Pre-Grant Publication Number: 20070271526
Please help the USPTO examine the application by evaluating the relevance of the publicly submitted prior art to the patent application.
Peer-to-Patent forwards the Top 10 most relevant prior art submissions and their annotations to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Review this prior art and click on the thumbs up (or down) to indicate whether this submission should be forwarded to the USPTO.
If you login then you can add an annotation by typing in the box at the bottom of the screen to comment on the relevance of the prior art to the claims of the patent application.
Review this prior art and click on the thumbs up (or down) to indicate whether this submission should be forwarded to the USPTO.
If you login then you can add an annotation by typing in the box at the bottom of the screen to comment on the relevance of the prior art to the claims of the patent application.
Prior Art Detail
Summary / Description
| Summary / Description | The reference 945’ discloses a control window that includes a first zone and a second zone containing a list box. The first zone contains push button indicators with each indicator corresponding to a separate selection level. The second zone contains a list box that represents the different selection options corresponding to a particular level selected in the first zone. Between the first zone and the second zone, there is a text field displaying a visual record of the current selection of options throughout the menu hierarchy represented in the control window. |
Basic Information
| Type of Prior Art | Issued Patents - US |
| Country | United States of America |
| Patent/Application # | 5,559,945 |
| Kind Code | United States (US) - United STATES Patent - A |
| Patentee Name | International Business Machines Corporation |
| Relevant Pages, Columns, or Lines | |
| URL | |
| Filing Date | September 24, 1996 |
| Additional Information | The reference '945 provides for visual record of the current selection of options, which seems to address the prior art limitations in a way similar to the one being described in '526. |
Notes / To Do
| Notes | The final selection in ‘945 is displayed in a separate window as opposed to being displayed in the display area of ‘526. Also, ‘945 does not seem to contain element(s) corresponding to the lens components claimed in ‘526. |
Excerpt
Excerpt [Col. 4, lines 10-13]: A first zone 20 in the control window 10 displays a vertical array of pushbutton indicators 22. Each pushbutton 22 corresponds to and is representative of a separate selection level in the menu hierarchy.
[Col. 4, lines 22-25]: Opposite the first zone 20, a second zone in the control box 10 displays a list box 30 containing a list of the selection options (designated by numeral 32) available at the current selection level under consideration.
[Col. 4, lines 39-44]: Intermediate the first zone 20 and the list box 30 is a text field 50 displaying a line of text 52 adjacent each pushbutton 22, providing the user with a visual record of the current selection of options throughout the menu hierarchy represented in the control window 10. |
Relevance
Claims
1
A user interface for a manufacturing application, comprising:
a primary focus area containing at least two functional solutions for selection by a user;
a subordinate focus region having at least two data selectors for selecting sub-components of each of the at least two functional solutions to define a selected item, the lens components and primary focus area being arranged linear and sequential;
a selection display area displaying the selected item;
a visualization selection region containing lens components identifying display options for viewing the selected item; and
a display area in which the selected item is displayed according to the display option chosen in the visualization selection region, the selection display area and visualization selection region being arranged adjacent to the display area and the display area being larger than any other area or region.
Relevance
The following explanation has been provided in light of the above excerpts. The first zone of the control window shown in Fig. 2 of ‘945 is comparable to the primary focus area described in ‘526 and the second zone is analogous to the subordinate focus region in ‘526. The first zone contains at least two selectable options, which are the different selection levels of the hierarchical menu (level 1, level 2 etc. in Fig. 1 of ‘945). The second zone displays the subselections or selection options corresponding to the level currently selected in the first zone, and is therefore similar to subordinate focus region of claim 1 in ‘526, which has data selectors for selecting subcomponents of a particular selection made in the primary focusing area. The text field provides a visual record similar to the selection display of claim 1 in ‘526, which displays the selected item.
The following explanation has been provided in light of the above excerpts. The first zone of the control window shown in Fig. 2 of ‘945 is comparable to the primary focus area described in ‘526 and the second zone is analogous to the subordinate focus region in ‘526. The first zone contains at least two selectable options, which are the different selection levels of the hierarchical menu (level 1, level 2 etc. in Fig. 1 of ‘945). The second zone displays the subselections or selection options corresponding to the level currently selected in the first zone, and is therefore similar to subordinate focus region of claim 1 in ‘526, which has data selectors for selecting subcomponents of a particular selection made in the primary focusing area. The text field provides a visual record similar to the selection display of claim 1 in ‘526, which displays the selected item.
Claim Chart
Some
2
A user interface according to Claim 1, wherein the at least two data selectors have sequentially narrower subcomponents of the at least two functional solutions.
Relevance
Same as the relevance section provided above for Claim 1.
Same as the relevance section provided above for Claim 1.
Claim Chart
All
