(19)
`
`(12)
`
`Europaisches Patentamt
`
`European Patent Office
`
`Office europeen des brevets
`
`111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
`
`(11)
`
`EP 1 265 157 A2
`
`EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION
`
`(43) Date of publication:
`11.12.2002 Bulletin 2002/50
`
`(21) Application number: 02012357.6
`
`(22) Date of filing: 05.06.2002
`
`(84) Designated Contracting States:
`AT BE CH CY DE DK ES Fl FR GB GR IE IT Ll LU
`MC NL PT SE TR
`Designated Extension States:
`AL LT LV MK RO Sl
`
`(30) Priority: 08.06.2001 US 63296
`
`(71) Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
`Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 (US)
`
`(72) Inventors:
`• Cadiz, Jonathan J.
`Redmond, WA 98072 (US)
`
`(51) lnt Cl.7: G06F 17/30
`
`• Gupta, Anoop
`Woodinville, WA 98072 (US)
`• Jancke, Gavin
`Sammamish, WA 98075 (US)
`• Venolia, Gina
`Kirkland, WA 98033 (US)
`
`(74) Representative: Grunecker, Kinkeldey,
`Stockmair & Schwanhausser Anwaltssozietat
`Maximilianstrasse 58
`80538 Munchen (DE)
`
`(54)
`
`A system and process for providing dynamic communication access and information
`awareness in an interactive peripheral display
`
`The system and method of the present inven(cid:173)
`(57)
`tion provides peripheral awareness of information to a
`user. The information to be provided is either deter(cid:173)
`mined automatically, or specified by the user. Once the
`information to be provided is determined or specified, it
`is automatically tracked or watched via at least one con(cid:173)
`ventional communications interface for accessing one
`or more conventional communications sources. Current
`information is then automatically dynamically provided
`in an interactive peripheral display which minimizes any
`potential distraction to the user. Determining or specify(cid:173)
`ing, tracking or watching, and providing the information
`is accomplished using at least one customizable dy(cid:173)
`namic encapsulated object, a "ticket," that when paired
`with a "viewer," provides peripheral awareness of infor(cid:173)
`mation to the user. Further, in one embodiment, the tick(cid:173)
`ets are sharable among users, and may be copied, cut,
`pasted, saved, transmitted, dragged and dropped from
`web pages, etc., like any other electronic file using con(cid:173)
`ventional techniques.
`
`I r - - - - - - - - - - - - -
`1
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`NON-REMOVABLE
`STORAGE
`
`1
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`OUTPUT DEVICE(S)
`:
`I
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`COMMUNICATIONS
`1
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`116
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`Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR)
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`Page 1 of 44
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`GOOGLE EXHIBIT 1011
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`

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`EP 1 265157 A2
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`2
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`5
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`Description
`
`BACKGROUND
`
`Technical Field:
`
`[0001] The present invention involves a new system
`and process for providing dynamic communication ac(cid:173)
`cess and information awareness in an interactive pe(cid:173)
`ripheral display.
`
`Related Art:
`
`20
`
`these problems. However, such schemes typically pro(cid:173)
`vide relatively large windows that take up substantial
`amounts of screen or display real estate. Further, such
`schemes, while providing some communications capa(cid:173)
`bilities along with some information gathering or display
`capabilities, tend to separate the communications capa(cid:173)
`bilities from the information capabilities via one or more
`tabs or the like. Consequently, particular information can
`not be easily shared or communicated from within the
`10 applications provided by these schemes. Further, such
`schemes become unwieldy as the amount of informa(cid:173)
`tion being tracked by a user increases, and as the
`number of communications contacts maintained by the
`user increases. In particular, as the amount of contacts
`15 and/or information increases, the user is forced to scroll
`through large amounts of data or communications chan(cid:173)
`nels to find what he or she is looking for.
