditional methods include, for example, text instant messaging, file transfer, email, etc., via one of multiple communication channels for contacts within one or more groups of contacts. It also provides some kind of communication access. As a result, the user can track specific information of interest and at the same time communicate with a specific person or entity. Unfortunately, these methods do not allow the user to do both at the same time. The user must tab between different types of information and communication functions. Therefore, users must manually save or copy information, switch tabs, manually compose a message to a particular contact, and attach or paste the information to that message through a different information tab. The observed data cannot be shared with the contacts on the Communications tab.

【0006】

In addition, these traditional methods tend to have multiple tabs and therefore require a fairly large window to display information and associated controls or icons. Unfortunately, such windows tend to be buried under other application windows when the user is using the other application. As a result, users often have to interrupt their workflow and switch windows. This particular issue has been addressed in some of these schemes by offering the option of always bringing the window to the front. As a result, the problem of buried messaging windows is solved, but new problems arise. Specifically, the messaging window obscures a potentially large portion of other open application windows. It is possible to manually resize different application windows and try to move them on the screen to give each window its own space, but such manual user intervention is time consuming and It can be annoying to regular users.

【0007】

At least one conventional method has been attempted to address some of the problems of the aforementioned methods. For example, one traditional method provides an application that allows a user to customize at least one icon in a scrollable strip along one side of a computer display device. This method provides an iconized link to a particular information source and uses traditional techniques to capture the information retrieved from the information source into each of the customized icons. However, this method has several important limitations.

【0008】

Specifically, this method provides the user with information collection and provision to the user, but cannot provide the level of communication functionality provided by the messaging method described above. For example, this method does not provide a means of initiating communication via an icon, so that an icon can provide communication status, such as the number of messages received, but a means of responding to such messages. Does not provide. Moreover, this method does not provide icon nesting or other forms of group organization for aggregating multiple icons. In other words, opening the window associated with an icon does not provide access to the next level of grouped icons. As a result, when multiple icons are used, it becomes difficult to organize the icons. Moreover, this type of icon is not easily transportable. In other words, there is no actual mechanism for transferring icons between users. Instead, the user needs to get the icon from the application used to manage the icon. Another limitation of this method is the lack of the ability to resize windows that contain scrollable strips used to display icons. In addition, this method automatically creates another row or strip in the window if the user adds too many items, even if that row contains only one icon. As a result, this approach can potentially result in significant waste of valuable display space.

【0009】

A related method allows the user to customize the scrolling ticker type display window to provide continuously updated scrolling information from a predefined set of available information. .. Although useful, this method is more limited than the previous method for a number of reasons. The most important of these restrictions is the pre-defined set of information available in this scheme. Therefore, the type and source of information are simply disabled if they are not listed as options in this way. However, users have limited control over some information options, such as selecting a particular stock symbol for a stock market, selecting a news area or topic that generates automatic alerts, or selecting a specific city to generate a weather forecast. Is given. Another limitation is that the user cannot add or edit information sources, such as by changing the icon as described above. A further limitation of this scheme is that the ticker scrolls, so there is no guarantee that all the information of interest is visually available at any given time. Specifically, if the information that the user is interested in is not currently visible, the user must wait for that information to scroll into the view. As a result, such a scheme can be very distracting to the user, as the user must pay a great deal of attention to the display in order to retrieve the desired information. In addition, the scrolling ticker is constantly moving, creating a sustained movement in the user's peripheral vision, which in itself is potentially very distracting to the user. After all, the communication function of this method is virtually nonexistent as compared with the above-mentioned messaging method.

【0010】

Other methods of providing custom information views or displays use a technique called "web scraping". In general, such a scheme allows a user to specify that a unique Internet web page, i.e., a particular portion of a source web page, be displayed on a single customized web page. As a result, such methods provide retrieval and display of information, but no communication capabilities.

【0011】

For example, one web scraping method allows a user to "clip" relevant data and content from various internet websites and put them all together in one dynamic browser page called a "view". .. This view is effectively a composite web page. Therefore, the composite web page is automatically updated when any of the source web pages are modified. In addition, this method allows the user to edit the view in a variety of ways, including adding, deleting, and rearranging data elements and personalizing the view at the user's own input. In addition, this method provides a way to transfer views between users. However, this method suffers from many of the same basic restrictions as described above for the methods described above. Its limitations include the inability to nest or organize views, or the ability to arrange views to display at the same time. Also, as mentioned above, such methods usually provide little or no communication or messaging functionality.

【0012】

A further constraint on web scraping is that this method of view must be opened within a window that typically occupies a significant portion of the display device, if not the entire display device, and is therefore a conservative way of providing information to the user. Includes the inability to provide. Moreover, regular web pages and the specific content of these web pages are usually not designed to minimize the area in which information is displayed. In other words, such web pages and content are not simply designed with the idea of packing large amounts of important information into a very small space. The result of web scraping is a composite web page that tends to use screen space very inefficiently. In addition, if some of the web pages scraped or otherwise clipped from an existing web page contain animations, and the web page is in the user's peripheral vision, then the web page is very It can be distracting. After all, web scraping techniques effectively patchwork separate elements, so the composite web pages that result from such techniques are usually visually as if they appear together on an absolutely single page. An unattractive collection of undesigned, heterogeneous elements.

【0013】

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

As a result, what is needed is a new system that automatically provides dynamic communication access and information awareness on interactive peripheral displays that does not require the user to tab between communication channels or information types. It is a process. Moreover, such systems and processes do not require the user to select from a predefined list of communication access points and information categories or information sources, but instead, communication access points and information sources. Must be able to be created and customized. Such communication access points include, for example, people, companies, along with the current availability of each contact via any of a variety of contact methods such as email, voicemail, messaging servers, and telephone. , Or a communication channel that contacts other entities such as an organization. The information source must include all of the desired information elements, for example, a particular information type, information category, or information source. In addition, this system and processing allows users to customize all of their desired communication channels or access points, or all of their desired sources of information, and aggregate or organize them into any desired number of groups or nested groups. You have to be like that. Also, these groups or nested groups can be deployed by the user, unless the user can view the nested groups or the communication access points or information elements within these groups or nested groups. It doesn't become. Finally, this system and processing must provide sharing of predefined or user-definable communication access points and / or information elements between users.

【0014】

[Means for solving problems]

In general, the present invention solves the problems described above and other problems that become apparent from the understanding of the following description by automatically providing dynamic communication access and information awareness with an integrated interactive peripheral display. To do. The present invention provides this functionality automatically and / or by allowing a user to specify specific information or communication contacts that the user is interested in. Customized dynamic thumbnails representing each contact and each particular information element are automatically displayed.

【0015】

These dynamic thumbnails or "items" generally display a "ticket" that describes the information or contact of interest, as well as any information or communication contact represented by the ticket. Includes a combination of specialized "viewers" to do. Further, according to the present invention, in one embodiment, the ticket can be shared between users via conventional techniques and, like any other electronic file, can be copied, cut, pasted and stored from a web page. , Storing, forwarding, sending, sending e-mail, drag and drop, etc. are possible. The systems and processes of the present invention either automatically track or receive the information described by the ticket and the current state of the communication contact, and within the interactive "peripheral awareness" interface to display the item, the current state. Dynamically provide information and communication contact availability and status. The peripheral awareness interface displays information and / or communication contacts in a way that minimizes all potential distractions or disruptions to the user.

【0016】

With respect to the present invention, the concept of "peripheral awareness" can best be explained by the following description. In general, the peripheral awareness interface of the present invention utilizes the innate ability of humans to receive information about the surrounding world without significantly interrupting the work of focus. One of the obvious examples of human innate ability to perceive information in the form of the surroundings without interrupting the work of this focus is that one overheard the discussion between Bob and Jane in the hallway, and Jane was on vacation. It is possible to recognize that you have returned from. The present invention utilizes this capability with the peripheral awareness interface. Such peripheral awareness interfaces are always on and visible, rather than separate user interface events that are displayed when there is any change of state of information. Therefore, peripheral awareness according to the invention does not immediately and explicitly draw the user's attention to new or updated information, but makes that information available to the surroundings, and as a result, when the user decides to look at it. To be able to be observed at that time. Further, in one embodiment, in order to increase the effectiveness of user notifications, the peripheral awareness interface is time sensitive to the information. Use a strategy of both peripheral awareness and notification, ie, audible and / or visible alerts, depending on sensitivity) or priority. Peripheral awareness interfaces of the present invention provide a display area on the user's display device for displaying items, as described herein.

【0017】

Further, with respect to communication contacts, the systems and methods of the present invention provide a "person-centric interface" for interacting with contacts. At the same time, this person-centric interface brings a person or other entity to the front of the peripheral display so that communication with a particular person or entity can be easily reviewed or initiated. , The communication availability of such a person or entity can be understood by the user simply by looking at the peripheral display. This feature is achieved by displaying pictures, images, icons, avatars, etc. within each item that represents a particular contact to visually represent the communication availability or status of each contact. Will be done. In an alternative embodiment, this person-centric interface is further combined with, for example, communication history. Contact-specific information such as history) and communication availability, as well as either multiple access points or communication channels such as email, messaging servers, voicemail, phone numbers, peer-to-peer file transfers, etc. Includes communication access and interaction for specific contacts through.

【0018】

As noted above, the designation, tracking or reception, and provision of information and communication capabilities provides the user with peripheral awareness of the information of interest when paired with a "viewer" in accordance with the present invention, below. Achieved through the use of at least one customizable, dynamically encapsulated object called a "ticket". As noted above, the combination of ticket and viewer is referred to as an "item".

【0019】

Tickets are generally represented by data structures such as XML data files. Each ticket contains an instruction as to which information or communication contact the ticket represents, as well as a pointer to a particular "service" that represents one of several traditional means of interacting with the information or communication contact. included. These services are automatically or manually selected from a library of predefined or user-definable services. Specifically, different services are shared, providing the functionality of access, reception, retrieval, and / or other forms of interaction with either traditional information, sources of information, or communication contacts. Represents a code or function. Further, it should be noted that in one embodiment, multiple services are used in combination to provide a complex dialogue with either traditional information, a source of information, or a communication contact.

【0020】

For the present invention, an example of a "service" is the functionality required to monitor an email folder by connecting to a conventional MAPI server. Another example of a service is the functionality of sending or receiving email messages. The associated service provides the ability to communicate with or transfer information through any number of traditional methods, such as instant messaging or peer-to-peer communication. Another example of a service is the ability to translate a text file from one language to another. Another example of a service is the functionality needed to monitor a database. Another example of a service is the ability to receive or retrieve data from a website or remote server. Obviously, any conventional method of interacting with conventional information, sources of information, or communication contacts can be implemented as a shared service used by one or more tickets according to the invention.

【0021】

In addition, as noted above, each ticket instruction is a pointer to one of several specialized viewers that has the ability to display all types of information or communication contacts represented by that ticket. Is included. In other words, each ticket defines the information or contacts that the user wants to track and how the user wants to display that particular information, as well as multiple accesses and / or interactions with the information or contacts. Represents a combination of abilities to use any of the conventional means.

【0022】

For example, the information that the user is interested in can include statistical information about a particular electronic file that resides in a remote electronic database. For this simple example, the user may be interested in knowing how many people have read the electronic file or whether it has been modified. As a result, customizable tickets include instructions to use "services" to link to remote servers hosting electronic files so that statistics can be collected when they become available. In addition, the ticket contains instructions on what data to display and which viewer to use to display that data. Such instructions regarding the display of data simply indicate the number of people who have read the file and / or change the color of the information displayed when the file is modified by someone other than that user. Instructions can be included. Obviously, this example is not intended to limit what information or data can be displayed or how the information or data can be displayed. This is because many other types of statistical or other data regarding such files or other information of interest can be collected and / or displayed in accordance with the present invention.

【0023】

As mentioned above, each ticket is paired with a "viewer" to create an "item". These viewers graphically display the ticket as a resizable thumbnail or icon-sized window with information or contact data retrieved through one or more services according to the ticket instructions described above. Specifically, the viewer dynamically displays a ticket with textual information, audible information, or graphical information, including still or live images, or any combination of textual, audible, or graphical information. can do. For example, one viewer type can display contact information or "person tickets" as described below, and another viewer type can identify, for example, the number of incoming messages or the number of messages from a particular source. E-mail information can be displayed, and another viewer is designed to interact with the database to provide a summary of specific information from the database within thumbnails. Further examples of viewer types include viewers that can display still images, viewers that can display video images, viewers that can display a summary of communication status, viewers that can display the results of database queries, and so on. Obviously, any type of viewer can be designed to be associated with any corresponding type of information to ensure that it can display all possible information.

