System and method for visualizing relationships between a source view and a target view

1. An automatic method for visualizing contextual relationships in a networked system comprising a source device having a source display and a target device having a target display, the method comprising the steps of:

displaying on the source display a source view comprising a source widget, the source widget representing a source object that is one of:

a printable object,

a reprographic device or component thereof, and

a property or status of any of the above;

detecting a user interaction event with regard to the source widget;

sharing a message to a network upon detecting the user interaction event, the shared message comprising a reference to or at least part of the source object represented by said source widget;

reading by the target device the shared message;

displaying on the target display a target view comprising a target widget, the target view being different from the source view, the target widget representing a target object, the target object being different from the source object, and the target object being one of:

a printable object,

a reprographic device or component thereof, and

a property or status of any of the above;

determining whether the target view and/or the target widget are contextually related to the source object by looking-up in a storage the reference or the at least part of the source object from the shared message and determining the existence of a relationship with the target object; and

updating the target view and/or the target widget by changing the visual appearance if a relationship has been determined.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user interaction event is a selection event, a deselection event, a focus change event, or a touch event.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein changing the visual appearance comprises highlighting at least part of said target view and/or said target widget.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the shared message also comprises the user interaction event and where the determining step takes into account the user interaction event.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein changing the visual appearance comprises overlaying an overlay widget over said target view and/or target widget.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein changing the visual appearance comprises highlighting at least part of said target view and/or said target widget.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein changing the visual appearance comprises overlaying an overlay widget over said target view and/or target widget.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the shared message also comprises the user interaction event and where the determining step takes into account the user interaction event.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein changing the visual appearance comprises overlaying an overlay widget over said target view and/or target widget.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein said overlay widget represents the source object, the target object, a combination of the two, or an object that can be inferred from the relationship between the source object and the target object.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the shared message also comprises the user interaction event and where the determining step takes into account the user interaction event.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the source device or the target device is one of: a mobile phone, a tablet, a slate, a laptop, a computer, and a reprographic device.

13. A networked system for visualizing contextual relationships, said system comprising:

a source device comprising communication means, the source device further comprising:

a source display for displaying a source view comprising a source widget, the source widget representing a source object that is one of:

a printable object,

a reprographic device or component thereof, and

a property or status of any of the above;

means for detecting a user interaction event with regard to the source widget; and

means for sharing a first message to a network upon detecting said user interaction event, the first message comprising a reference to or at least part of the source object represented by said source widget; and

a target device comprising communication means, the target device further comprising:

means for reading the shared message comprising a reference to or at least part of a message object, the shared message being the first message and the message object being the source object, the message object being one of:

a printable object,

a reprographic device or component thereof, and

a property or status of any of the above;

a target display for displaying a target view comprising a target widget, the target widget representing a target object, the target object being different from the message object, the target object being one of:

a printable object,

a reprographic device or component thereof, and

a property or status of any of the above;

means for determining whether the target view and/or the target widget are contextually related to the message object by looking-up in a storage the reference or the at least part of the message object and determining the existence of a relationship with the target object; and

means for updating the target view and/or the target widget by changing the visual appearance if a relationship has been determined by the means for determining.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the user interaction event is a selection event, a deselection event, a focus change event, or a touch event.

15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein changing the visual appearance comprises highlighting at least part of said target view and/or said target widget.

16. The system according to claim 13 , wherein changing the visual appearance comprises overlaying an overlay widget over said target view and/or target widget.

17. The system according to claim 16 , wherein said overlay widget represents at least part of the message object, the target object, a combination of the two, or an object that can be inferred from the relationship between the message object and the target object.

18. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the shared message further specifies the user interaction event, and wherein the determining means take into account the user interaction event.

19. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the source device or the target device is one of: a mobile phone, a tablet, a slate, a laptop, a computer, and a reprographic device.

20. A target device comprising communication means, the target device further comprising:

means for reading a shared message from a network comprising a reference to or at least part of a message object, the shared message being shared by a source device to the network and the message object being a source object represented by a source widget in a source view displayed on a source display of the source device, the message object being one of:

a printable object,

a reprographic device or component thereof, and

a property or status of any of the above;

a target display for displaying a target view comprising a target widget, the target widget representing a target object, the target object being different from the message object, the target object being one of:

a printable object,

a reprographic device or component thereof, and

a property or status of any of the above;

means for determining whether the target view and/or the target widget are contextually related to the message object by looking-up in a storage the reference or the at least part of the message object and determining the existence of a relationship with the target object; and

means for updating the target view and/or the target widget by changing the visual appearance if the relationship has been determined by the means for determining.