`[0005] For example, several conventional messaging
`type schemes provide similar capabilities for keeping
`track of or watching information, such as for example
`stock quotes, weather, news, or other information via the
`Internet or some other local or remote network, or some
`these conventional
`combination
`thereof. Further
`schemes also provide for some sort of communications
`access such as, for example, text instant messaging,
`file transfer, email, etc., via one of a number of commu-
`nications channels for contacts in one or more groups
`of contacts. Consequently, a user is able to keep track
`of particular information of interest, as well as to com-
`30 municate with particular people or entities. Unfortunate(cid:173)
`ly, with these schemes, the user can not do both simul(cid:173)
`taneously. He is forced to tab between the different
`types of information and the communications capabili-
`ties. Therefore, the user is unable to share data ob(cid:173)
`served via the different information tabs with contacts in
`the communications tab unless the user manually saves
`or copies the information, switches tabs, then manually
`creates a message to a particular contact, and either
`attaches or pastes the information to that message.
`[0006] Further, because these conventional schemes
`tend to have a number of tabs, they require a fairly large
`window in order to display the information and associ(cid:173)
`ated controls or icons. Unfortunately, such windows
`tend to get buried under other application windows when
`the user is using other applications. Consequently, the
`user is often forced to interrupt his or her flow of work
`to switch between windows. This particular problem has
`been addressed by some of these schemes by providing
`an option to always keep the window on top. Conse-
`50 quently, while solving the problem of burying the mes(cid:173)
`saging window, a new problem is created. Specifically,
`the messaging window then occludes a potentially large
`part of any other open application window. While it is
`possible to manually resize the different application win-
`55 dows and to move them around the screen in an attempt
`to give each window its own space, such manual user
`intervention can be both time consuming and aggravat(cid:173)
`ing for the typical user.
`
`[0002] By way of background, in today's information
`saturated environments, such as the Internet, a local or
`remote computer network, or any combination of the In(cid:173)
`ternet and such networks, it is often difficult for a user
`to keep track of the potentially large amounts and variety
`of communications and information which the user may
`be interested in. Such communications and information
`include, for example, email, instant messaging, file
`transfers, local weather, appointments, schedules, per(cid:173)
`sonal contacts, statistical information, file status, stock
`quotes, sports scores, local traffic, or any other type of
`communications or information that may be of interest 25
`to the user. This problem becomes particularly acute
`where the communications and/or information are dy(cid:173)
`namic, such that rapid, numerous, or large changes to
`the communications status or channels, or in the infor(cid:173)
`mation of interest to the user results in out of date com(cid:173)
`munications and/or information that is often relatively
`useless to a user.
`[0003]
`In response to this problem, several conven(cid:173)
`tional schemes have been developed to assist users in
`attempting to keep track of specific communications or
`information without requiring a user to manually search
`out or manually check for updates to the communica(cid:173)
`tions or information each time the user wants to examine
`the communications or information. However, such
`schemes are typically limited by what types of commu(cid:173)
`nications or information can be tracked or displayed, by
`the manner in which the communications or information
`is accessed or otherwise provided to the user, or by the
`inability to facilitate sharing of the communications or
`information between users. Further, conventional
`schemes that have attempted to address these prob(cid:173)
`lems tend to be limited by an inability to provide a single
`interface that allows for concurrent information retrieval,
`display or access in combination with communications
`and communication access points in a dynamic integrat(cid:173)
`ed environment. Consequently, users are often left with
`cluttered displays which provide access or interaction
`with either particular types of communications, or with
`specific information, but not with both communications
`and information access and interaction in an integrated
`environment.
`[0004] Several
`type
`conventional messaging
`schemes have attempted to partially address some of
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`EP 1 265157 A2
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`[0007] At least one conventional scheme has attempt-
`ed to address some of the problems of the aforemen(cid:173)
`tioned schemes. For example, one conventional
`scheme provides an application that allows a user to
`customize at least one icon in a scrollable strip along
`one edge of a computer display device. This scheme
`provides iconized links to particular information sources,
`and uses conventional techniques to populate each cus(cid:173)
`tomized icon with information retrieved from the infor(cid:173)
`mation sources. However, this scheme has several im(cid:173)
`portant limitations.