【0024】

In addition to the advantages mentioned above, other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings.

【0025】

Specific features, embodiments, and advantages of the present invention will be better understood with respect to the following description, claims, and accompanying drawings.

【0026】

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In the following description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of the present specification and exemplify specific embodiments in which the present invention can be practiced. It should be understood that other embodiments can be used and structural modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

【0027】

1.0 Illustrative operating environment FIG. 1 shows an example of a suitable computing system environment 100 in which the present invention can be implemented. The present invention can be described in the general context of computer executable instructions such as program modules executed by computing devices. Program modules generally include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform a particular task or implement a particular abstract data type. The present invention is a distributed computing environment in which tasks are performed by remote processing devices linked over a communication network. You can also practice in environment). In a distributed computing environment, program modules can be located on both local and remote computer storage media, including memory storage devices. The computing system environment 100 is merely an example of a suitable computing environment and is not intended to imply limits on the use or scope of functionality of the present invention. The computing environment 100 shall not be construed as having any dependencies or requirements for any or a combination of the components illustrated within the exemplary operating environment 100.

【0028】

With respect to FIG. 1, exemplary systems that implement the present invention include computing devices such as the computing device 100. Well-known computing devices, systems, environments, and / or configurations suitable for use with the present invention include personal computers, server computers, handheld computers, laptop or mobile computers, or communication devices such as cell phones, Pocket. PCs and PDAs, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set-top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, networked PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments including any of the above systems or devices, etc. Included, but not limited to this.

【0029】

In the most basic configuration, the computing device 100 includes at least one processing unit 102 and memory 104. Depending on the exact configuration and type of computing device, the memory 104 can be volatile (RAM, etc.), non-volatile (ROM, flash memory, etc.), or a combination of the two. This most basic configuration, shown by the dashed line 106 in Figure 1, is a communication device such as a personal computer, server computer, handheld computer, laptop or mobile computer, or cell phone, Pocket PC and PDA, multiprocessor system, Microprocessor-based systems, set-top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, networked PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments, servers, routers, networked PCs, peer devices, or other common network nodes It can be understood to represent either.

【0030】

In addition, device 100 can also have additional features / functionality. For example, device 100 may include additional storage (removable and / or non-removable) that includes, but is not limited to, magnetic disks, optical discs, or tapes. Such additional storage is shown in FIG. 1 by removable storage 108 and non-removable storage 110. Computer storage media include volatile and non-volatile removable and non-removable media implemented by any method or technology for storing information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. included. Memory 104, removable storage 108, and non-removable storage 110 are all examples of computer storage media. Computer storage media include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or other memory technologies, CD-ROMs, digital versatile disks (DVDs), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tapes, magnetic disk storage, or It includes, but is not limited to, other magnetic storage devices, or other media that can be used to store the desired information and are accessible by the device 100. Any such computer storage medium can be part of the device 100. The device 100 can also include a communication connection 112 that allows the device to communicate with other devices.

【0031】

The communication connection 112 is an example of a communication medium. A communication medium is usually a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, that carries computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data, and delivers all information to the communication medium. The medium is included. The term "modulated data signal" means a signal in which one or more of its characteristics are set or modified in the form of encoding information within the signal. By way of example, but not by limitation, communication media include wired media such as wired networks or direct wiring connections and radio media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other radio media. Any combination of the above is included in the scope of computer readable media.

【0032】

Terms used herein Computer-readable media include both storage and communication media. The device 100 can also have an input device 114 such as a keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, camera and the like. Output devices 116 such as displays, speakers, printers, etc. can also be included. All of these devices are well known in the art and need not be described in detail here.

【0033】

The computing device 100 is networked using a logical connection to one or more remote computing devices for retrieving and / or receiving information, as described in the following sections. Can work in the environment. Remote computing devices include personal computers, server computers, handheld computers, laptop or mobile computers, or communication devices such as cell phones, Pocket. PCs and PDAs, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set-top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, multiple network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments, servers, routers, one network PC, It can include, but is not limited to, peer devices, or other common network nodes, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above for the computing device 100. The communication connection 112 shown in FIG. 1 includes a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or other wired or wireless network. Such networking environments are common in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet.

【0034】

When used in any networking environment, the computing device 100 is typically connected to the network via a network interface, network adapter, modem, or other traditional means of establishing communication over the network. It should be appreciated that the network connections described herein are exemplary and that a number of other means of establishing communication links between computing devices can be used.

【0035】

Having described an exemplary operating environment, the rest of this description is the systems and processes of the invention, the components of the invention, the exemplary program modules and processes that implement the invention, the exemplary user interfaces according to the invention. , And practical examples exemplifying the present invention. Specifically, the system and processing of the present invention will first be described with respect to FIG. FIG. 2 is a high-level general architecture diagram showing exemplary system components that implement the systems and processes according to the invention. An exemplary program module that implements the system and processing according to the present invention will then be described with respect to the exemplary system diagram of FIG. Next, an exemplary process of automatically providing the user with peripheral awareness of contacts and information of interest to the user via the peripheral awareness interface will be described with respect to the flow diagram of FIG. Further, an exemplary user interface will be described with respect to the block diagram of FIG. Finally, a plurality of practical examples of the present invention will be described with respect to the exemplary screen images of FIGS. 6-20.

【0036】

2.0 System overview Today, ordinary users have a variety of different applications, devices, and services that they use every day. However, such technologies do not work seamlessly with each other, so users must adapt to each technology rather than adapting it to different technologies or working together on their behalf. Specifically, one central idea of modern computing is an almost infinite number, along with people or other entities or contacts, rather than simply using a particular application or working from a particular device. Includes working or communicating with information from any of the sources of. However, access to communication with a person or other entity tends to be buried within one or more user interfaces or applications, and access to specific information is also with multiple applications, user interfaces, or associations. Not buried or dispersed among sources.

【0037】

The present invention provides an integrated dynamic peripheral interface that provides dynamic communication access and information awareness in a non-intrusive manner across multiple platforms, i.e. a "peripheral awareness interface", a conventional communication access method. And address the above issues with the host of other issues that remain unresolved by the information access scheme. This peripheral awareness interface provides the user with dynamically updated status, availability, and state of any number of communication contacts and specific types of information or sources of information. Such interested communications contacts and information include, for example, information about shared databases or workspaces when entities such as people, companies, or organizations are free to communicate, when shared files or folders are modified. Includes email status, calendars, internet web pages, weather forecasts, bookings, schedules, statistics, stock quotes, traffic information, or any other information that the user may be interested in when it changes. Further, in one embodiment, as described below and detailed in Section 3.2, certain elements of dynamic communication access and information awareness can be from either multiple devices having Internet access or other network access. It is accessible to the user. Such devices include computers residing at home, work, etc., handheld devices such as palmtop computing devices or handheld computing devices, personal organizers, cell phones, or other internet-enabled devices or Includes network-enabled devices.

【0038】

With respect to the present invention, the concept of "peripheral awareness" is best explained by the following discussion. In general, the peripheral awareness interface of the present invention utilizes the innate ability of humans to receive information about the surrounding world without significantly interrupting the work of focus. One of the obvious examples of human innate ability to perceive information in the form of the surroundings without interrupting the work of this focus is that one overheard the discussion between Bob and Jane in the hallway, and Jane was on vacation. It is possible to recognize that you have returned from. The present invention utilizes this capability with the peripheral awareness interface. Such peripheral awareness interfaces are always on and visible, rather than separate user interface events that are displayed when there is any change of state of information. Therefore, peripheral awareness according to the invention does not immediately and explicitly draw the user's attention to new or updated information, but makes that information available to the surroundings, and as a result, when the user decides to look at it. To be able to be observed at that time. Further, in one embodiment, in order to enhance the effectiveness of user notifications, the peripheral awareness interface provides both peripheral awareness and notifications, ie, audible and / or visible alerts, depending on the time sensitivity or priority of the information. Use strategy.

【0039】

Further, with respect to communication contacts, the systems and methods of the present invention provide a "person-centric interface" for interacting with communication contacts. This person-centric interface brings a person or other entity to the forefront of a peripheral awareness interface, which makes it easier to review or initiate communication with a particular person or entity. At the same time, the communication availability of such a person or entity becomes understandable to the user simply by looking at the peripheral display. This function is achieved by displaying pictures, images, icons, avatars, etc., or a combination thereof, within each item representing a particular communication contact. These graphical representations serve to visually represent the communication availability or status of each communication contact using traditional social queues to indicate the availability or status of the contact.

【0040】

For example, in one embodiment, a close-up of the front of a person's image, i.e., the image of the person looking at the user, is used to indicate that the person is ready to communicate, and the person's profile image, i.e., sideways. Use the person who was there to indicate that the person is busy or otherwise unable to respond. As a result, a glance at such an image can instantly inform the user if a particular contact is available for communication. This example, however, is only one of many possible embodiments of the use of graphical representations to indicate communication status and availability. These concepts are described in detail below.

【0041】

In general, the present invention provides dynamic communication access with an integrated interactive peripheral awareness display in which specified communication contacts and information elements are dynamically tracked or received and provided to the user in an ongoing manner. And can be described as providing information awareness. In tested embodiments, this capability is provided via at least one customizable dynamic thumbnail that appears in one or more columns within a persistent display strip along one end of a traditional display device. .. Further, in additional embodiments, thumbnails are displayed on any one or more parts of the display, including the entire display. An embodiment in which the entire display is covered is a comparison of the systems and methods of the invention, such as handheld computing devices, palmtop computing devices, cell phones, or any other electronic device with limited display area. It is especially useful when used in devices with a small display area. See, for example, Figure 9.

【0042】

Each customizable dynamic thumbnail represents one of a particular communication contact, for example a particular individual, company, organization, or other entity, and a particular element of information that the user may be interested in. .. Such information elements include, for example, when a shared file or folder is modified, when information in a shared database or shared workspace changes, email status, calendar, internet web pages, weather conditions, bookings, schedules. , Statistics, stock quotes, traffic information, or any information accessible from the Internet or networks that you may be interested in.

【0043】

The above-mentioned dynamic thumbnails or "items" are generally "tickets" that describe the contacts or information of interest, and specialized "viewers" for displaying the communication contacts or information represented by the tickets. Combinations are included. The systems and processes of the invention use one or more "services" to automatically interact with the information or communication contacts described by each ticket, or the current state and / or communication of that information. Track or receive contact status. By hosting each "item" within a "container" that resides within an interactive "peripheral awareness" interface that displays the current state of information and the status of communication contacts graphically and / or textually. Provided dynamically. The peripheral awareness interface displays information and / or communication contacts in a way that minimizes all potential distractions or disruptions to the user.

【0044】

Tickets are generally represented by data structures such as XML data files. Each ticket represents a particular "service" that represents an order as to which information or communication contact is represented by the ticket, as well as any of the multiple traditional means of accessing and / or interacting with the information or communication contact. Contains a pointer to. These services are automatically or manually selected from a library of predefined or user-definable services. Specifically, different services are shared, providing the functionality of access, reception, retrieval, and / or other forms of interaction with either traditional information, sources of information, or communication contacts. Represents a code or function. These services are used either alone or in combination and are shared in the sense that one or more tickets can use these services at the same time. As a result, it should be noted that in one embodiment, multiple services are used in combination to provide complex interactions with traditional information, sources of information, or communication contacts.

【0045】

For the present invention, an example of a "service" is the functionality required to monitor an email folder by connecting to a conventional MAPI server. Another example of a service is the ability to send or receive email messages. The associated service provides the ability to communicate with or transfer information through any number of traditional methods, such as instant messaging or peer-to-peer communication. Another example of a service is the ability to translate a text file from one language to another. Another example of a service is the functionality needed to monitor a database. Yet another example of a service is the ability to receive or retrieve data from a website or remote server. Obviously, any conventional method of interacting with conventional information, sources of information, or communication contacts can be implemented as a shared service used by one or more tickets according to the invention.

【0046】

In addition, as noted above, each ticket instruction is one of several specialized "viewers" that have the ability to display all types of information or communication contacts represented by that ticket. Contains a pointer to. In other words, each ticket defines the information or contacts that the user wants to track and how the user wants to display that particular information or contact, as well as multiple traditional means, ie, information or Represents a combination of abilities to use any of the services to access and interact with contacts. Such access or interaction can be achieved locally or via any conventional communication protocol, such as via a local intranet, extranet, wired network, wireless network, internet, and the like.

