On November 15, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple’s patent application titled Workflow widgets . Apple’s patent generally relates to graphical user interfaces including Dashboard. Apple’s patent states that for illustrative purposes, widgets (including linked widgets) are described as a feature of an operating system. Workflow widgets, however, can be implemented in other contexts as well, including e-mail environments, desktop environments, application environments, hand-held display environments, and any other display environments including a television.

Patent: Workflow widgets

Apple’s Patent Background: A hallmark of modern graphical user interfaces is that they allow a large number of graphical objects or items to be displayed on a display screen at the same time. Leading personal computer operating systems, such as Apple Mac OS, provide user interfaces in which a number of windows can be displayed, overlapped, resized, moved, configured, and reformatted according to the needs of the user or application. Taskbars, menus, virtual buttons and other user interface elements provide mechanisms for accessing and activating windows even when they are hidden behind other windows.

Although users appreciate interfaces that can present information on a screen via multiple windows, the result can be overwhelming. For example, users may find it difficult to navigate to a particular user interface element or to locate a desired element among a large number of onscreen elements. The problem is further compounded when user interfaces allow users to position elements in a desired arrangement, including overlapping, minimizing, maximizing, and the like. Although such flexibility may be useful to the user, it can result in a cluttered display screen. Having too many elements displayed on the screen can lead to “information overload,” thus inhibiting the user to efficiently use the computer equipment.

Many of the deficiencies of conventional user interfaces can be reduced using “widgets.” Generally, widgets are user interface elements that include information and one or more tools (e.g., applications) that let the user perform common tasks and provide fast access to information. Widgets can perform a variety of tasks, including without limitation, communicating with a remote server to provide information to the user (e.g., weather report), providing commonly needed functionality (e.g., a calculator), or acting as an information repository (e.g., a notebook). Widgets can be displayed and accessed through a user interface, such as a “dashboard layer,” which is also referred to as a “dashboard.” Widgets and dashboards are described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/877,968, entitled “Unified Interest Layer for User Interface.”

The simplicity and utility of widgets and dashboards make them suitable alternatives or improvements to traditional workflow technologies (e.g., email, Instant Messaging, etc.)

Apple’s Abstract: Systems, methods, computer-readable mediums, user interfaces and other implementations are disclosed for workflow widgets. In some implementations, a widget workflow method includes: launching a widget at a first device; and updating the widget with content created at a second device.

Apple’s patent FIG. 7 noted above is a screen shot depicting an exemplary application for managing workflow widgets.

Apple’s Patent Covers the Following Subject Matter: Dashboard Overview, Software Architecture, Dashboard Server, Dashboard Client, Widget Format, Dashboard Invocation, Installation of Elements, Workflow Widgets, Managing Workflow Widgets, Workflow Communication System, Software Architecture, Widget Workflow Process, Process Flow at the Publishing Device/Server System and Communicating with Widgets Using URL Requests,
Apple lists Scott Forstall (Mountain View, CA), Imran A. Chaudhri (San Francisco, CA), John O. Louch (San Luis Obispo, CA) and Eric Steven Peyton (Lisle, IL) as the inventors of patent application 20070266093.

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Written and researched by Neo.