`[0008]
`In particular, while this scheme provides for
`gathering and providing information to a user, it fails to
`provide the level of communications capabilities offered
`by the aforementioned messaging schemes. For exam(cid:173)
`ple, this scheme does not provide a means for initiating
`communication via an icon, so while an icon may pro(cid:173)
`vide a communication status, such as a number of re(cid:173)
`ceived messages, it does not provide a means for re(cid:173)
`sponding to such messages. Further, this scheme does
`not provide for nesting or otherwise organizing groups
`of icons in order to aggregate multiple icons. In other
`words, opening the window associated with one icon
`does not provide access to further levels of grouped
`icons. Consequently, it is difficult to organize icons
`where a large number of icons are used. In addition, the
`icons of this scheme are not easily transportable. In oth-
`er words, there is no real mechanism for transferring
`icons between users. Instead, users are required to ob(cid:173)
`tain the icons from an application used for managing the
`icons. Other limitations of this scheme include a lack of
`an ability to resize the window containing the scrollable
`strip used for displaying the icons. Further, with this
`scheme, if a user adds too many items, another row or
`strip is automatically created within the window, even if
`that row has only one icon. Consequently, this scheme
`can potentially cause a large waste of valuable display
`space.
`[0009] A related scheme allows a user to customize
`a scrolling ticker type display window to provide contin(cid:173)
`uously updated scrolling information from a predefined
`set of available information. While useful, this scheme
`is even more limited than the prior scheme for several
`reasons. Most important among these limitations is that
`the set of information that is available to this scheme is
`predefined. Thus, if the information type and source is
`not listed as an option with this scheme, it is simply not
`available. However, users are provided with limited con-
`trol over certain information options, such as, for exam(cid:173)
`ple, specific stock symbols for stock quotes, choosing
`areas or topics of news to generate an automatic alert,
`or choosing particular cities to generate a weather re(cid:173)
`port. Another limitation is that users are not able to add
`or edit information sources, such as by modifying the
`icons as described above. Further limitations of this
`scheme include that fact that since the ticker scrolls,
`there is no guarantee that all the information of interest
`will be visually available at any given time. Specifically,
`
`5
`
`15
`
`20
`
`if the information of interest to a user is not currently
`visible, the user must wait until the information scrolls
`into view. Consequently, such a scheme can become
`very distracting to the user as the user is forced to direct
`a large amount of attention to the display in order to re(cid:173)
`trieve desired information. Further, because the scroll(cid:173)
`ing ticker is in constant motion, it is in itself potentially
`very distracting to a user as it creates a persistent mo(cid:173)
`tion in the user's peripheral vision. Finally, the commu-
`10 nications capability of this scheme is virtually nonexist(cid:173)
`ent in comparison to the aforementioned messaging
`schemes.
`[001 0] Still other schemes for providing custom infor(cid:173)
`mation views or displays involve a technique known as
`"web scraping." In general, such schemes allow a user
`to specify particular portions of unique Internet Web
`pages, i.e., source web pages, to be displayed on a sin(cid:173)
`gle customized web page. Consequently, while such
`schemes provide for information retrieval and display,
`they do not provide for communications capability.
`[0011] For example, one web scraping scheme allows
`users to "clip" relevant data and content from various
`Internet web sites and pull it all together in one dynamic
`browser page, called a "view." This view is effectively a
`25 composite web page. Thus, as any of the source web
`pages are changed, the composite web page is auto(cid:173)
`matically updated. Further, this scheme allows users to
`edit views in a variety of ways, such as by adding, de(cid:173)
`leting and rearranging data elements and personalizing
`the view with the users own inputs. In addition, this
`scheme provides a method for transferring views be(cid:173)
`tween users. However, this scheme suffers from many
`of the same basic limitations described above with re-
`spect to the aforementioned schemes. Such limitations
`include an inability to nest or organize views, or to ar(cid:173)
`range for a plurality of views to be displayed simultane-
`ously. Also, as mentioned above, such schemes typical(cid:173)
`ly provide little or no communications or messaging ca(cid:173)
`pabilities.