【0047】

As mentioned above, each ticket is paired with a "viewer" to create an "item". These viewers graphically display the ticket as a resizable thumbnail or icon-sized window with information or contact data retrieved through one or more services according to the ticket instructions described above. Specifically, the viewer dynamically displays a ticket with textual information, audible information, or graphical information, including still or live images, or any combination of textual, audible, or graphical information. can do. For example, one viewer type can display contact information or "person tickets" as described below, and another viewer type can identify, for example, the number of incoming messages or the number of messages from a particular source. E-mail information can be displayed, and another viewer is designed to interact with the database to provide a summary of specific information from the database within thumbnails. Further examples of viewer types include viewers that can display still images, viewers that can display video images, viewers that can display a summary of communication status, viewers that can display the results of database queries, and so on. Obviously, any type of viewer can be designed to be associated with the corresponding type of information to ensure that it can display all possible information.

【0048】

As noted above, an "item" or ticket / viewer pair is hosted by a "container" that has the ability to host any number of items. These containers are described in detail below (see Section 2.1.4), but at least in a general sense, they can place, display, or render items within which the user can place items. It can be regarded as an area provided on the display device that can interact with. In addition, these containers allow, for example, tickets or items to be placed inside the container, items to be moved inside or outside the container or placed inside the container, and other items inside the container. Provides common services for tickets and items, such as not being covered by the application window of. Again, as noted above, a particular container can host any number of items. In addition, any number of containers can co-exist on a given display device, as described in detail below. In the tested embodiments, the peripheral awareness interfaces described herein are represented by containers that form a "sidebar." This sidebar can generally be described as a container that hosts one or more columns of items in a permanent interactive display strip along one end of a traditional display device.

【0049】

The container is accessible to the user through the peripheral awareness user interface. The user may interact with this user interface using any conventional pointing device, keyboard, etc. suitable for the device used to display the item in the container as described herein. it can. Further, it is preferred that each item be actionable, whether it represents a contact, an email folder, or other information of interest. As a result, the selection of any item or other form of interaction via any of multiple traditional input devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, stylus, touchpad, etc., is context sensitive, as described below. sensitive) Acts to initiate an appropriate specific action on a given item, such as instantiating a menu or item-specific information or tooltip type window.

【0050】

For example, assuming you have an email ticket to monitor your email inbox folder, it is preferable that a summary of the number of messages received in the folder appear in thumbnails, ie items hosted by the container. In addition, by clicking on an email item or hovering a pointing device over it, an email pop-up window will appear containing the contents of the email inbox folder that will be tracked / monitored according to the email ticket instructions. To. As described in detail below, the user can interact with any message in this window in the same way that the message is accessed or displayed within the user's email application. In other words, this example allows the user to read, forward, delete, reply to, or perform any other traditional messaging type action on a message directly from within the email pop-up window. .. This functionality provides an email-specific viewer with the desired email functionality, or a viewer that instantiates an instance of the user's email program to view the tracked / monitored inbox folder. Achieved by any of the things you do.

【0051】

In addition to the outline of the invention summarized above, a number of additional features will be described below as alternative embodiments according to the invention. In addition, each of the features of the invention summarized above will be described in detail in the following paragraphs.

【0052】

2.1 System components FIG. 2 is an exemplary architectural diagram showing the system and processing of the peripheral awareness interface according to the invention. The boxes represented by the dashed lines in FIG. 2 and the interconnects between the boxes represent alternative embodiments of the present invention combined with any or all of these alternative embodiments described herein. Please note that it can be used. In general, the designation, tracking or reception of communication contacts and information of interest, and the provision of status implement the peripheral awareness interface of the invention on any conventional display device 260 when paired with the "Viewer" 220. Use of at least one customizable, dynamically encapsulated object, referred to below as "Ticket" 210, to provide users with information of interest and peripheral awareness of communication contacts via Container 250. Achieved through.

【0053】

The system and processing according to the present invention has four basic components, namely 1) Suitable for displaying what must be tracked or monitored, where and how data or contact information can be found, and what type of viewer 220 is tracked or monitored. One or more tickets 210, 2) means that there is one or more services that represent where and how information or contacts are tracked or otherwise monitored 230 , 3) One or more viewers 220 from a library of predefined or user-definable or editable viewers, each viewer having the ability to view a particular ticket 210 in container 250, and 4 ) Includes one or more containers 250 representing a peripheral awareness interface residing on one or more display devices 260 hosting a ticket / viewer pair or "item" 200.

【0054】

Specifically, as can be seen in FIG. 2, an "item" 200 with a pair of "ticket" 210 and "viewer" 220 uses one or more "services" 230 as an option, 1 Dynamically track, interact, and / or monitor one or more specific sources of information 240. ActiveX (see Section 2.1.3) that makes HTTP or other communication calls directly to the viewer 220, which forms part of item 200, without having to use service 230, as described below. Note that a registered trademark) control or other type of control can be included. As a result, item 200 uses one or more "services" 230 as an option, as noted above. By dynamically tracking or monitoring the source 240 of a particular information, the current status of any particular information or communication contact is provided to the user. This information or contact status, either graphically, as text, or through some combination thereof, is one or more to provide a peripheral awareness interface on one or more display devices 260. Provided by hosting one or item 200 within container 250.

【0055】

2.1.1 Ticket Generally, a ticket 210 is a combination of information or contacts that the user wants to track and how the user wants to display that particular information or contact. The term "ticket" 210 defines the contents of item 200 in container 250, such as the "sidebar" described in detail below, extensible markup. Used to describe a language (XML) structure, or a similar language structure. Specifically, Ticket 210 has two parts: the control name, the CLSID of the ActiveX® (or other scripting language) control associated with the ticket, and the code if it is not installed locally. Or the parts that are common to all types of items, including the URL or file path to get script control, and what type of viewer 220 is needed to view the information or contacts defined by the ticket, for example. , Consists of parts that change based on the type of ticket, including parameters specific to that ticket type. Although Ticket 210 according to the invention uses ActiveX® controls, it should be appreciated that many other scripting languages can be used to create alternative controls or instructions for ActiveX® controls.

【0056】

Specifically, ticket 210 can be described as an individual control hosted with viewer 220 within a container or sidebar 250. These Tickets 210 use either one of several traditional programming or scripting languages, including, for example, ActiveX®, C ++, Visual Basic, and a combination of DHTML and Java® Script. Can be created. However, as described below for container 250 (see section 2.1.4), regardless of which language is used to create ticket 210, the ticket will have the specific interface required by the container or It is preferable to support the specification so that the container can successfully manage the item 200 consisting of the ticket / viewer pair.

【0057】

An exemplary ticket 210 may include, for example, a communication contact ticket (ie, a person ticket), an email ticket, a calendar ticket or a scheduling ticket, a file for monitoring a particular directory or file, as described in detail in Section 5.0 below. System tickets or file folder tickets, stock tickets to monitor information related to a particular stock, database tickets to monitor a particular database or parts or summaries of such databases, internet or network web pages or theirs. Includes web page tickets for monitoring parts, weather tickets for monitoring or tracking weather information, traffic tickets for monitoring traffic information at specific locations, and more. Obviously, any type of contact or information accessible via the internet or any other network or communication method may have an associated ticket 210 for monitoring or tracking that contact or information. it can.

【0058】

For example, certain information that the user is interested in may be statistical information about a particular electronic file. For this trivial example, the user may be interested in knowing how many people have read the electronic file or whether it has been modified. As a result, a customizable ticket 210 that monitors or tracks the electronic file of interest to the user can be linked or connected to one of the electronic files or information sources 240 via one of several traditional electronic communication methods. Contains instructions that use one or more services 230. In addition, if the electronic file of interest resides locally on the user's own computer, for example, ticket 210 will have direct access, monitoring, or tracking of file information without the need to use service 230. You can include instructions to do.

【0059】

In either case, according to the example above, ticket 210 contains instructions to use traditional electronic communication methods to dynamically collect statistical information about the electronic file when it becomes available. .. In addition, as described below, the ticket 210 also contains instructions on how to display certain information and what type of viewer 220 is used to display that information within the container 250. included. Examples of such instructions include instructions that indicate how many people read the file and / or instructions that change the color of the information displayed when someone other than the user modifies the file. Further, as described in detail below, in one embodiment such display instructions are user-configurable so that the user can display the desired information in the format of the user's choice. ..

【0060】

Another useful feature of the ticket 210 is that, in one embodiment, the ticket can be shared among users. As a result, the ticket 210 can be shared via email or via any other means of transferring the electronic file. For example, ticket 210 can be copied, cut, pasted, stored, saved, transferred, transmitted, etc. using conventional techniques, just like any other electronic file. In a related embodiment, the ticket 210 can be posted to the website and then copied, pasted, or dragged and dropped to any other location on the container 250 or display device 260. As described in detail below (see Section 4.0), in one embodiment, by pasting or dragging and dropping the ticket 210 onto the display device 260, the item 200 contains the ticket 210 and the associated viewer 220. A wizard or similar application window is automatically called that gives the user the option of instantiating an instance of the container 250 that hosts the host or simply copying the ticket as some other electronic file.

【0061】

In addition, as also described in detail below, by simply copying one or more tickets to the computing device that the user desires to host the tickets, or by manually or automatically sending them. Ticket 210 can be stored in a user profile or database or any other computer-readable medium to make it accessible through either the user's internet-enabled or network-enabled device, or the user's colleagues, customers, friends and It can be shared by family members. In addition, the user can manage the ticket 210 through the user interface, such as by adding, editing, or deleting tickets, as described below.

【0062】

2.1.2 Service As noted above, services are automatically or manually selected from a library of predefined or user-definable services. As noted above, zero or more than one "Service" 230 is used to interact with a particular communication contact or information of interest. Current information or status can be automatically searched or received from any one or more of multiple traditional communication sources 240 by using functionality associated with one or more services 230. That is, either "pull" or "push" of such information. For example, such sources of information include local file servers, email servers, MAPI servers, file transfer services, electronic databases, electronic files, instant messaging or other peer-to-peer communication methods, or other possible sources of electronic data. Everything is included. However, as noted above, Service 230 is not limited to simply providing communication to one or more sources of information.

【0063】

Specifically, the different services 230 provide the functionality of accessing, receiving, searching, and / or otherwise interacting with either traditional information, sources of information, or communication contacts. Represents a shared code or shared function. These services 230 are shared in the sense that they are used either alone or in combination and one or more tickets can use them at the same time. As a result, it should be noted that in one embodiment, a plurality of services 230 are used in combination to provide a complex dialogue with either traditional information, a source of information, or a communication contact.

【0064】

As a result, as described above, for the present invention, an example of "service" 230 is the functionality required to monitor an email folder by connecting to a conventional MAPI server. Another example of service 230 is the ability to send or receive email messages. The associated service 230 provides the functionality of communicating with or transferring information through any number of conventional methods, such as instant messaging or peer-to-peer communication. Another example of service 230 is the ability to translate text files from one language to another. Another example of service 230 is the functionality needed to monitor a database. Another example of service 230 includes the ability to receive or retrieve data from a website or remote server. Obviously, any conventional method of interacting with any of the conventional information, sources of information, or communication contacts can be implemented as a shared service 230 used by one or more tickets 210 according to the invention. ..

【0065】

As a result, which services 230, ie, which specifics, if present, by each ticket 210, due to a wide variety of possible sources of information 240 combined with virtually unlimited types of available information. Whether a method, protocol, communication channel, or communication device is used to connect and / or interact with one or more information sources 240 is independently specified. For example, different communication methods, such as those described above, obtain information about each of the local file systems, connect to a corporate database, and provide human status information from messaging services such as those provided by MSN . Required for acquisition and acquisition of protected financial data from the user's bank's Internet website. As a result, services 230 associated with each of these exemplary data types require different methods of communication for downloading and / or interacting with the required data. Again, as noted above, service 230 can be any conventional method or protocol for completing communication between two or more electronic devices.

【0066】

As a result, with respect to service 230, in the infrastructure of the invention, how item 200 or ticket / viewer pair (210/220) communicates or interacts with one or more specific sources of information 240, resulting in It is clear that we must consider whether such items will be able to successfully retrieve, receive, or interact with information from such sources. Further, in one embodiment, a particular service 230 can be used by a plurality of items 200, which minimizes the required bandwidth. For example, two or more items 230 must access the same database. That is, it is offered to multiple tickets for multiple MAPI connections to one email store, or when multiple items 230 have to make an internet connection to either retrieve or receive data. A single connection may be sufficient to do this. In other words, whenever possible, the load is aggregated to prevent duplicate communication connections and limit all unwanted use of bandwidth.

