Three dimensional directional pointer icon
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorRonald J. Lisle
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A perspective view of a pointer icon is displayed such that toward the middle of the display frame the icon appears to point toward the display surface, rather than toward an edge of the display frame. This creates an illusion that the icon, such as an arrowhead, is reversing its direction smoothly in three dimensional space. Although the display screen is only a two dimensional surface, the multiple icons can readily be configured to be shown in perspective and, therefore, appear to be three dimensional, without the requirement for gray scale or half tone display technology. The invention is readily implemented with conventional monochromatic or color graphics hardware commonly available for personal computers.
Claims9
A system for controlling the display of a plurality of computer system perspective pointer image views comprising:
- means for determining a position at which one of said perspective pointer image views is to be displayed on a display screen of said computer system;
- and
- means responsive to said means for determining for displaying, on said display screen, perspective pointer image views, including a first perspective pointer image view having an axis of said first perspective pointer image view tilted more toward a perpendicular orientation relative to a surface plane of said screen when said perspective pointer image view is displayed near said center of said screen and a second perspective pointer image view having an axis of said second perspective pointer image view tilted more toward a parallel orientation relative to said surface plane of said screen than said first perspective pointer image view when said second perspective pointer image view is displayed near an edge of said screen;
- whereby, said means for displaying perspective pointer image views controls display of perspective pointer image views which appear to be three dimensional and which appear to rotate about an axis which is parallel to said surface plane of said screen as said perspective pointer image views are moved through the center of said screen.
A method of controlling the display of a pointer on a display screen of a computer system, comprising:
- determining a position on said screen at which said pointer is to be displayed;
- displaying perspective views of said pointer which appears to be three dimensional and which appears to rotate about an axis which is parallel to a surface plane of said screen as said pointer is moved through the center of said screen, including;
- displaying a stored first pointer image having an axis of said pointer image tilted more toward a perpendicular orientation relative to said surface plane of said screen when said pointer image is displayed near said center of said screen and a stored second pointer image having an axis of said pointer image tilted more toward a parallel orientation relative to said surface plane than said first pointer image when said second pointer image is displayed near an edge of said screen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.