`[0012] Further limitations of web scraping include the
`fact that the views of this scheme must be opened in a
`window that typically takes up a substantial portion of a
`display device, if not the entire display device, and thus,
`it cannot provide an unobtrusive method for providing
`information to the user. In addition, typical web pages,
`as well as specific content of those web pages, are typ(cid:173)
`ically not designed to minimize the area in which infor(cid:173)
`mation is displayed. In other words, such web pages and
`content are simply not designed with the idea of squeez-
`ing lots of important information into very small spaces.
`Consequently, the end result of web scraping is a com(cid:173)
`posite web page that tends to be a very inefficient use
`of screen space. Further, if a portion of the web page
`that is scraped or otherwise clipped from an existing web
`55 page includes an animation, the web page can be very
`distracting if it's in the user's peripheral vision. Finally,
`because the web scraping technique is effectively a
`patchwork of disti net elements, the composite web page
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`5
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`EP 1 265157 A2
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`6
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`resulting from such techniques is typically an unappeal(cid:173)
`ing jumble of disparate elements that were never visu(cid:173)
`ally designed to appear together on a single page.
`[0013] Consequently, what is needed is new system
`and process for automatically providing dynamic com(cid:173)
`munication access and information awareness in an in(cid:173)
`teractive peripheral display without requiring a user to
`tab between communications channels or information
`types. Further, such a system and process should not
`require a user to choose from a predefined list of com(cid:173)
`munication access points and information categories or
`sources, but instead should allow for creation and cus(cid:173)
`tomization of communications access points and infor(cid:173)
`mation sources. Such communications access points
`should include communications channels for contacting
`other entities, such as, for example, people, businesses,
`or organizations, along with the current availability of
`each of the contacts via any of a variety of contact meth(cid:173)
`ods, such as email, voicemail, messaging servers, tel(cid:173)
`ephone, etc. The information sources should include
`any desired information elements, such as, for example,
`specific information types, information categories, or in(cid:173)
`formation sources. In addition, this system and process
`should allow users to customize and aggregate or or(cid:173)
`ganize any desired communication channels or access
`points, or any desired information sources into any de(cid:173)
`sired number of groups or nested groups. Also, these
`groups or nested groups should be capable of being ex(cid:173)
`panded by the user to allow the user to view nested
`groups or communication access points or information
`elements within these groups or nested groups. Finally,
`this system and process should provide for sharing of
`pre-defined or user definable communications access
`points and/or information elements between users.
`
`SUMMARY
`
`[0014]
`In general, the present invention solves the
`aforementioned problems, as well as other problems
`that will become apparent from an understanding of the
`following description by automatically providing dynam(cid:173)
`ic communication access and information awareness in
`an integrated interactive peripheral display. The present
`invention provides this capability either automatically,
`and/or by allowing a user to specify particular informa(cid:173)
`tion or communications contacts of interest to that user.
`Customized dynamic thumbnails representing each
`contact and each particular information element are
`then automatically displayed.