【0067】

2.1.3 Viewer As mentioned above, each of the tickets 210 is paired with the "viewer" 220. These viewers 220 graphically and / or display the ticket 210 within the container 250 as a resizable thumbnail or icon-sized window containing the information retrieved according to the ticket instructions described above. Specifically, the viewer 220 dynamically displays a ticket 210 having graphical information including textual information, audible information, still or live images, or any combination of textual information, audible information, or graphical information. be able to.

【0068】

As noted above, each ticket 210 contains instructions as to which viewer to use to display the communication contacts or information represented by the ticket. For example, one viewer type can display contact information, the "person ticket" described herein, and another viewer type, for example, the number of incoming messages, or the number of messages from a particular source or contact. It can display specific email information from the database, and another viewer is designed to interact with the database to provide a summary of the specific information from the database in thumbnails. Further examples of viewer types include viewers that can display still images or videos, viewers that can process and display the results of database queries, viewers that can display and interact with email, and extract and display specific elements of web pages. Includes viewers that can. Thus, in one embodiment, the viewer 220 is actually one of a set or library of specialized viewers, each designed to display a particular type of data, contacts, or information. However, in another embodiment, the viewer 220 is implemented as a "multi-viewer", which is essentially an aggregate of individual viewers. These "multi-viewers" are useful for displaying information about ticket 210 aggregation or grouping in a single thumbnail type view within container 250. A concept tickets group or aggregation, both the use of multi-viewer, as described in Section 6.0 below with respect to FIGS. 17 and 18 with respect to practical examples Note Rukoto. In both embodiments, the viewer 220 can display one or more types of corresponding data, communication contacts, or other information within the container 250.

【0069】

The viewer 220 typically includes the following features: First, the viewer shows the most relevant state of the contact or information observed according to the ticket 210 instruction (for example, the most up-to-date information and / or the most important piece of information that can be displayed in the ticket thumbnail). ). Second, the viewer automatically displays the information in the thumbnail in a way that maximizes the space allocated to the thumbnail. Further, as noted below, the container 250 and the thumbnails contained therein are resizable in one embodiment. As a result, in one embodiment, when the thumbnail is resized, the viewer can automatically detect the size or available area of the thumbnail and dynamically contain the information that can be contained within the thumbnail based on priority. To provide. That is, first, the most important part of the information is displayed, and the less important information is displayed as space allows.

【0070】

For example, if a stock quote item 200, ie a container 250 with a stock quote ticket / viewer (210/220), is resized, either more or less information about a particular stock transaction is displayed. Specifically, assuming that the most important information designed to be provided by a stock item is the current stock price, high, low, and volume, the current price is the most important, and the volume is the least important. To do. In contrast to this assumption, if the thumbnail is reduced in size from the point where the thumbnail contains each of the above information elements: current value, range, and volume, then the thumbnail size is reduced and the thumbnail size is reduced. Since it has been reduced, the volume information is removed from the thumbnail. Further reducing the size of the thumbnail removes the stock price range information from the thumbnail.

【0071】

Obviously, in light of this trivial example, many levels of information can be associated with a given item 200, as described above when thumbnails representing items are scaled up or down. , Information is automatically added or removed as space allows.

【0072】

In addition, for the purposes of providing peripheral awareness as described herein, one embodiment of the Viewer 220 is a ticket displayed graphically to warn the user conservatively of changing information or communication status or status. The appearance of the 210 can be changed automatically over time. For example, in one embodiment, if ticket 210 has new or current information retrieved from one or more information sources 240 through one or more services 230, that new or current information. Information can be expressed in color or in grayscale by using high contrast or high brightness levels, or by using traditional types or styles of shading or transparency. However, as time goes by and the information becomes out of date, the graphically represented ticket 210 is slowly faded to grayscale, or instead, the contrast or brightness level is slowly faded to age the information ( aging) can be shown. This ability to indicate aging of information applies equally to the "disconnected operation" described in Section 7.1 below when a connection to one or more information sources is degraded or disconnected. .. In other embodiments, the viewer 220 may also provide an audible alert, a visible alert, or a desired combination of audible and visible alerts. In a related embodiment, the user can abort or otherwise edit or change an individual alert or type of alert through the user interface described below.

【0073】

2.1.4 container Simply put, container 250 hosts peripheral awareness items 200 or ticket / viewer pairs (210/220). According to the present invention, the container 250, in one embodiment, is implemented as a resident "sidebar" displaying item 200 along either part of the display device 260 or the entire display device. This sidebar is always on Permanent in the sense that it is top), but limits the available display area on the display device 260 with respect to other open applications or windows so as not to obscure parts of other application windows. Will be done. However, in other embodiments, the container 250 is not permanent. That is, it can be covered by one or more application windows, limiting the available display area. Furthermore, in another embodiment, a mixture of both persistent and non-persistent containers 250 can reside on a given display 260 at the same time. In another embodiment, the traditional "auto-hide" feature is associated with one or more containers 250, where a particular container allows the user to display a pointing device in one of the display devices 260. It becomes invisible unless it moves near the edge. In this embodiment, the container 250 is displayed when the user moves the pointing to the edge of the display 260 where the container resides. The container 250 is then automatically removed from the display as the user moves the mouse away from the container.

【0074】

As described above, item 200 represents a ticket / viewer pair (210/220). As a result, item 200 contains an ActiveX® control or other scripting language control that is commanded by ticket 210 as to which information or communication contacts to track, acquire, etc. Included with a viewer 220 specialized for displaying information or communication contacts in a scripted form. In general, the container 250 specifies the screen area used to display the item 200 on the display device 260, as described below, and spatially groups, aggregates, the item 200 through the user interface. And enable operation. In addition, the container can intercept certain types of events, such as user interactions with items, and pass these events to the appropriate ticket 210 control.

【0075】

There are many ways to implement Container 250, including by using various traditional scripting languages. For example, in a practical embodiment of the invention, the container / sidebar is implemented via a dynamic and scalable window consisting of DHTML and JScript with the help of a core ActiveX® control. As a result, in one embodiment, the sidebar supports the creation, hosting, and manipulation of dynamic objects using traditional web browser-based techniques. This works to eliminate the need to develop large and complex proprietary code each time a third party wishes to implement Ticket 210 used with the systems and methods of the invention.

【0076】

Further, in another embodiment, the container / sidebar 250 supports a predefined interface for the container control described above, so that each container is designated for a user interface as described below. It is necessary to be able to manage item 200 as required by the predefined guidelines. Enforcing such guidelines will ensure a consistent end-user experience, while at the same time all tickets 210 can display such tickets when combined with a suitable viewer 220. Guaranteed to work with your device. As a result, support for such a predefined interface works to ensure compatibility with all third-party tickets 210, regardless of the ticket source. In other words, the container 250 is designed to support all tickets 210 supplied to the container, from any source, as long as it follows predefined guidelines.

【0077】

For example, one set of exemplary rules for implementing a ticket 210 must 1) indicate how much display or screen area the ticket requires, and 2) the ticket configures the user interface. 3) The ticket must provide a pop-up window to access more information, ie the "enhanced tooltip" described in Section 3.1 below, 4) the ticket , The container or sidebar 250 must be able to pass its context data, or information of interest, to the ticket.

【0078】

3.0 system architecture The boxes represented by the dashed lines in FIG. 3 and the interconnects between the boxes represent alternative embodiments of the present invention combined with any or all of these alternative embodiments described herein. Please note that it can be used. In general, the systems and methods according to the invention use the program modules shown in FIG. 3 to provide peripheral awareness of information and contacts. The program module of FIG. 3 shows an exemplary system and process that implements the present invention when considered with respect to the architecture diagram of FIG.

【0079】

In general, information or contacts that a particular user is interested in responds to user interactions with one or more computer program applications, either automatically by such application programs or through the user interface module 310. Identified by either by the user. After the information or contact of interest is identified, a ticket representing the information or contact of interest is created or modified via the ticket manager module 320. In one embodiment, ticket creation or modification is accomplished based on user interaction with the ticket manager module via the user interface module 310. In both embodiments, the ticket is paired with the viewer as described above to create item 200.

【0080】

In another embodiment, ticket creation and modification via the ticket manager module 320 takes place automatically after the information or contact has been identified. Further, in a related embodiment, the ticket is timed and is displayed from a predetermined time or a user-definable time over a predefined time period or a user-definable time period. For example, when a user purchases a ticket over the Internet or schedules a flight with his or her calendaring or scheduling program, Ticket Manager Module 320 automatically issues one or more time-limited tickets. Created and these tickets will be displayed automatically within the specified time from the departure time of the plane. Such a ticket can contain many types of information that the user is interested in, for example, the current flight schedule, that is, whether it is on time or late, or the weather at the destination. When the scheduled flight time has passed, the item representing the time-limited ticket is automatically removed from the display. Furthermore, it should be noted that the automatically created ticket described in this example is a time-limited ticket, but there is no requirement that the automatically created ticket must be time-limited.

【0081】

After the ticket has been created, paired with the viewer, and placed in a container, either manually or automatically, the systems and processes of the present invention are currently in item 200 via the information and communication module 330. Automatically tracking or receiving state, this information and communication module 330 is essentially one or more of the previously described services for accessing and / or interacting with one or more sources of information. To use. The updated information and contact data is then dynamically returned to item 200 by the information and communication module 330. Item 200 is hosted by one or more containers 250, which are displayed in sequence on display device 260. Finally, in one embodiment, the alert module 350 warns the user about specific information or contacts, or changes in the content, status, or age of specific information or contacts, that is, how recent or up-to-date. Is provided in other forms such as visible alerts, audible alerts, visible notifications, audible notifications, or a combination thereof.

【0082】

3.1 User interface module The user interface module 310 is, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device, a voice activated control, or any other conventional device for interacting with electronic devices such as computers, PDAs, cell phones, and personal organizers. Multiple functions can be performed using any of multiple traditional input devices, such as the method of. These features are introduced in the following paragraphs and are described in detail with respect to the exemplary user interface described in Section 5 below.

【0083】

Specifically, as noted above, one of the features provided by the user interface module 310 is the ability of the user to specify specific information or contacts of interest through the user interface module. In addition, user interface module 310 provides user interaction with item 200 hosted within container 250 displayed on display device 260. Such an interaction provides an actionable expanded information window or contact that provides a level of detail beyond that provided by the iconic ticket thumbnail represented by the item 200 hosted within container 250. It works to call the window, the "enhanced tooltip window".

【0084】

Specifically, an "enhanced tooltip" can best be described as a large actionable HTML, ActiveX®, or other script or code-based window with extended information. A tooltip is, in one embodiment, relating to a particular information or contact represented by item 200 when the user clicks or otherwise selects certain information or elements within the tooltip. Actions are possible in the sense that they automatically link to more detailed information. Further, in one embodiment, tooltips can be nested and the first tooltip or when the user hoveres over a mouse or other pointing device over specific information or elements within the first tooltip. A second tooltip now pops up with further expanded information related to specific information or elements within the "parent" tooltip. Obviously, any number of nesting levels can be applied when implementing nested tooltips.

【0085】

In addition, the user is also given the ability to interact directly with the container 250 via the user interface module 310. For example, user interaction with container 250 allows user control of container properties, such as container size and location, grouping and aggregating items within a container, and placement or organization of items within a container. Become. A group or aggregate of items is basically a user-defined set of items in a container or sidebar 250. Grouping can be achieved in any of a number of ways. First, grouping can be achieved within a container or sidebar 250 by simply dragging and dropping one or more tickets onto an existing ticket or group. When one ticket is dropped on top of another, a group with both tickets is automatically created. When a ticket is dropped into an existing group, it is simply added to that group. In addition, one group can be dragged and dropped into another. The result is a nested group described below. In addition, tickets and groups can be managed or created via the ticket manager module 320. From a structural point of view, in one embodiment, an item group or item aggregation is simply treated as a container with one or more items embedded within another container (see the description in Figure 11 below). I want).

【0086】

The embeddings for both item groups and enhanced tooltips described above can consist of any number of desired levels of embedding or grouping. Each of the embedded containers 250 or sidebar has an associated DHTML table or similar script that contains individual controls. Like the top-level container 250, the embedded container handles the events passed to it by the control (eg drag and drop) and chooses to handle these events on its own or pass it to the parent container. can do. In addition, when the user selects or otherwise activates an item 200 that has either a subgroup of items and a group of one or more embedded containers, that subgroup or embedded The container is automatically opened, so that the item or other container 250 in the group and the information or contacts it contains are visible and accessible to the user.

