Most computer users are familiar with the lag that can occur between the time information is requested for display, and the time the information is actually displayed. Such lags may be due to a number of factors. In a network environment, for example, because of traffic, network latencies, contention for resources, high data volumes and other things, it can take time for information requested from a server to be downloaded to a client for display. This delay can be frustrating for users.
While a certain amount of delay may be unavoidable, frustration may be aggravated when, for example, a user is interested in only particular portions of a data file but must wait for the entire data file to be downloaded before the portions of interest may be viewed.
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an on-demand scrollbar for use in computer displays that addresses the concerns discussed above. According to the embodiments, the scrollbar may be included in an electronic display of a document that contains multiple parts. The scrollbar may contain indicators corresponding to respective parts of the document. By activating an indicator, a user may select a corresponding part of the document to download. Thus, a user is able to more quickly access information of interest, as opposed to having to wait for an entire document to be downloaded before accessing information of interest.
Each indicator 102.1, 102.2, . . . , 102.n and download status field 103.1, 103.2, . . . , 103.n may show the progress of a download of a corresponding portion of a document. For example, in
Indicators 102.2, 102.3 and 102.4, on the other hand, remain completely filled in with a light color, and there is no visible download status field associated with them. This means that no download has yet been initiated for the document portions associated with these indicators.
Indicator 102.5 shows that download has been initiated for the corresponding document portion, and that the download is in progress. This shown by the fact that the indicator 102.5 is partly light-colored and partly dark-colored. The corresponding status field 103.5 shows, by the dark-colored portion extending downward from the indicator 102.5, that the download of the corresponding document portion is about half complete.
Download of a document portion may be initiated, for example, by clicking on an indicator with an input device such as a mouse. Alternatively, to select an indicator, the user may drag the scrolling button 104 to the indicator. Further, a download in progress may be stopped, for example, by clicking on a corresponding indicator. The download may then be resumed at the point it left off by clicking again on the corresponding indicator.
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The on-demand scrollbar according to embodiments of the present invention may be incorporated into any kind of computer display. Behavior of the display may be governed at least in part by computer-executable instructions according to embodiments of the present invention. The instructions may generate, possibly in association with or by interfacing with conventional code that controls aspects of a display's appearance, a display on a display device, where the display includes an on-demand scrollbar according to embodiments of the invention. The on-demand scrollbar may correspond to an electronic document, which may be displayed concurrently on the display device.
The electronic document may include various tokens, tags, specialized navigation and definitional fields, and the like, defining a navigable structure for the document, in a manner well known in the art. Such fields may be interpreted by the instructions, or by conventional code that interfaces with the instructions, to generate a corresponding distribution of indicators for display in the scrollbar. A distance between indicators may indicate a relative size of a document portion. Thus, how far a download status bar associated with a first indicator has extended toward a second indicator may indicate how close the download of the document portion corresponding to the first indicator is to completing.
Further, the instructions, or conventional code that interfaces with the instructions, may receive input signals from a mouse or other input device and perform corresponding operations. For example, a user may select an indicator 102.1, 102.2, . . . , 102.n by positioning a pointer or cursor or other positional indicator over the indicator 102 and clicking on it. Alternatively, the user may drag the scrolling button 104 to a selected indicator. Such operations may generate selection signals to the instructions, or to conventional code that interfaces with the instructions. In response to the signals, a call or request for a download of the corresponding document portion may be performed.
Computer-executable instructions 407 according to embodiments of the may be stored on any machine-readable medium 411, such as RAM (random access memory), ROM (read-only memory), floppy disk, fixed disk, CD-ROM, magnetic tape and the like. The instructions may be loaded from the machine-readable medium 411 into the memory 404 for execution by the processor 403. As noted previously, the instructions may interface with conventional code that controls aspects of a display's appearance.
The instructions 407, or conventional code that interfaces with the instructions 407, may generate a display 100 on the display device 401. The display 100 may include an on-demand scrollbar 101 according to embodiments of the present invention, along with a corresponding electronic document. With the input device 405, a user may activate features of the scrollbar, such as selecting an indicator to initiate download of a corresponding document section. These activities may generate signals from the input device 405 that are detected by the computer 402. The instructions 407, or conventional code that interfaces with the instructions 407, may be responsive to the signals detected by the computer 402 and generate a corresponding display on the display device 401.
Subsequently, an appearance of a selected indicator to show that download of a corresponding document portion is in progress may be altered, as shown in block 503. The alteration in appearance may comprise changing a color of at least a portion of the selected indicator. A download status field associated with a selected indicator may be generated, as shown in block 504.
In embodiments of the invention, a download of all portions of a document may be performed concurrently, i.e. without the user activating download of individual portions. Such a concurrent download could be, for example, activated by loading controls independent of the indicators 102.1-102.n. However, in such a concurrent download, the scrollbar 101 would still track the progress of the download of each document portion as described above, and the other functionality (e.g., stopping and restarting a download of a given portion) discussed above would be available.
Several embodiments of the present invention are specifically illustrated and/or described herein. However, it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of the present invention are covered by the above teachings and within the purview of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and intended scope of the invention.