`[0015] These dynamic thumbnails or "items" general(cid:173)
`ly comprise a combination of a "ticket" describing the
`information or contact of interest and a specialized
`"viewer" for displaying whatever information or commu(cid:173)
`nications contact is represented by the ticket. Further,
`in accordance with the present invention, in one embod(cid:173)
`iment, tickets are sharable among users via convention(cid:173)
`al techniques, and may be copied, cut, pasted, stored,
`saved, transferred, transmitted, emailed, dragged and
`
`5
`
`dropped from web pages, etc., like any other electronic
`file. The system and process of the present invention
`then either automatically tracks or receives the current
`state of the information and communications contacts
`described by the tickets, and dynamically provides cur(cid:173)
`rent information as well as availability and status of the
`communications contacts in an interactive "peripheral
`awareness" interface for displaying the items. The pe(cid:173)
`ripheral awareness interface displays information and/
`10 or communications contacts in such a way as to mini(cid:173)
`mize any potential distraction or interruption to the user.
`[0016]
`In the context of the present invention, the con(cid:173)
`cept of "peripheral awareness" is best explained by the
`following discussion. In general, the peripheral aware-
`15 ness interface of the present invention takes advantage
`of people's innate ability to receive information aboutthe
`world around them without significantly interrupting their
`focal tasks. One trivial example of this innate ability of
`people to perceive information in a peripheral manner
`20 without interrupting their focal task is that a person might
`overhear a discussion in the hallway between Bob and
`Jane and realize that Jane has returned from her vaca(cid:173)
`tion. The present invention takes advantage of this abil(cid:173)
`ity with the peripheral awareness interface. Such periph-
`25 eral awareness interfaces are always on and visible
`rather than being a discrete user interface event that is
`shown when there is a state change of some informa(cid:173)
`tion. Thus, peripheral awareness, in accordance with
`the present invention does not blatantly draw the user's
`30 attention to new or updated information immediately, but
`instead makes it available in the periphery so that it may
`be observed if and when the user decides to glance that
`way. Further, in one embodiment, to increase the effec(cid:173)
`tiveness of user notification, the peripheral awareness
`interface utilizes both strategies of peripheral aware(cid:173)
`ness and notification, i.e., audible and/or visible alert,
`depending upon the time sensitivity or priority of the in(cid:173)
`formation. The peripheral awareness interface of the
`present invention provides a display area on a user's
`40 display device for displaying items as described herein.
`[0017] Further, with respect to communications con(cid:173)
`tacts, the system and method of the present invention
`provides a "person-centric interface" for interacting with
`the contacts. This person centric interface is designed
`45 such that people or other entities are brought to the fore(cid:173)
`front of the peripheral display so that communications
`with particular persons or entities may be reviewed or
`initiated easily, while the communications availability of
`such people or entities may be understood by a user by
`50 simply glancing at the peripheral display. This capability
`is accomplished by displaying pictures, images, icons,
`avatars, etc., within each item that represents a partic(cid:173)
`ular communications contact for visually representing
`the communications availability or status for each com-
`55 munications contact. In alternate embodiments, this
`person centric interface further includes contact specific
`information such as, for example, communication histo(cid:173)
`ry, and communications availability, as well as commu-
`
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`7
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`EP 1 265157 A2
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`8
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`nications access and interaction for particular contacts
`via any of a number of access points or communication
`channels, such as, for example, email, messaging serv(cid:173)
`ers, voice mail, telephone numbers, peer-to-peer file
`transfer, etc.
`[0018] Specifying, tracking or receiving, and providing
`the information and communications capabilities, as
`noted above, is accomplished in accordance with the
`present invention through the use of at least one cus(cid:173)
`tomizable dynamic encapsulated object, hereinafter re(cid:173)
`ferred to as a "ticket," that when paired with a "viewer,"
`provides peripheral awareness of information of interest
`to a user. As noted above, the combination of a ticket
`and a viewer is termed an "item."
`[0019]
`In general, a ticket is represented by a data
`structure such as an XML data file. Each ticket includes
`instructions as to what information or communications
`contact is to be represented by the ticket as well as
`pointers to particular "services" that represent any of a
`number of conventional means for interacting with the
`information or communications contacts. These servic(cid:173)
`es are automatically or manually selected from a prede(cid:173)
`fined or user definable library of services. In particular,
`the different services represent shared code or func(cid:173)
`tions that provide functionality for accessing, receiving,
`retrieving, and/or otherwise interacting with any conven(cid:173)
`tional information, source of information, or communi(cid:173)
`cations contact. Further, it should be noted that in one
`embodiment multiple services are used in combination
`for providing complex interactions with any conventional
`information, source of information, or communications
`contact.
