EXTENSIBLE MASTER-SLAVE USER INTERFACE WITH DISTINCT INTERACTION MODELS

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

displaying a slave region in a Graphical User Interface (GUI), said slave region displaying a current state;

displaying a master region in said GUI, said master region displaying a previous state; and

when content is selected in said slave region then removing said master region from said GUI, displaying a new master region in said GUI, said new master region containing a view of contents of said slave region, removing said slave region from said GUI and displaying the content selected by said user in a new slave region in said GUI.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said displaying a new master region in said GUI comprises providing a transition from said slave region to said new master region.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising highlighting selected content in said new master region.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting content in a slave region in a different way than presenting content in a master region.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising using an interaction model for at least one of a slave region and a master region.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the interaction model for a master region is a web-style interaction model.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the interaction model for a slave region is a desktop style interaction model.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said displaying a slave region in a Graphical User Interface (GUI), and said displaying a master region in said GUI comprise at least one of the group consisting of displaying said master region horizontally adjacent to said slave region, and displaying said master region vertically adjacent to said slave region.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising utilizing a back button to return to a previous state.

10. A computer readable medium having computer readable code thereon for providing an extensible master-slave user interface with distinct interaction models, the medium comprising:

instructions for displaying a slave region in a GUI, said slave region displaying a current state;

instructions for displaying a master region in said GUI, said master region displaying a previous state; and

instructions for when content is selected in said slave region then removing said master region from said GUI, displaying a new master region in said GUI, said new master region containing a view of contents of said slave region, removing said slave region from said GUI and displaying the selected content in a new slave region in said GUI.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein said instructions for displaying a new master region in said GUI comprises instructions for providing a transition from said slave region to said new master region.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 10 further comprising instructions for highlighting content selected by the user in said new master region.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10 further comprising instructions for presenting content in a slave region in a different way than presenting content in a master region.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10 further comprising instructions for using an interaction model for at least one of a slave region and a master region.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the interaction model for a master region is a web-style interaction model.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the interaction model for a slave region is a desktop style interaction model.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein said instructions for displaying a slave region in a Graphical User Interface (GUI), and said displaying a master region in said GUI comprise at least one of the group consisting of instructions for displaying said master region horizontally adjacent to said slave region, and instructions for displaying said master region vertically adjacent to said slave region

18. The computer readable medium of claim 10 further comprising instructions for utilizing a back button to return to a previous state.

19. A computer system comprising:

a memory;

a processor;

a communications interface;

an interconnection mechanism coupling the memory, the processor and the communications interface; and

wherein the memory is encoded with an application providing an extensible master-slave user interface with distinct interaction models), that when performed on the processor, provides a process for processing information, the process causing the computer system to perform the operations of:

displaying a slave region in a Graphical User Interface (GUI), said slave region displaying a current state;

displaying a master region in said GUI, said master region displaying a previous state; and

when content is selected in said slave region then removing said master region from said GUI, displaying a new master region in said GUI, said new master region containing a view of contents of said slave region, removing said slave region from said GUI and displaying the content selected by said user in a new slave region in said GUI.

20. The computer system of claim 19 wherein said operation of displaying a new master region in said GUI comprises providing a transition from said slave region to said new master region.

21. The computer system of claim 19 further comprising performing the operations of using a web-style interaction model for said master region and using a desktop style interaction model for said slave region.

22. The computer system of claim 19 further comprising performing the operations of utilizing a back button to return to a previous state.