【0087】

The container 250 uses a traditional technique similar to the technique of resizing a display window, i.e. by grabbing an edge or corner with a pointing device and resizing the window, or container in this case, the user interface. Can be scaled through module 310. As noted above, the container / sidebar 250 described above contains multiple ticket / viewer combinations represented as thumbnails. The viewer associated with each thumbnail is automatically scaled to fit the tickets displayed by the viewer. As a result, the viewer associated with each ticket automatically scales the thumbnails to fit in the available space within the container 250 as the container is resized. This automatically strips the container into strips or thumbnail columns as needed if, in one embodiment, placement of all thumbnails within a single strip results in thumbnails below a predetermined minimum size threshold. It is preferably achieved by dividing. Further, in one embodiment, to ensure the minimum legibility of the thumbnail, there is a minimum size at which the thumbnail is not reduced below that when the container 250 is reduced.

【0088】

Further, in one embodiment, the user interface module 310 gives the user the ability to interact directly with the services provided on the ticket via the information and communication module 330. Specifically, in this embodiment, the user can select, copy, create, or delete a particular service. As a result, individual services can be created or customized via the user interface module 310 to allow item 200 to interact with its own or non-standard information sources or contacts. However, in a practical embodiment of the invention, the ability to interact directly with the service, such as for creating or editing the service described above, is limited to the developer or third party programmer to ensure that the service is functioning correctly. Avoid potential user errors that can interfere with.

【0089】

Finally, in another embodiment, the user interface module provides user access to the alert module 350. This access allows users to customize specific alerts, turn alerts on or associate them with specific tickets, or turn off or remove alerts associated with specific tickets.

【0090】

3.2 Ticket Manager Module As noted above, the ticket manager module 320 is used to create, group, or modify specific tickets after the information or contacts of interest have been identified. As noted, tickets can be created by the ticket manager module 320, either automatically or manually. In addition, as described in detail below, tickets are sent through user interface module 310 via user actions such as dragging and dropping links, URLs, names, files, file paths, applications, etc. into container 250. It can be created by the ticket manager module 320. Further, in one embodiment, the ticket manager module 320 provides a library of predefined tickets for user selection, modification, or sharing. For example, in one embodiment, the individual user's ticket database is prepopulated with an exemplary fully functional set of tickets, from which the user can choose when creating a personal profile of the ticket. it can. Such tickets can include, for example, general purpose person tickets, weather conditions, general purpose booking profiles, schedules, statistics, stock quotes, traffic information, or other information that the user may be interested in. After the tickets have been identified, created, modified, etc., the ticket manager module 320 pairs each ticket with an appropriately identified viewer to create the item 200 described above.

【0091】

In another embodiment, the ticket is preferably stored in a database accessible from the internet or network. As a result, the user can manage tickets through the ticket manager module 320, such as by adding, editing, or deleting tickets for the database through the user interface module 310. In addition, the ticket 350 can be shared in one embodiment as described above, so the ticket was created by a third party and described above, such as via an email attachment or a draggable icon within a third party web page. It can be supplied to the user via any of the methods. Such third-party tickets can include any information element desired by a third party, such as promotional information or tracking information for a customer or user's order. Like other tickets, like user-created tickets or tickets provided through a ticket library or database, third-party tickets are managed through the ticket manager module 320 like any other ticket.

【0092】

In a related embodiment, a particular ticket displayed on a particular device is based on the past usage pattern of each device or is used with a particular device via the user interface module 310 and the ticket manager module. Is automatically determined by the ticket manager module 320, either by explicitly specifying. For example, tickets related to communication with a particular individual, company, organization, or entity such as a company can be used or accessed by the user only from the user's cell phone or PDA, not from the user's office computer. There is sex. Therefore, the ticket manager module is not the user's office computer, but the user's cell phone or, even if all of the user's personal profile tickets are stored in the same network-accessible database or internet-accessible database. Supply the ticket only to the PDA display. This embodiment works to reduce the potential confusion caused by tickets that are of little or no use for a particular device or location.

【0093】

3.3 Information and communication modules The information and communication module 330 utilizes the service described earlier (230 in Figure 2) to dynamically access and interact with one or more traditional communication sources, as described above. Dynamically provide current information including communication status. Also, as explained above, this current information is automatically applied to the interactive peripheral display on the traditional display device 260 in a way that minimizes any potentially distracting or disturbing user. And dynamically provided. Moreover, in another embodiment, as described above, the information and communication module 330 provides a library of predefined services for selection or modification by the developer, third party, or user. After the service has been modified or created, the service will be available for use by the tickets that make up part of item 200 as described above.

【0094】

3.4. Illustrative Functions for Implementing Practical Examples of the Invention Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many types of COM interfaces, functions, or types of functions can be used to provide the capabilities and functionality described herein. In light of this note, 6. Practical examples of the invention described in Section 0 are implemented using three main interface functions, referred to below as "Ticket-Interface", "Ticket-Interface-File", and "Tooltip-Interface". , Additional functionality is also based on the standard COM interface to support ActiveX® containment, and a viewer "property page" that represents the properties of each viewer. According to this practical example, the ticket's main display surface is a container ActiveX® server and viewer ActiveX realized by deriving an ActiveX® server interface contract from Ticket-Interface. An ActiveX® container with specified interactions and implementations between servers. Derivation from Ticket-Interface provides size negotiation, ticket file storage accessibility, and interactive support services such as tooltip controls, context menus, and wizard support. Ticket Viewer contextual data and configuration support is provided via Ticket-Interface-File, which allows the viewer to access and manipulate the XML ticket file assigned to the container, and the viewer's property page user interface to the associated ticket file. Expose an interface that allows standardized access to. Finally, Tooltip-Interface guarantees a consistent tooltip user experience across ticket viewers, exposing the container and each viewer and the advanced tooltip functionality and behavior between them.

【0095】

Ticket-Interface and "Ticket-Interface-Events" are the main pair of COM interfaces between the container and the viewer server that provide an interface for each viewer. Ticket-Interface member calls are generated by the container either by requesting the behavior of the viewer server or by passing data to the viewer server. Ticket-Interface-Events event calls are generated by the viewer server in response to user interface events to inform the container of the specified behavior that must be taken.

【0096】

Specifically, Ticket-Interface-File and Ticket-Interface-File-Events are a pair of COM interfaces that connect a single source of XML data between a viewer, its property pages, and its container with a graphical manifestation. Is. The container sources XML for the ticket viewer, loads it into the Ticket-Interface-File interface, and passes a reference to the ActiveX® viewer. When the viewer requests that the property page be displayed, the same interface reference is passed by the wizard manager to the COM interface, and changes to the XML data are committed to the source. Changes to the XML tag will invoke the "Field-Change" function (see the description of the specific function below) to show the changed tag and its new and old data values, so the viewer will see it. You will be able to adjust accordingly. In this way, the viewer and its property page are separated from the location and explicitness of the XML data, so the container implementation can seamlessly change it in context.

【0097】

3.4.1 Example function example The following paragraphs outline each of the interface member functions used by the COM interface described above to implement the practical examples described in Section 6.0.

【0098】

"Put-Ticket-File" function The container uses the Ticket-Interface-File COM interface to encapsulate the XML ticket file when processing the list of each ticket file in its viewer, and the Put-Ticket-File function. Use it to pass it to the viewer control, which gives the viewer access to its context and configuration data. This same interface reference is also used by the viewer's property page to make up the behavior of the viewer's property page and manipulate the same set of XML as the viewer and container storage model. In this way, the viewer is isolated from the method or location of supplying the ticket file.

【0099】

"Get-Ticket-File" function When a new viewer is about to be created, the container calls this function as the Ticket-Interface-File interface to get the viewer's default configuration template, and then the container "Wizard" ( Wizard) "pass the default configuration value template to the Property Page of the manager and viewer.

【0100】

The "Source" function Source is an alternative property-based implementation that sets the data content of the viewer's Ticket-Interface-File. This property is used when the container is used in a scripting environment and is not responsible for managing the location of the Ticket file.

【0101】

The "Get-Source" function Get-Source is an alternative property-based embodiment that obtains the location of the viewer's Ticket-Interface-File. This property is used when the container is used in a scripting environment and is not responsible for managing the location of the Ticket file.

【0102】

"Get-Width-From-Height" function Depending on the container's current layout mode, this member is called to request the viewer the desired height of the viewer for the width in which the container renders the viewer.

【0103】

"Get-Height-From-Width" function Depending on the container's current layout mode, this member is called to request the viewer the desired width of the viewer for the height at which the container renders the viewer.

【0104】

"Get-Best-Height" function Depending on the current layout mode of the container, this member asks the viewer for the ideal height at which the viewer wants its contents to be rendered. Called.

【0105】

"Get-Best-Width" function Depending on the current layout mode of the container, this member is called to request the viewer the ideal width (Width) at which the viewer wants its contents to be rendered. Is done.

【0106】

"Get-Min-Width" function Depending on the current layout mode of the container, this member is called to request the viewer the minimum width that the viewer can render its contents in.

【0107】

"Get-Min-Height" function Depending on the current layout mode of the container, this member is called to request the viewer for the minimum height that the viewer can render its contents in.

【0108】

"Show-Details" function This member function is called when the container determines that the viewer must show the view at the highest level of detail.

【0109】

"Show-Tooltip" function This member function is called when the container determines that the viewer must show the tooltip. The viewer determines the size of the tooltip to display and calls the "Activate" function of the Tooltip-Interface interface obtained for the tooltip.

【0110】

"Hide-Tooltip" function This member function is called when the container determines that the tooltip must be hidden. The viewer calls the Activate function of the Tooltip-Interface interface obtained for the tooltip.

【0111】

"Context-Menu" function This member function is called when the container determines that the context menu must be displayed.

【0112】

"Get-Property-Page" Function When the container needs to display the Property Page of a given viewer, this property function call returns the program ID of the Viewer Property Page interface. In this way, the Container Wizard Manager can instantiate the relevant dialog according to the COM specification.

【0113】

"Get-Start-Page" Function After a call to the "Get-Property-Page" function, the viewer can decide which of the Property Pages to display first when the Wizard is called. For example, in this way, different user interfaces can be presented to the user based on whether it is a modification to an existing viewer instance or a new viewer instance.

【0114】

"Get-Next-Page" function While navigating the viewer's Property Page in the Wizard, which Property the viewer presses when the Next button is pressed, based on the current state of its Ticket-Interface-File data content. You can decide whether to display the Page. For example, different states may require different user interfaces based on a set of radio buttons.

【0115】

"Get-Back-Page" function While navigating the viewer's Property Page wizard, which property the viewer presses when the Back button is pressed, based on the current state of its Ticket-Interface-File data content. You can decide whether to display the page. For example, different states may require different user interfaces based on a set of radio buttons.

【0116】

This property call is Ticket-Interface-File, assuming that the "Finish" function Property Page can be ordered arbitrarily and the Finish button can be enabled to select default values for other user interfaces. Called by the Wizard manager to determine whether to enable the Finish button for the current state of the data content.

【0117】

The "Do-Ticket-Interface" function viewer can optionally provide functionality via the Do-Ticket-Interface member function, which calls an additional user interface or performs an action in a scripting environment. Especially useful for. The creator of the viewer publishes the verb and its parameters to be published.

【0118】

The "Double Click" function viewer must raise the Double Click event when it is double-clicked with the mouse. This is usually interpreted by the container and the Show-Details function is called.

【0119】

The "Mouse Action" function viewer must raise a mouse event when a mouse message occurs. This allows the container to make decisions about tooltip controls, context menu display, and more.

【0120】

"Resize" function If the viewer wants to display more information on its thumbnail, the viewer raises this event so that the container attempts an area change request and resurfaces to accommodate it. Can be placed.

【0121】

"Remove" function The viewer can request that it be permanently removed from the container, usually in response to a Remove context menu selection, by raising this event.

【0122】

The "Request" function viewer can request the container to display its Property Page, usually in response to a Properties context menu selection, by raising this event.

【0123】

The "Verb" function container can optionally provide functionality via Verb member functions. The creator of the container publishes the exposed barb and its parameters.

【0124】

Loads a given XML source file into an XMLDOM document encapsulated by the Ticket-Interface-File function. After the file is loaded, each XML tag is signaled and the Field-Change function event is called, so that the viewer can behave accordingly.

【0125】

Loads a given XML source text into an XML DOM document encapsulated by the "Put-XML" function Ticket-Interface-File. After the text is loaded, each XML tag is signaled and the Field-Change function event is called, so that the viewer can behave accordingly.