`[0020]
`In the context of the present invention, one ex(cid:173)
`ample of a "service" is the functionality necessary for
`monitoring an email folder by connecting to a conven(cid:173)
`tional MAP I server. Another example of a service is func(cid:173)
`tionality for sending or receiving email messages. Re(cid:173)
`lated services provide functionality for communicating
`with contacts or transferring information via any number
`of conventional methods, such as, for example instant
`messaging or peer-to-peer communications schemes.
`Another example of a service is functionality to convert
`a text file from one language to another. A further exam(cid:173)
`ple of a service is functionality necessary for monitoring
`a database. Still another example of a service is func(cid:173)
`tionality for receiving or retrieving data from a web site
`or a remote server. Clearly, any conventional method for
`interacting with any conventional information, source of
`information, or communications contact can be imple(cid:173)
`mented as a shared service for use by one or more tick(cid:173)
`ets in accordance with the present invention.
`[0021] Further, as noted above, each ticket's instruc(cid:173)
`tions includes a pointer to one of a number of specialized
`viewers having the capability to display whatever type
`of information or communications contact is represent(cid:173)
`ed by the ticket. In other words, each ticket represents
`a combination of the information or contact that a user
`desires to keep track of along with a definition of how
`
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`20
`
`25
`
`the user desires to view that particular information as
`well as the ability to use any of a number of conventional
`means for accessing and/or interacting with the infor(cid:173)
`mation or contact.
`[0022] For example, information of interest to a user
`may include statistical information relating to a particular
`electronic file residing on a remote electronic database.
`Given this simple example, the user may be interested
`in knowing how many people have read the electronic
`file, or whether it has been modified. Consequently, the
`customizable ticket includes instructions for using a
`"service" for linking to the remote server hosting the
`electronic file such that the can collect the statistical in(cid:173)
`formation as it becomes available. Further, the ticket in-
`15 eludes instructions as to what data is to be displayed,
`and which viewer is to be used to display that data. Such
`instructions for displaying the data may simply include
`instructions to display the number of people that have
`read the file, and/or instructions to change the color of
`the displayed information when the file has been modi(cid:173)
`fied by anyone other than the user. Clearly, this example
`is not meant to limit what information or data may be
`displayed, or how the information or data is to be dis(cid:173)
`played, as many other types of statistical or other data
`relating to such files, or to any other information of in(cid:173)
`terest, can be collected and/or displayed in accordance
`with the present invention.
`[0023] As discussed above, each ticket is paired with
`a "viewer" to create an "item." These viewers graphically
`30 display the ticket as a resizable thumbnail or icon-sized
`window having the information or contact data retrieved
`via one or more of the services in accordance with the
`aforementioned ticket instructions. In particular, the
`viewer is capable of dynamically displaying a ticket hav-
`ing textual, audible, or graphical information, including
`still or live images, or any combination of textual, audi(cid:173)
`ble, or graphical information. For example, one viewer
`type is capable of displaying contact information, i.e. a
`"person ticket" as described below, another is capable
`40 of displaying specific email information, such as, for ex(cid:173)
`ample, number of messages received, or number of
`messages from a particular source, another viewer is
`designed to interact with a database to provide a sum(cid:173)
`mary of particular information from the database in the
`thumbnail. Further examples of viewer types include
`viewers capable of displaying still images, video imag(cid:173)
`es, a summary of communications status, the results of
`a database query, etc. Clearly, any type of viewer can
`designed to be associated with any corresponding type
`50 of information to ensure that any possible information
`can be displayed.
