Apple granted patent dealing with dynamically changing cursors

[dgstorm]

Apple is trying to improve the way the mouse cursor is handled, so it is pushing things into this direction. This week the US Patent and Trademark office awarded the Cupertino Company a patent related to a brand new property of mouse cursors. The patent is called “Dynamically Changing Cursor for User Interface” and bears the number 8,230,366. It describes how the mouse cursor might change in response to the task it needs to achieve.

A new configuration called the “hybrid cursor” is described in relation to the plus sign bubble notification cursor:

“A different form of hybrid cursor can be associated with a copy operation. FIG. 8A illustrates one example of such a cursor. In this example, the tail of the normal cursor is again replaced with a bubble. However, the bubble has a “plus” sign within it, to indicate that a copy of the dragged object will be made.

In addition, the bubble preferably has a distinctly different color from that of the hybrid drag icon. As a result, the user can readily distinguish between drag operations that will cause an object to be moved from one location to another, and drag operations that will result in a copy of the object being made.”

If you are wandering what “hybrid cursor” is, it stands for a pointer arrow that comes with a tail. The technology could prove in handy when users need to identify on-screen locations or have to request extra info about the task performed.

Until now only the newest versions of Apple’s operating system on desktops, features a dynamic cursor with a modified hybrid design.

By Radu

Source: United States Patent: 8230366

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