【0126】

The "Get-XML" function returns the XML text to its caller, its XMLDOM document, encapsulated by Ticket-Interface-File.

【0127】

"Get-Field" function Returns the contents of the specified XML tag to the caller.

【0128】

"Put-Field Function Sets the content of the specified XML tag, and the change causes the Field-Change Function event to be called, which allows the viewer to behave accordingly.

【0129】

"Get-URL" function Returns the source location of an XML document to the caller.

【0130】

"Duplicate" function Returns a duplicate of the XML data encapsulated in the new Ticket-Interface-File interface. Changes to the copied interface are temporary unless you specify a new source and call the "Save" function.

【0131】

Save function Commits XML data to that source using either the loaded source reference or the new source reference.

【0132】

"Signal" function Causes a call to the Field-Change function for each XML tag in the document.

【0133】

"Remove-Field" function Causes the removal of the specified XML tag from the document.

【0134】

"Field-Change" function This event occurs when the content of a particular XML tag is changed by specifying the tag path, the old and new values of the tag content.

【0135】

3.4.2 Example Tooltip Function Example The following functions relate to tooltips. Further, as noted above, it will be appreciated that one of ordinary skill in the art can use a number of other COM interfaces, functions, or types of functions to provide the capabilities and functionality described herein. In addition to providing other advantageous features, the Tooltip-Interface function guarantees a consistent tooltip experience across viewers created in different ways, such as tooltip placement, framing, and visibility control. To do. Specifically, the following member functions are used to provide the tooltip functionality described herein.

【0136】

"Create-Tooltip" function Called by the viewer to create and return a Tooltip-Interface interface instance for the viewer to use.

【0137】

The "Create" function style flag and Win32 window callback procedure are specified to trigger the actual creation of the tooltip window and its binding to the viewer to which it belongs, so that the viewer can implement its tooltip functionality. To.

【0138】

"Update-Size" function Resizes a tooltip while it is visible. Normally, the Activate function specifies the size of the tooltip when it is displayed.

【0139】

"Activate" function Controls the visibility of the viewer's tooltip based on the state of the Activate parameter. If the tooltip is visible, the width and height parameters specify the size of the tooltip.

【0140】

"Tooltip-Sibling" function This function adds a popup window to the list of windows that specify the viewer's tooltip bounding rectangle. This ensures that navigating to the Tooltip sibling window does not actually destroy the tooltip.

【0141】

"Remove-Sibling" function This function removes a pop-up window from the list of windows that specify a tooltip bounding rectangle for the viewer (see above).

【0142】

4.0 operation The program module described above provides the user with peripheral awareness of the information of interest via the peripheral awareness interface using the exemplary processing described below in view of the system components and architecture described above. Used for. This process is shown in the flow chart of FIG. 4 as a series of actions showing an exemplary method of carrying out the present invention. The boxes and the interconnects between the boxes, represented by dotted or dashed lines in FIG. 4, represent alternative embodiments of the invention and any or all of these alternative embodiments described herein. Please note that they can be used in combination.

【0143】

In general, the systems and processes of the present invention are first initiated by specifying the information of interest, either automatically or through a user interface. Next, for the information 400 of interest, select or create a ticket containing a pointer to the appropriate viewer, as described above. Further, in one embodiment, the user is provided with a personal profile or database 415 that stores tickets. It is preferred that one or more of the tickets stored in personal profile 415 are automatically displayed in such a container on a particular device when it is started or initialized. This personal profile 415 is essentially a user-specific database of tickets. In addition, in a related embodiment, a personal profile 415 containing the user's ticket is automatically maintained in a network accessible database or an internet accessible database, and all information that the user decides to track or monitor is the user's. Not only displayed on the office computer display device, but also on the user's other computing device, the user's PDA, the user's cell phone, or any other network-enabled or internet-enabled device of the user with the display device. Will be done. In any case, after the ticket has been selected, created, or searched (400 or 410), share the ticket 420 as described above, or instead, ticket for current or later use. Can be stored, copied, or edited 425. In addition, after the ticket has been created or edited, the ticket can be stored in user profile 415 for either current or subsequent use 430.

【0144】

One of the additional ways to automatically create a ticket is to use either paste into a container or drag and drop 235, such as links, files, contacts, etc. In one embodiment, comprehensive logic within the container automatically analyzes what has been pasted or dropped into the container and automatically automates the appropriate ticket to track and / or monitor that information or contacts. Automatically assign a suitable viewer to display information or contacts. For example, if a user drags and drops a file, folder, or directory into container 250, a ticket is automatically created and the appropriate viewer is automatically selected, resulting in the user being able to drag and drop the file, folder. , Or you will be able to monitor the contents of the directory. In addition, the customizable ticket allows the user to modify the automatically created ticket to provide a custom view of the contents of the file, folder, or directory represented by the automatically created ticket. it can.

【0145】

However, after the tickets have been identified, such as created, retrieved, specified, etc., the instructions and controls for each ticket go through one or more services 440 from one or more sources of information, as described above. Used to either search for or receive information of interest. Then, after the information has been retrieved or received, the item (ie, ticket / viewer pair), either individually or as a grouped thumbnail in the sidebar, as described above, above. It is dynamically displayed as a thumbnail 445 as described. In addition, new tickets can be dragged and dropped 450 to either the user's display, sidebar, or a specific group of aggregated tickets, as described above. In any case, the ticket is immediately displayed 445 in the form described above after being dragged and dropped 450 as shown. As explained above, when a ticket is dropped out of the container on the display device, the user will be given the option to display the ticket inside the container or simply copy it as an electronic file. Please note.

【0146】

In addition, as described above, the peripheral display is designed to minimize distractions for the user, but the user is notified or alerted to high priority information or changes in the status of the information. Situations sometimes exist. Such an alert 455 can be in the form of an audible alert, a visual alert, or a combination thereof, as described above. For example, if a ticket is designed to monitor the current price of a particular stock, the ticket may also include the ability to automatically warn the user when a stock reaches a certain target price. it can. Such alerts may include visible alerts, audible alerts, alerts via automatically generated emails that provide the current stock price, or some other type of audible alert, visible alert, or text alert. Can be done.

【0147】

In another embodiment, the ticket thumbnail is aged 460 to indicate the relative time since the information was retrieved, also as described above. Specifically, over time, thumbnails can be faded, the color can be changed to grayscale, and the brightness of the thumbnails to show the relative age of the data represented by the ticket thumbnails. And / or the contrast can be reduced or the shading can be changed. Aging 460 of this information has either deteriorated or lost connectivity to one or more sources of information, as described in Section 7.1 below, and the data provided by the ticket is no longer current. The same applies to "cutting operation". In yet another embodiment, the ticket is a time-limited 465 and is displayed from a predetermined time or user-definable time to a predefined or user-definable time interval. For example, if the user has a schedule-based ticket, a ticket representing the scheduled meeting may appear at a given time before the meeting to remind the user about the meeting, or other relevant information about the meeting. Can be set to provide. In another embodiment, the items in the container can be aggregated or nested 470, also as described above. In addition, the containers themselves can be moved, nested, linked, or otherwise aggregated 475.

【0148】

4.1 Person-centric interface As noted above, a ticket can represent a communication contact, i.e. a person or other entity. With respect to the present invention, such a ticket is referred to as a "person ticket". Such person tickets are described in more detail in Section 5.0 below. Information and data related to such communication contacts can include, for example, current communication, communication history, communication availability, or communication channels for a particular entity. Such information and data is provided in the "Person Centric Interface" 480 by providing a suitable viewer for displaying such contact tickets in a form that provides the peripheral awareness described above. .. Given this person-centric interface 480, a person or other entity is moved to the front of the peripheral display. In addition, clicking on the face or other image that represents the person ticket automatically opens the "person window," as described in Section 5.0 below. As described below, a person window is similar to an enhanced tooltip in that it provides extended information and actionable elements about a particular contact represented by a person ticket.

【0149】

As a result, it is possible to easily review or initiate a communication access channel and / or situation 485 with a particular person or entity through one or more of the services combined with one or more of the information sources. At the same time, the general communication availability of such a person or entity can be understood by the user by simply glancing at the peripheral display. For example, as described above, different images, graphics, avatars, etc. can be used to indicate different social queues to indicate availability status. Further, as also mentioned above, in one embodiment, the person-centric interface provides a communication status 485 via any of a plurality of communication channels for each of the displayed entities. Moreover, in another embodiment, which is the "best available" communication channel for communicating with a particular contact and which channel is most likely to be successfully used to communicate with the contact. It can be selected automatically based on whether it provides the best or "richest" communication with the contact.

【0150】

Further, in one embodiment, the service associated with the communication contact either tracks or receives the communication availability of the entity or contact of interest to the user. As a result, in this embodiment, a historical view, pattern, or average of the time an entity is able to respond to communication is provided via a person-centric peripheral awareness interface. For example, in one embodiment, if the information that the user wants to track or monitor represents a particular entity, the communication availability pattern or average communication availability time is automatically determined according to the ticket instruction over time. For example, this embodiment can be used to determine when a person or contact normally starts work, breaks, has lunch, and finishes work of the day. Such a determination can be made using any of a number of conventional techniques, including, for example, monitoring the user's keyboard usage to determine if the user is present in his office. ..

【0151】

Such information may be useful to the user in planning the time to start communicating with the entity or in tracking the availability of the entity. In such an embodiment, conventional techniques are used to calculate the average availability over time. Similarly, in a related embodiment, in determining an availability pattern, a traditional expert system, including a probabilistic model, such as a system that uses machine learning techniques, can determine the availability of an entity based on the historical pattern of availability. Is used to predict. In these embodiments, the predicted, historical, or average availability 490 is provided to the user via the display device 260 as either a visual display, a graphical display, a text display, or a combination thereof. ..

【0152】

In a further related embodiment, the predicted, historical, or average availability 490 of multiple entities is provided via the display device 260 as a side-by-side comparison in visual, graphical, or textual display. Will be done. A working example of multi-user communication availability 490 is shown in the screen image in Figure 5. This screen image is an example of a "person window". Specifically, as you can see in Figure 5, in a window that also contains the contact's current schedule 493, where the current availability 491 of the contact 492 of interest is compared alongside the user 495's current schedule 494. Provided. In addition, the screen image also shows the average availability 496 for contacts 492 and the average availability 497 for user 495. The average availability 496 and 497 for contacts 492 and user 495 are graphically represented along the right edge of the contact and user schedules 493 and 494, respectively.

【0153】

Specifically, the average availability 496 and 497 are provided as area charts that provide average availability trends over time, with large areas showing high average availability and narrow areas showing low average availability. For example, a graphical representation of the average availability of contact 492 indicates that this contact is usually unable to respond from about 1:15 pm to about 2:45 pm daily. Similarly, a graphical representation of User 495's average availability indicates that this user is usually unable to respond daily from about 12:00 noon to about 1 pm. In addition, a graphical representation of the average availability of user 495 shows that this user is usually unable to respond for a short period of time, around 3 pm daily. Note that the example screen image described above is just one example of many ways to provide contact availability information. As noted above, such methods include a visual, graphical, or textual display of availability.

【0154】

5.0 Illustrative user interface There are numerous possibilities for configuring and arranging peripheral awareness displays described herein in a computing environment. Such possibilities include, for example, a display or display along one side of the monitor or other part of the monitor, including the entire monitor, the Windows® sidebar, part of the second monitor, the user's computer. The display of a traditional Pocket PC docked near the display of a handheld device such as a PDA, cell phone, handheld computer, or palmtop computer, or a similar device, or, for example, the person or entity it represents communicates with. Includes through physical icons such as dolls that turn their heads sideways either when they are responded to or when they are not.

【0155】

One of the advantages of using a sidebar-type container for hosting items is that it works for a user with a single monitor or display, stays around the user, and is always available at a glance (one embodiment). It doesn't hide when you maximize the application window), which occupies a relatively small screen space. The sidebar can be either single column or multiple columns as needed to host all of the items specified by the user. Further, in one embodiment, the width and / or height of the sidebar is user adjustable via the user interface. In another embodiment, multiple sidebars can be instantiated through the user interface, and each sidebar can be either the same size or a different size. However, as mentioned above, an item or iconified ticket does not have to be displayed in a sidebar with multiple items, but instead can be free-floating and displayed individually.