`[0024]
`In addition to the just described benefits, other
`advantages of the present invention will become appar(cid:173)
`ent from the detailed description which follows herein-
`55 after when taken in conjunction with the accompanying
`drawing figures.
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`9
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`EP 1 265157 A2
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`10
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`DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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`[0025] The specific features, aspects, and advantag-
`es of the present invention will become better under(cid:173)
`stood with regard to the following description, appended
`claims, and accompanying drawings where:
`
`FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting a general-purpose
`computing device constituting an exemplary sys-
`tem for implementing the present invention.
`
`FIG. 2 is a general architectural diagram illustrating
`exemplary system components for implementing a
`system and process in accordance with the present
`invention.
`
`FIG. 3 is a system diagram that depicts program
`modules employed in a system for providing periph(cid:173)
`eral awareness of contacts and information to a us-
`er via a peripheral awareness interface in accord-
`ance with the present invention.
`
`FIG. 4A is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary
`process for providing peripheral awareness of con(cid:173)
`tacts and information of interest to a user via a pe-
`ripheral awareness
`interface according to the
`present invention.
`
`FIG. 4B is an exemplary screen image which illus(cid:173)
`trates a display of average user availability accord-
`ing to the present invention.
`
`FIG. 5 is an exemplary block diagram that depicts
`an exemplary user interface for interacting with a
`system and process in accordance with the present
`invention.
`
`FIG. 6A is an exemplary screen image illustrating a
`working example for automatically providing periph-
`eral awareness of contacts and information of inter-
`est to a user via a peripheral awareness interface
`in accordance with the present invention.
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`10
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`FIG. 6B is an exemplary screen image showing the
`peripheral awareness interface of FIG. 6A.
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`45
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`FIG. 7B is an exemplary screen image illustrating
`expansion of a group of nested "items" in the pe(cid:173)
`ripheral awareness interface of FIG. 7A.
`
`FIG. SA is an exemplary screen image illustrating
`an alternate embodiment of a peripheral awareness
`interface showing pawns associated with person
`items in accordance with the present invention.
`
`FIG. SB is an exemplary screen image illustrating a
`dynamic person window accessed by selection of
`one of the person items of FIG. SA.
`
`FIG. SC is an exemplary screen image illustrating
`historical communications information associated
`with the person represented by the person window
`of FIG. SB.
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`FIG. 9 is an exemplary screen image illustrating ex(cid:173)
`pansion of a calendar item in accordance with the
`present invention.
`
`FIG. 10 is an exemplary screen image illustrating
`expansion of an email item in accordance with the
`present invention.
`
`FIG. 11 A is an exemplary screen image illustrating
`an alternate embodiment of a peripheral awareness
`interface having collapsible groups of items in ac(cid:173)
`cordance with the present invention.
`
`FIG. 11 B is an exemplary screen image illustrating
`the peripheral awareness interface of FIG. 9A
`showing two of the groups of items in a collapsed
`state.
`
`FIG. 12 is an exemplary screen image illustrating a
`graphically displayed downloadable ticket embed(cid:173)
`ded in a web page in accordance with the present
`invention.
`
`FIG. 13 is an exemplary screen image illustrating
`an email message with an attached ticket in accord(cid:173)
`ance with the present invention.
`
`FIG. 6C is an exemplary screen image illustrating a
`working example for automatically providing periph(cid:173)
`eral awareness of contacts and information of inter(cid:173)
`est to a user via a peripheral awareness interface
`covering the entire display on a conventional Pock(cid:173)
`et PC in accordance with the present invention.
`
`FIG. 7A is an exemplary screen image illustrating
`expansion of an "item" displayed in a peripheral
`awareness interface in accordance with the present
`invention.
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`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENTS
`
`[0026]
`In the following description of the preferred em-
`50 bodiments of the present invention, reference is made
`to the accompanying drawings, which form a part here(cid:173)
`of, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific
`embodime