Contrasting graphical user interface pointer
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsSanaa F. Abdelhadi, Hypatia Rojas
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for the display of a graphical user interface (GUI) pointer, such as a mouse pointer, in a GUI system operating in conjunction with a color or monochrome-scale display system having a display screens. The pointer is displayed in a color or shade which contrasts the background and foreground information on the display screen on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The color of the pointer is re-evaluated every time the pointer is moved to insure that the pixel-by-pixel contrast is constantly maintained.
Claims18
A graphical user interface (GUI) system on a computer comprising:
- a display system having a display screen having a background, a foreground, and a pointer displayed thereon;
- and
- a pointing device,
- wherein the pointer is displayed in the same area of the display screen as a portion of the background,
- wherein a first portion of the pointer is automatically displayed in a shade contrasting to the color of the background when the first portion of the pointer is displayed in the same area of the display screen as the background,
- wherein the pointer is displayed in the same area of the display as a portion of the foreground, and
- wherein a second portion of the pointer is displayed in a shade contrasting to the color of the foreground when the second portion of the pointer is displayed in the same area of the display screen as the foreground.
A method for displaying a pointer on a display screen in a graphical user interface (GUI) system comprising the steps of:
- determining an existing color pattern to be displayed on the display screen;
- determining the location of the pointer on the display screen;
- and
- for each picture element within the location of the pointer, determining an existing color of the existing color pattern on the display screen at that picture element, computing a contrasting color to the existing color, and displaying the portion of the pointer at that picture element using the contrasting color.
A computer system comprising:
- a display system having a display screen;
- a pointing device;
- and
- a memory unit containing a graphical user interface (GUI) program comprising:
- display code operable to define a background and a set of foreground information for display upon the display screen,
- pointer code operable to display a pointer on the display screen responsive to a user manipulating the pointing device wherein the pointer code is further operable to display a first portion of the pointer in a color which contrasts the color of the background when the first portion of the pointer is displayed in the same area of the display screen as the background.
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising:
- a pointer location code comprising a set of codes operable to direct a computer system to determine the location of a pointer on a computer screen;
- a contrasting color selection code comprising a set of codes operable to direct the computer to determine a color of the computer screen for each pixel within the pointer and to determine a contrasting color to the color;
- a pointer display code comprising a set of codes operable to direct the computer to display the pointer at the location in the contrasting color for each pixel within the pointer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.