# US 2014/0157169 A1 · Clip board system with visual affordance > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0157169 A1 - Document ID: US20140157169A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/705,170 - Filed: 2012-12-05 - Published: 2014-06-05 - Earliest claimed: 2012-12-05 - Assignees: Microsoft Corporation - Applicants: Microsoft Corporation - Inventors: Erez Kikin-gil - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140157169A1 ## CPC - G06F 3/0486: Drag-and-drop - G06F 3/04886: by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus - G06F 9/543: {User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A clip board system provides a visual affordance for clipped information that is stored on a clip board. A direct manipulation method is used to place items on, and retrieve items from, the clip board. The clip board can also be implemented on a network so that content that is saved on the clip board can easily be accessed by a user using a plurality of different applications or devices. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A clip board system, comprising: a clip board visualization component generating a visual affordance corresponding to each clipped item stored on a clip board, each given visual affordance displaying information indicative of the corresponding given clipped item; a clip board operations component receiving a clip board operations user input to perform a clip board operation on a selected clipped item; and a computer processor, being a functional part of the clip board system and activated by the clip board visualization component and the clip board operations component to facilitate generating the visual affordance and performing the clip board operation. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The clip board system of claim 1 wherein the clip board operations component receives, as the clip board operations user input, a direct manipulation user input, directly manipulating the visual affordance corresponding to the selected clipped item. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The clip board system of claim 2 wherein the clip board operations component receives a drag and drop user input on the visual affordance corresponding to the selected clipped item and performs the clip board operation based on the drag and drop user input. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The clip board system of claim 2 wherein the clip board operations component performs a cut or copy operation on the clipped item and places the clipped item on the clip board based on the drag and drop user input. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The clip board system of claim 2 wherein the clip board operations component retrieves the clipped item and pastes the clipped item on a content canvas at a location based on the drag and drop user input. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The clip board system of claim 5 wherein the clip board operations component performs the cut or copy operation to obtain the clipped item from a first application and place it on the clip board and pastes the clipped item on a content canvas of a second application, different from the first application. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The clip board system of claim 5 wherein the clip board operations component receives the drag and drop user input to perform the cut or copy operation to obtain the clipped item on a first device and generates the visual affordance for the clipped item and receives a second drag and drop user input to paste the clipped item on a content canvas displayed on a second device, different from the first device. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The clip board system of claim 1 wherein the clip board visualization component generates a visual affordance for each clipped item on the clip board and displays the visual affordances for direct manipulation by the user to perform clip board operations on the clipped items. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The clip board system of claim 1 and further comprising: a clipped item data store storing clipped items that are on the clip board. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The clip board system of claim 1 further comprising: a server component that provides access to the clipboard operations component and the clip board visualization component as a service. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The clip board system of claim 10 wherein the service comprises a cloud-based service. ### Claim 12 A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, through a user interface display, a clip board user input selecting content to be saved to a clip board; saving the selected content to the clip board; and displaying a visual affordance on a user interface display, the visual affordance corresponding to the selected content saved to the clip board. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The computer implemented method of claim 12 and further comprising: receiving a retrieve user input retrieving the selected content from the clip board and pasting it to a given location in content displayed on the user interface display. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein receiving a clip board user input comprises: receiving a direct visual manipulation of the selected content through the user interface display. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The computer-implemented method of claim 14 wherein receiving the direct visual manipulation comprises: receiving a drag and drop input dragging a representation of the selected content on the user interface display to place the selected content on the clip board. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein the clip board user input is received through a first application and wherein the retrieve user input is received through a second application. ### Claim 17 (depends on 13) The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein the clip board user input is received through a first user device and wherein the retrieve user input is received through a second device. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein receiving and saving are performed on a cloud-based service. ### Claim 19 A computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method, comprising: receiving, through a user interface display, a clip board user input selecting content to be saved to a clip board, the clip board user input comprising a drag and drop input dragging a representation of the selected content on the user interface display to place the selected content on the clip board; saving the selected content to the clip board; displaying a visual affordance on a user interface display, the visual affordance corresponding to the selected content saved to the clip board; and receiving a retrieve user input retrieving the selected content from the clip board and pasting it to a given location in content displayed on the user interface display. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The computer readable medium of claim 19 wherein receiving and saving are performed on a cloud-based service so the selected content saved on the clip board is accessible through a plurality of different user devices and a plurality of different applications.