Example 23. Graphical User Interface For Relocating Obscured Textual Information
The following claims are hypothetical. In this Workshop example, claim 3 is original and claim 4 is later added during prosecution. Note that this Workshop example mirrors “Example 23” in the “July 2015 Update Appendix 1: Examples,” specifically claims 3 and 4 (July 2015 Update Appendix 1: Examples).
I. Background (Partial Disclosure):
The invention relates to a graphical user interface (GUI). A GUI manages the interaction between a computer system and a user through graphical elements such as windows on a display. Windows display various types of outputs for various computer processes and may contain controls to accept user input for those processes. In some instances, multiple windows are displayed at the same time; due to limited display space, however, the windows may overlap and obscure the content of underlying windows.
In the instant application, the inventor has improved upon previous GUIs by dynamically relocating obscured textual information of an underlying window to become automatically viewable to the user. In particular, in a graphical user interface that comprises multiple windows, the invention continuously monitors the boundaries of the windows to ascertain an overlap condition indicating that the windows overlap such that the textual information of an underlying window is obscured from a user’s view by the overlapping window. Only when the textual information of the underlying window is detected to be obscured, the invention re‐formats and moves the textual information in the underlying window to an unobscured portion of the underlying window so that the textual information is viewable by the user. When the overlap condition no longer exists, the textual information is returned to its original format and location.
The inventor’s process is performed by modifying the vertical and horizontal margins of the underlying window in accordance with the overlap and utilizing a word wrap function to wrap the text around the obscured area based upon the new margins, and, where necessary, reducing the text size to permit the entirety of the textual information to be viewable in the unobscured portion. The textual information is scaled based upon a scaling factor that is calculated using a mathematical algorithm. First, an area of the underlying window and an area of the unobstructed portion of the underlying window are calculated. Next, the scaling factor is calculated which is proportional to the difference in area between the underlying window and the unobstructed portion of the underlying window. Finally, the font size of the textual information is changed in accordance with the scaling factor. The new scaled textual information is then moved as described above to the unobstructed portion of the underlying window. When the windows no longer overlap, the textual information is returned to its original format and location by resetting the vertical and horizontal margins of the window to their original values and no longer applying the scaling factor to the font size. By permitting textual information to be dynamically relocated based upon an overlap condition, the computer’s ability to display information and interact with the user is improved.
» II. CLAIM 3 (note claim 3 is identical to claim 3 in “Example 23”)