【0156】

The sidebar contains items that provide peripheral awareness to the user. Each of these items provides a visualization of the state of the underlying object or information it represents. As explained above, the sidebar can contain a wide variety of items and visualizations or tickets to be displayed. For example, in the sidebar, an email inbox, a booking calendar, the availability of people the user wants to communicate with, a database of work assigned to the user, whether there are any changes to the documents that the user is interested in, a specific folder or Monitor whether the directory has changed, the response status of party invitations, the status of online auctions, the status of orders for items purchased over the Internet, or other items that represent information of interest as described above. Can include items to be used. As explained above, the type of item monitored according to the ticket's instructions includes an email inbox, or a generic item such as one or more people's communication status, in a local or remote database or in such a database. All types of local or remote data, such as specific elements of, or custom items created to monitor any specific element in such a database, or, for example, order status tickets, party invitation tickets, promotions. Please note that it includes custom items created by third parties, such as tickets and shipping tracking tickets.

【0157】

As noted above, items with containers can be placed or rearranged. The placement of items in the sidebar is achieved in one embodiment by dragging and dropping an existing item into the sidebar to a position desired by the user. In a related embodiment, the items in the sidebar are automatically placed in order of priority. This priority is preferably assigned by the user, but in another embodiment the priority is automatic for a given item based on the information type or the age of the information (ie, how new the information is). Is decided. In another related embodiment, the positioning of a particular item in the container can be assigned a fixed or locked position, either manually or automatically, and the locked item , Regardless of how other items in the container are placed or rearranged, they are always kept in place in the sidebar. This embodiment is particularly useful to prevent the user from wasting time searching for items that reside in the user's unexpected location.

【0158】

In one embodiment, the item or ticket is displayed within a single ticket container, within what can be described as a single ticket sidebar, at least in a behavioral sense. As a result, the ticket can be displayed alone on the computer display device and can be moved on the display device like any other window or icon using conventional techniques. An additional benefit of this capability is that, in one embodiment, the ticket can be embedded in an electronic document, such as a word processor file or presentation file. The behavior of the embedded ticket is the same as that described herein for a single ticket, in other words, for the ticket displayed in the sidebar.

【0159】

In one embodiment, a single displayed ticket can be moved using a conventional computer pointing device. In a related embodiment, when one or more displayed tickets are moved and they come into contact with another displayed ticket, the displayed tickets are automatically snapped together and larger. A sidebar or container is formed and the sidebar or container is treated as a single sidebar or container as described above. In addition, in another related embodiment, when multiple displayed tickets are snapped together, they are existing containers, or newly instantiated containers that do not have other items or tickets. It is automatically moved to one of. In additional embodiments, the tickets snapped together can be pulled apart and the tickets present in the container can be removed or copied from the container into a computer display device or electronic document as described above. Can be moved or pasted.

【0160】

As mentioned earlier, one type of information provided by the peripheral awareness interface ticket described above is information about a person, especially when facilitating communication and coordination. As a result, a ticket for communicating with a person uses a facial image or picture to represent the person specifically represented by the ticket. In addition, the image or picture of a particular person's face changes automatically as communication availability or circumstances change. In general, availability can be expressed as a social state, which, in one embodiment, is a social queue called eye contact. Represented by cue). Therefore, one of the exemplary ways to use a ticket to show a person's communication availability status is to use a frontal close-up when the person is available and a profile when the person is busy. In other words, those who are facing the user can respond, and those who are facing away cannot respond. However, it should be understood that any type of image or picture that represents availability can be used in place of the exemplary image described above.

【0161】

In addition, like any other ticket, depending on the ticket selection, for example by clicking on the face represented on the displayed ticket, a window, a "person window" similar to the enhanced tooltip described above, will be created. It will open automatically. This person window initiates further information about the person or entity, as well as communication over multiple traditional communication channels: email, voicemail, instant messaging (IM), cell phone, telephone, mail, and so on. Includes action buttons. Obviously, the concept of communicating with a person can be extended to communicate with any other entity, such as an organization or company, by using appropriate pictures or images to represent the communication availability status of the entity. For example, see Figure 13 described in Section 6.0 below.

【0162】

In one embodiment, in addition to information about initiating communication with a person or other entity, the window opened by selecting a person ticket also includes a history of communication with that person. Such communications include, for example, email, IM sessions, telephone calls, co-authored documents, past and future meetings, and the like. In other words, in the window opened by selecting a person ticket, basically in chronological order of messages sent by the user to a particular person, messages sent back by that person, and messages sent by a third party to both. Includes recorded communication logs. See, for example, Figure 14, described in Section 6.0 below. Another related embodiment is, for example, free / busy calendar information, historical information about when a person can usually respond, and that person has been able to respond to date. Contains more detailed information about a person, such as information about time. As a result, as described above, such information is used in alternative embodiments to provide historical, average, or predicted availability. For example, see Figure 5 described in Section 4.1 above.

【0163】

Information about a person's availability or condition can be obtained from traditional systems, such as MSN® Messenger®, but in a wider range of embodiments, a person's ticket, a desktop camera, and a person Includes instructions to collect additional data about a person's condition using a simple sensor, such as a microphone built into the computer. For example, traditionally determining if a person's cell phone is busy or moving between quiesced cell sites, thereby indicating whether the person is already talking to someone or moving. It should be understood that there are many other traditional methods of determining a person's availability, such as using the technique of. Another example of determining a person's availability involves using traditional techniques to determine if a person is using a computer keyboard or pointing device.

【0164】

The item provides peripheral awareness of the state of the object or specific information of interest, but also provides access to a more focused interaction with the object or information. Specifically, an item has two types of actions: drilling down for more information: selecting the item described above and opening the item (ie, enhanced tooltip, person). Provides interaction between windows, nested items, etc.) and the source object or information monitored by the ticket. For example, in one embodiment hovering over an item with a mouse or computer pointing device provides a large actionable HTML tooltip with extended information, and double-clicking the item leads the user to the source item. ..

【0165】

As described above, such a tooltip is, in one embodiment, when the user clicks on or otherwise selects certain information or elements within the tooltip, the tooltip is that particular. Actions are possible in the sense that they automatically link to more detailed information about the information or element. Further, in one embodiment, tooltips can be nested within the first tooltip when the user hovers the mouse or other computer pointing device over specific information or elements within the first tooltip. A second tooltip pops up with extended information related to specific information or elements of. Obviously, any number of nesting levels can be applied when implementing a nesting tooltip. Similarly, double-clicking a person item or person ticket opens the aforementioned "person window", and double-clicking an item to monitor changes in a folder opens that folder and opens the email inbox item. Double-click to open the user's email inbox. In addition, in another embodiment, right-clicking on an item provides an extensive menu of these commands and additional commands, such as editing, deleting, or adding additional items. Similarly, in another embodiment, a "ticket manager" that allows the user to use any of the above actions or commands is for managing the items displayed in the sidebar or the tickets stored in the ticket database. Provided to.

【0166】

One way to create a new item is to drag and drop the object into the container or sidebar. For example, if a user wants to monitor a particular folder or directory, simply drag that folder to the sidebar. If the user wants to monitor a person, the user simply drags and drops the address book entry from the traditional electronic address book into the sidebar. Alternatively, when the user sees an item on a web page that he or she wants to monitor, the user drags and drops it into the sidebar. Instead, in one embodiment, the user right-clicks on any file, person's name, proper noun, database, etc. accessible through the user's computing device and "Watch This You can open a context menu that includes the Item (monitor this item) option and more. Further, in one embodiment, a wizard or other traditional automatic assistance program or application is provided to assist the user in automatically creating, modifying, or deleting items on the sidebar or in a container.

【0167】

Finally, as mentioned earlier, in one embodiment, items can be placed within a group on the sidebar. In another embodiment, these groups can be aggregated by shrinking. In other words, the information from each of the items in a single group is combined and displayed in a single thumbnail. When a group is opened by selecting a thumbnail that represents the group, all the items that form the group can be viewed or selected individually, as described above. In addition, such aggregated groups increase the space available on the sidebar, adding visual complexity when the user is not interested in the low-level details of a particular item within such a group. Useful for reducing.

【0168】

The user interface described above can be represented by the exemplary block diagram of FIG. The boxes represented by the dashed lines in FIG. 6 and the interconnects between the boxes represent alternative embodiments of the present invention combined with any or all of these alternative embodiments described herein. Please note that it can be used.

【0169】

Specifically, according to the description so far, FIG. 6 shows an exemplary user interface that interacts with the system, and the method according to the invention is performed on a display device 260 using conventional techniques. The user interface includes at least one sidebar 505 or container 510 that displays the iconized tickets or items 515, 520, and / or 525, including the time-limited tickets described above. As noted above, multiple sidebars or containers 505 or 510 can be instantiated on the display device 260. Each sidebar or container 505 or 510 can have either the same item or different items 515 and 520, as described above. In addition, as explained above, sidebars or containers can be nested or aggregated. That is, it can be sidebars 505 and 530. In addition, the desired number of nesting levels are provided by the systems and methods according to the invention. Also, the sidebar 505 or container 510 can be individually resized either automatically or via the user interface. As explained above, resizing the sidebar 505 or container 510 works to automatically resize any of the items 515, 520, or 525 displayed in it. In addition, the sidebar 505 or container 510 can be moved within the display device 260, as described above.

【0170】

Interaction with the sidebar 505, container 510, and item 515, 520, or 525 is provided via one of several exemplary user interface features. Specifically, one embodiment provides Ticket Wizard 535 or a similar application that automatically assists the user in creating, selecting, modifying, or deleting tickets, as described above. Similarly, in another embodiment, a ticket manager 540 is provided to allow the user to manually select, create, modify, or delete tickets. Furthermore, in another embodiment, the user interface of the present invention allows the user to side by simply dragging and dropping, copying, cutting, pasting, deleting, or creating a new sidebar, container, or item. Provides the ability to interact directly with bar 505, container 510, or item 515, 520, or 525. One simple example of using such an ability is that a new item is automatically created in the sidebar 505 by simply dragging and dropping a link to the item of interest into the sidebar. .. As described above, this can include dragging and dropping folders, files, or address book entries from the desired source application into the sidebar 505.

【0171】

Each item 515, 520, or 525 and each sidebar 505 or container 510 has an associated context-sensitive menu 550, as described above, where the context-sensitive menu 550 allows the user to sidebar, container, and item. It is carried out using traditional techniques that allow direct interaction with. Context-sensitive menu 550, for example by right-clicking on item 515, 520, or 525, sidebar 505, or container 510, or by hovering a computer pointing device over one of the items, sidebar, or container. There are multiple ways to access each of them. In a further related embodiment, an enhanced tooltip 555 is provided for each of items 515, 520, or 525, as well as for each of the sidebars 505 or 530, or container 510. As also explained above, these enhanced tooltips 555 can nest 560 to the desired level of nesting.

【0172】

In addition, if item 515, 520, or 525 represents a person or other entity, the iconized ticket, as described above, is represented by a graphical image that represents the current availability of that entity. Is preferable. Further, as also described above, a person window 565 is provided for each of the entity items 515, 520, or 525. A person window provides additional information about a person or entity, as well as communication via multiple traditional communication channels or access points 570, namely email, voicemail, instant messaging (IM), cell phone, telephone, mail, and so on. It is useful to provide an action button to start. In addition, in another embodiment, the person window 565 includes a communication availability feature 575 that is useful for providing historical, average, or predicted availability of a particular entity.

【0173】

Finally, in one embodiment, the enhanced tooltip window 555 or the nested tooltip window 560 is permanent until closed. For example, such a tooltip 555 or 560 can be grabbed using a conventional pointing device and moved to the desired position on the display device 260. Such "persistent" tooltips remain visible until manually closed by the user.

【0174】

6.0 Practical example As shown by the exemplary screen images of FIGS. 5 and 6-20, the practical examples according to the invention provide the peripheral awareness of the information of interest through the peripheral awareness interface described herein. Implemented in the systems and processes that are automatically provided to.

【0175】

Specifically, as shown in the exemplary screen image of FIG. 7, a container / sidebar 600 with item 605 (ie, ticket thumbnails) is provided at the right edge of the display. As mentioned above, the sidebar 600 can be located on either edge of the display device, on the entire display device, or simply on a float or display device. In addition, the sidebar can be dragged and resized by the user on the display device using traditional techniques. FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the top of the sidebar 600 of FIG. Note that this sidebar 600 contains three faces 610, 615, and 620, the person-centric interface described above. To facilitate communication availability or peripheral awareness of communication conditions, ticket thumbnails that communicate with people use facial images or pictures to represent the person specifically represented by the ticket. In addition, the image or picture of a particular person's face changes automatically when communication availability or communication conditions change.

