Appeal No. 1997-1253
Application No. 08/165,430
This is a decision on the appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134
from the examiner’s rejection of claims 1-21, which constitute
all the claims in the application.
The disclosed invention pertains to a method and
apparatus for enhancing the selection of particular windows in
a graphical user interface. A depth control object is
displayed which indicates all the windows which are currently
open and the hierarchical depth of the respective windows on
the desktop. The user can alter the visible display of the
windows by simply manipulating the depth control object
without otherwise changing the hierarchical depth of the
windows.
Representative claim 1 is reproduced as follows:
1. A graphic method for permitting access to any
one of multiple windows displayed in a graphical user
interface and which are relatively positioned in an order from
a bottom position to a top position, said method comprising
the steps of:
displaying a depth control object within said
graphical user interface, said depth control object including
a plurality of graphic elements arranged in said order, each
of said plurality of graphic elements corresponding to one of
2
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