1. Apparatus for the separation of a leading label from a label supply, said apparatus including means for advancing a label supply to a point of label application, said label supply having a first planar surface having a release layer applied thereto and an opposing planar surface having a layer of adhesive applied to at least a portion thereof, said label supply having a series of labels defined therein by lines of weakening, and means for separating the leading label from the supply of labels to allow the same to be applied to an article, wherein said means for separating include a tool positioned such that at least one protruding portion of the tool contacts and locates with an aperture formed along the line of weakening so as to commence the breaking of the line of weakening and the remainder of the line of weakening is formed by microperforations and characterized in that the width of the at least one aperture which is engaged by the tool is substantially the same as the width of the adjacent microperforations.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the breaking of the line of weakening is commenced once a portion of the label has been applied to the article by adhesive or mechanical location, subsequent movement of the article and label bringing the line of weakening into contact with the tool.
3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the label supply is fed through first and second sets of rollers, and the line of weakening which is to be broken is located between the two sets, with the tool located between the two sets at a position such that the protruding portion thereon engages with the aperture formed along the line of weakening.
4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the contact between the protruding portion and the aperture in the line of weakening is encouraged by a selective drive andor drive speed of the first and second sets of rollers.
5. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the tool is provided to be relatively movable with respect to the label supply so as to allow the protruding portion on the tool to be selectively moved into the aperture in the line of weakening.
6. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein there is provided a support plate which lies between first and second sets of rollers and towards which the label supply is encouraged to be positioned.
7. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the support plate has an aperture shaped so as to allow the tool to pass therethrough and into contact with the label supply to break the line of weakening.
8. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the tool includes two or more spaced protruding portions, each portion provided to be locatable in a respective aperture formed along the line of weakening in the label supply at the same spacing.
9. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the speed of feed of the labels will be substantially the same as the speed of feed of the articles to which the labels are to subsequently be applied.
10. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein there is relative movement between the tool and a label feed means during one cycle of operation so as to allow the leading edge of the leading label to be held in a defined position and then applied to the article accurately whereupon the trailing edge of the leading label is separated from the label supply via the tool.
11. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the tool is provided with a 3 dimensional profile and first and second sets of rollers are provided, a first set on one side of the line of weakening which is to be broken and a second set on the opposing side of the line of weakening.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method, comprising:
presenting a display comprising a plurality of regions, each of the plurality of regions not overlapping another of the plurality of regions;
receiving a first user selection of a first region of the plurality of regions, the first region presenting a first amount of information; and
in response to the first user selection, using at least one processor of a machine,
enlarging the first region;
presenting a second amount of information in the first region greater than the first amount of information; and
shrinking at least one remaining region so that each of the plurality of regions do not overlap another of the plurality of regions.
2. The method of claim 1, the first amount of information presented in the first region comprising an information topic, the second amount of information comprising a listing of items relating to the information topic.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a second user selection of the first region subsequent to the first user selection; and
in response to the second user selection, presenting a third amount of information presented in the first region greater than the second amount of information.
4. The method of claim 3, the second amount of information comprising a listing of items, and the third amount of information comprising details regarding one of the items.
5. The method of claim 4, the details comprising at least one of a creation date of the one of the items, a due data associated with the one of the items, and a name of a user associated with the one of the items.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, subsequent to the first user selection, a second user selection of a second region of the plurality of regions, the second region presenting a third amount of information; and
in response to the second user selection:
enlarging the second region;
presenting a fourth amount of information in the second region greater than the third amount of information;
presenting the first amount of information in the first region; and
shrinking at least the first region so that each of the plurality of regions are not overlapping another of the plurality of regions.
7. The method of claim 1, the user selection being initiated via an activation of a button of a user input device.
8. The method of claim 1, the user selection being initiated via an activation in a first direction of a scroll wheel of a user input device.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:
receiving a second user selection of the first region, the second user selection being initiated via an activation in a second direction of the scroll wheel; and
in response to the second user selection:
presenting the first amount of information in the first region;
shrinking the first region; and
enlarging at least one remaining region while ensuring that each of the plurality of regions does not overlap another of the plurality of regions.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
generating a query corresponding to the first user selection of the first region;
forwarding the query to a database; and
receiving the second amount of information from the database in response to the query.
11. The method of claim 10, the query being generated prior to the receiving of the first user selection.
12. The method of claim 10, the query being generated in response to the receiving of the first user selection.
13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user input specifying at least one of an initial size and an initial location of each of the plurality of regions of the display, the presenting of the display being based on the user input.
14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving user input subsequent to the first user selection, the user input corresponding to the first region; and
updating the second amount of information based on the user input.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
presenting a user interface displaying a plurality of regions simultaneously, each of the plurality of regions not overlapping another of the plurality of regions;
receiving a user selection of a first region of the plurality of regions, the first region presenting a first amount of information; and
in response to the user selection,
enlarging the first region;
presenting a second amount of information in the first region greater than the first amount of information; and
shrinking at least one remaining region so that none of the plurality of regions overlap another of the plurality of regions.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising reducing an amount of information presented in the at least one remaining region in response to the user selection.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, each of the plurality of regions being a convex region.
18. A system comprising:
at least one processor of a machine; and
modules comprising instructions that are executable by the at least one processor, the modules comprising:
a user interface output module to display a plurality of regions simultaneously, each of the plurality of regions not overlapping another of the plurality of regions; and
a user interface input module to receive a selection of a first region of the plurality of regions, the first region presenting a first amount of information;
the user interface output module, responsive to the selection, to enlarge the first region, to present a second amount of information in the first region greater than the first amount of information, and to shrink at least one remaining region so that none of the plurality of regions overlap another of the plurality of regions.
19. The system of claim 18, further comprising:
a query generation module to generate a plurality of queries, each of the queries corresponding to one of the plurality of regions prior to the selection; and
a database module to generate a response for each of the queries, each of the responses comprising an amount of information to be presented in the corresponding one of the plurality of regions prior to the selection.
20. The system of claim 19, the query generation module to generate a second query corresponding to the selection of the first region, the database module to generate a second response for the second query, the second response comprising the second amount of information.