【0176】

The availability in this practical example is represented as a social state, which, as mentioned above, can be represented by a social queue called eye contact. Therefore, one of the exemplary ways to use a ticket to show a person's communication availability status is to use a frontal close-up when the person is available and a profile when the person is busy. In other words, those who are facing the user can respond, and those who are facing away cannot respond. However, it should be understood that any type of image or picture that represents availability can be used in place of the two exemplary images described above. Thus, as shown by the sidebar 600 in FIG. 8, the entity represented by thumbnail 610 is responsive, but the entity represented by thumbnails 615 and 620 is facing away from the image. I can't respond.

【0177】

In addition, a container / sidebar 600 with item 605 (ie, ticket thumbnails) can cover the entire display, as shown in the image of FIG. As noted above, this embodiment is particularly useful when using devices with relatively small displays, such as handheld devices such as the Pocket PC 630 shown in FIG. User interaction with a ticket on such a handheld device is similar to that described above for tickets displayed on other traditional devices. As also noted above, such handheld devices can be placed near or docked with a desktop computer or other computer and used for displaying and interacting with tickets on desktop machines or other computers. Any potential use of the primary display screen can be minimized.

【0178】

FIG. 10 shows the concept of the enhanced tooltip described above. Specifically, when the user either selects a thumbnail about the weather or hovering the computer pointing device over it, the weather details 710 pops up automatically. Figure 11 shows the concept of nested tickets. Specifically, as shown in Figure 11, the MM1 Code ticket thumbnail 720 summarizes the bugs and errors in the three nested subitems 725, 730, and 735. As a result, the user is MM1 When you select a thumbnail for Code Ticket Thumbnail 720 or hover your computer pointing device over it, a nested sidebar pops up with three sub-items 725, 730, and 735. The user has free access to any of these nested items 725, 730, and 735. In addition, any or all of these nested items 725, 730, and 735 can have an additional level of nested sub-subitems that are user accessible in the same way as the parent sidebar ticket thumbnail 720.

【0179】

FIG. 12 is an exemplary screen image showing an alternative embodiment of peripheral awareness interface 800 showing a pawn 805 associated with person items 810, 815, and 820 according to the present invention. In this embodiment, in addition to the person images of each person item 810, 815, and 820, the pawn 805 is provided. The use of pawns serves as an additional indicator of communication status or availability when non-standard or ambiguous images are used to represent a particular contact. FIG. 13 is an exemplary screen image showing a dynamic person window or an enhanced tooltip person window 825 accessed by one selection of person item 815 in FIG. Note that the Enhanced Tooltip window opened by selecting Person Item 820 provides a short summary of the new messages 825 and 830 sent by the person represented by Person Item 820. Also, a short message Note availability via any of five individual communication channels 840, including message), email, voicemail, phone calls, or personal availability. Also note that time 845 from the time the person represented by person item 820 was last able to respond is provided for each of the communication channels 840.

【0180】

In addition, FIG. 14 is an exemplary screen image showing historical communication information related to the person represented by the person window of FIG. The historical communication window 855, in one embodiment, is automatically opened by selecting an image of a person in the enhanced tooltip person window 825. This historical communication window 855 contains a summary of all past communications with the person represented by person item 825 in FIG.

【0181】

15 and 16 show further examples of different types of tickets. For example, Figure 15 shows the calendar / scheduling type ticket item 900 in the sidebar / container 910. The calendar ticket / item 900 user selection serves to expand / open the enhanced tooltip window containing further details of the calendar / schedule represented by the calendar / schedule item. Similarly, FIG. 16 represents an email type ticket / item 1010 in another container / sidebar 1000. User selection for email tickets / item 1000 works to expand / open the enhanced tooltip email window 1020, which allows user interaction with incoming emails from within a regular email application. ..

【0182】

17 and 18 represent alternative embodiments of the peripheral awareness interface 1100 with collapsible groups of items 1110, 1120, 1130, 1140, and 1150 aggregated according to the invention. Specifically, the user selection of such shrinkable groups 1110, 1120, 1130, 1140, and 1150 when expanded shrinks the groups, as indicated by the differences between FIGS. 17 and 18. Work like collaple. Specifically, in FIG. 17, each of the "Bugs" group 1110 and the "Traffic" group 1150 contains a plurality of sub-items. User selections for both "Bugs" group 1110 and "Traffic" group 1150 act to shrink these groups, thereby freeing up space in the container / sidebar 1100, as shown in Figure 18. To be released. In addition, such groups can contain multiple types of tickets, so a multi-viewer or individual viewer aggregate displays a summary of information about each of the aggregated tickets within a single thumbnail view. Used for. Specifically, in Figure 18, it can be seen that the graphical representation of "Bugs" group 1110 includes the number 370 on the right side of the graphical representation. This number represents a summary of the number of bugs represented by sub-items or aggregated tickets shown in Figure 17.

【0183】

FIG. 19 is a screen image illustrating an exemplary use of Ticket 1200 embedded in web page 1210. In this example, the ticket 1200 is represented by a graphical icon. As described above, the user can simply drag and drop this icon into either the user's sidebar or the user's display. Note that as explained above, when a ticket is dropped out of the container on the display device, the user has the option of displaying the ticket inside the container or simply copying it as an electronic file. I want to be. In addition, the user can copy and paste the ticket icon 1200 into a computer-readable storage medium for later use or transfer to another user or another computer. This exemplary ticket icon 800 tracks the auction item represented by web page 810 as described above.

【0184】

FIG. 20 is an exemplary screen image showing an email message 1300 with attached ticket 1310. Screen image As shown by Figure 20, this example of using a third-party ticket includes a custom-designed ticket for tracking order status over the Internet. For example, in one embodiment, when a user orders an item over the Internet, a ticket 1310 is automatically created by the vendor website and the vendor's order is provided to this ticket 1310 to provide order status information. Instructions to interface with the status database are included along with instructions on how to display this information in thumbnails. As explained above, this ticket 1310 drags, for example, via email or simply a graphical representation of the ticket from the vendor website to the user's display device or the container or sidebar displayed on the user's display device. It is provided to the user via any of the methods described above, such as via and drop. Therefore, referring to the screen image of FIG. 20, the user can simply place this status ticket 1310 on his computer display or in the container / sidebar. Then, when the user wants to inspect the status of the order, the user glances at the ticket thumbnail provided by the vendor or selects the ticket via a computer pointing device as described above to place the order. All you have to do is open the detailed information window about the situation, that is, the enhanced tooltip window described above.

【0185】

Similarly, such third-party tickets can be used to create dynamic promotions that can be provided to users as described above via any of the transmission methods provided above. .. These promotions can be placed either automatically or by the user on the user's desktop or in the sidebar / container. Further, in a related embodiment, a third-party ticket, such as a promotion, also includes an instruction to report its use to a central server to collect statistics on the use of such third-party ticket. One of the benefits of collecting such statistics is based on the number of users, the length of time used, or the purchasing habits of users viewing or otherwise using third-party tickets. It is possible to charge the ticket usage fee to the third party vendor of.

【0186】

7.0 Additional embodiments In addition to the embodiments described above, a number of additional embodiments have been implemented to further enhance the functionality and availability of the peripheral awareness interface according to the invention. Specifically, such embodiments include information caching services, disconnect behaviors, and selective item visibility.

【0187】

7.1 Information Caching Services and Disconnect Behavior In one embodiment, the systems and processes of the present invention work automatically to enhance the utility of peripheral awareness interfaces by caching information and contact data via caching services. Therefore, in a "disconnect" embodiment where internet or network connectivity is degraded or aborted, the cached data for each item will continue to be displayed through the item hosted within one or more containers. .. However, such cached data is aged as described in Section 4.0 above to indicate the passage of time since the point at which the data was first collected or observed, resulting in the user being able to view the data. It is preferable to become aware of how recent is.

【0188】

In a related embodiment, the contact item displays only items that are still communicable after the deterioration or termination of internet or network access. So, for example, in this embodiment, if all internet or network type communication services, such as email, peer-to-peer messaging, are no longer possible, the contact item lists available communication channels, such as telephone numbers. Continue to hide or remove unusable communication channels such as email channels.

【0189】

7.2 Item visibility In a further embodiment, a visibility bit or visibility switch is associated with each item and each item can either be displayed visually or hidden from the view. The item continues to track or monitor information or contacts as described above, even when hidden from the view. As a result, this embodiment is particularly useful when the user does not want a particular item to appear in the container, but wants the information or contacts represented by the item to be tracked or monitored. is there. Therefore, the user can toggle the visibility bit at any time to see the current status of the information or contact. In a related embodiment, the visibility bit or visibility switch associated with the item is time-limited, information or contacts are tracked or monitored in the background, and the item is automatically visible at a given time. Become. In a further related embodiment, both the time the item becomes visible and the duration the item remains visible are both user adjustable via the user interface.

【0190】

In another related embodiment, the software "agent" is used to determine the appropriate time to display the hidden item based on a particular user action. For example, if an agent observes a user who purchases an item over the Internet, the agent automatically performs a shipment tracking item as soon as the user receives an email confirmation of the shipment from the vendor from which the item was purchased. Can be displayed on. Another example of this ability is provided by the discussion below. As noted earlier, time-limited when a user purchases a ticket over the internet or some other type of local or remote network, or schedules a flight with his or her calendaring or scheduling program. Tickets can be created automatically and then displayed within a given time of flight departure time. Such a ticket can contain many types of information that the user is interested in, for example, the current flight schedule, that is, whether it is on time or late, the weather at the destination, and so on. When the scheduled flight time has passed, the item representing the time-limited ticket is automatically removed from the display.

【0191】

The above description of the present invention is presented for purposes of illustration and explanation. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the exact form disclosed. A number of modified and modified forms are possible in light of the above teachings. The scope of the invention is intended to be limited by the claims, not by this detailed description.

【0192】

[Effect of the invention]

As described above, according to the present invention, peripheral awareness of information can be effectively provided to the user.

[Simple explanation of drawings]

[Figure 1]

It is a figure which shows the general-purpose computing device which comprises the exemplary system which carries out this invention.

[Figure 2]

It is a general architecture diagram which shows the exemplary system component which carries out the system and processing according to this invention.

[Fig. 3]

FIG. 5 is a system diagram illustrating a program module used in a system that provides peripheral awareness of contacts and information to a user via a peripheral awareness interface according to the present invention.

[Fig. 4]

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process of providing a user with peripheral awareness of contacts and information of interest to the user via the peripheral awareness interface according to the present invention.

[Fig. 5]

It is an exemplary screen image showing the display of average user availability according to the present invention.

[Fig. 6]

It is an exemplary block diagram showing an exemplary user interface that interacts with the system and processing according to the invention.

[Fig. 7]

It is an exemplary screen image showing a practical example that automatically provides the user with peripheral awareness of the contacts and information of interest via the peripheral awareness interface according to the invention.

[Fig. 8]

It is an exemplary screen image showing the peripheral awareness interface of FIG.

[Fig. 9]

In an exemplary screen image illustrating a practical example that automatically provides the user with peripheral awareness of contacts and information of interest to the user via a peripheral awareness interface that covers the entire display of a conventional Pocket PC according to the present invention. is there.

[Fig. 10]

It is an exemplary screen image showing the development of the "item" displayed in the peripheral awareness interface according to the present invention.

[Fig. 11]

FIG. 10 is an exemplary screen image showing the expansion of a group of nested "items" within the peripheral awareness interface of FIG.

[Fig. 12]

It is an exemplary screen image showing an alternative embodiment of a peripheral awareness interface showing a pawn associated with a person item according to the present invention.

[Fig. 13]

FIG. 12 is an exemplary screen image showing a dynamic person window accessed by selecting one of the person items in FIG.

[Fig. 14]

It is an exemplary screen image showing historical communication information related to a person represented by the person window of FIG.

[Fig. 15]

It is an exemplary screen image showing the development of the calendar item according to the present invention.

[Fig. 16]

It is an exemplary screen image showing the development of an e-mail item according to the present invention.

[Fig. 17]

It is an exemplary screen image showing an alternative embodiment of a peripheral awareness interface having a shrinkable group of items according to the present invention.

[Fig. 18]

An exemplary screen image showing the peripheral awareness interface of FIG. 15, showing a group of two items in a reduced state.

[Fig. 19]

An exemplary screen image showing a graphically displayed downloadable ticket embedded within a web page in accordance with the present invention.

[Fig. 20]

It is an exemplary screen image showing an e-mail message with an attached ticket according to the invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

200 items 210 tickets 220 viewer 230 services 240 information sources 250 container 260 display device 310 User Interface Module 320 Ticket Manager Module 330 Information and Communication Module 350 alert module