What is claimed is:
1. In a kiosk system having a plurality of kiosks for displaying information from a database of information provided by a plurality of information providers, wherein each kiosk includes a display monitor for the display of information to a user and an associated microprocessor for controlling the retrieval and display of information, a method for defining custom interface screens for an individual kiosk comprising the steps of:
providing a plurality of pre-defined element types, each element type defining a form of element available for presentation on said custom interface screen and each element type having a plurality of attributes associated therewith wherein each said attribute may be assigned a value in a pre-defined attribute range;
selecting a plurality of elements to be displayed on said custom interface screen, said plurality of elements being selected from said plurality of predefined elements types, said predefined plurality of elements including at least one activation type;
assigning values to the attributes associated with each of said selected elements, said attributes values being assigned within said predefined attribute ranges, wherein said selected elements on said display screen are subject to a predefined set of constraints determined by said pre-defined element types and said associated attribute values and attribue ranges, whereby the aggregate layout of said plurality of selected elements on said display screen will be aesthetically pleasing and functionally operable for effective delivery of information to a kiosk user;
associating content bearing data with each of said selected elements, wherein said content bearing data associated with at least a portion of said selected elements is derived from said information providers; and
linking said at least one selected activation type to an action.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said content bearing data is selected from the group of content bearing data forms including text, an image, a sequence of images forming a slide presentation, a sequence of images forming an animated presentation, a video clip and a sound clip.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said action is selected from the group of actions including updating the current screen, going to a new screen, playing a video file, playing an audio file, playing an animation file, playing a slide presentation file.
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:
displaying at least two stored graphical objects on a display at a first orientation and at least one stored graphical object at a second orientation, with each orientation being set with respect to a sensed reference direction;
setting, in response to a first user input, the first orientation of at least one of the at least two stored graphical objects on the display to a fixed value with respect to the sensed reference direction; and
editing the orientation of the at least one stored graphical object at the second orientation, responsive to a sensed change in orientation of the display with respect to the sensed reference direction, to the first orientation of the at least two stored graphical objects.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first orientation that is fixed with respect to the sensed reference direction is defined by a base orientation parameter associated with the at least two stored graphical objects.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein editing the orientation of the at least one stored graphical object responsive to a sensed change in orientation of the display with respect to the reference direction comprises:
editing the base orientation parameter associated with the at least one stored graphical object responsive to the display being rotated in a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion.
4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the base orientation parameter comprises a tag associated with the at least one stored graphical object.
5. A method according to claim 1, wherein editing the orientation of the at least one stored graphical object responsive to a sensed change in orientation of the display with respect to the reference direction comprises:
storing an edited version of the at least one stored graphical object, the edited version comprising the at least one graphical object rotated through an angle corresponding to the sensed change in orientation of the display with respect to the reference direction.
6. A method according to claim 1, wherein editing the orientation comprises detecting rotation of the display and a button on the display is held down.
7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the sensed reference direction comprises one of: vertical, horizontal and magnetic north.
8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one stored graphical object comprises at least one image.
9. A method according to claim 1, wherein said defined criteria comprises proximity to a centre of the display.
10. A computer readable media storing information to enable a computing device to perform a process, the computing device comprising a display and a sensor that provides information indicating an orientation of the display, the process comprising:
using the sensor to sense a reference direction;
displaying two or more stored images on the display in a first orientation and at least one stored image at a second orientation, with each orientation being set with respect to the reference direction;
setting, responsive to a user input, the first orientation of at least one of the two or more stored images on the display to a fixed value for a desired orientation;
sensing a change of orientation of the display; and
editing the orientation of the at least one stored image at the second orientation, responsive to the sensed change in orientation of the display with respect to the reference direction, to the first orientation of the one stored image.
11. A computer readable media according to claim 10, wherein the computer device further comprises a persistent data store and wherein editing the orientation of the at least one stored image comprises:
storing a rotated version of the at least one stored image in the persistent data store.
12. A computer readable media according to claim 10, wherein displaying two or more stored images on the display in an orientation that is fixed with respect to the reference direction comprises:
accessing an orientation parameter associated with the at least one stored image; and
displaying the at least one stored image in an orientation that is fixed according to the orientation parameter and the reference direction.
13. A computer readable media according to claim 12, wherein editing the orientation of the at least one stored image comprises:
editing the orientation parameter associated with the at least one stored image.
14. A system comprising:
a display screen that displays an image at a first orientation and a plurality of images at a second orientation, the first orientation being different than the second orientation;
a sensor that determines the orientation of the display screen;
a user interface device for setting the first orientation to a fixed value and setting the second orientation to a variable value; and
an applications logic component that receives an indication of a change in the display screen orientation from the sensor and adjusts second orientation of the plurality of images to match the first orientation.
15. A system according to claim 14, further comprising an object store to store the plurality of images at the second orientation and the image at the first orientation.
16. A system according to claim 14, further comprising a reference store to store the variable value and the fixed value.