“Queue” Button for Computers

                The invention is a button that queues tasks on a computer. It is used by pointing a mouse cursor at something that will be attended to at a later time and then clicking the “queue” button. I predict this button will have a high frequency of use, so the ideal location for it is on a computer mouse (instead of keyboard). The button is good for any kind of computer (e.g. laptop, netbook, tablet, smartphone, etc.). The slower the computer, the more useful the button will be.

                The “queue” button is an enlargement of the scope of the “Open Link in New Tab” function seen in browsers. The ability to queue tasks is basically the “Open Link in New Tab” function without the arbitrarily limitation to internet content. An experienced internet user frequently clicks “Open Link in New Tab” to look at a website at a later time (queue a task). More specifically, a task (tab) is queued when the user is either still working on the current task, or knows the computer needs time to work on the queued task. The latter is why this “queue” button is especially useful for slow computers.

                Browsing pictures is an example of when to use the “queue” button. People often look at a set of thumbnails, then click on the picture they want to see enlarged, then go back to the set of thumbnails to choose another picture. With the “queue” button, people can stay on the set of thumbnails while queuing up all the pictures they want to see enlarged later. Listening to music is another example of when to queue. With the “queue” button, the user can be listening to a song while browsing and queuing up other songs in a temporary playlist. When browsing the internet, the “queue” button would have the same function as “Open Link in New Tab”. This is most beneficial for slow internet connections because the downloading occurs in the background. The most novel use of the “queue” button is queuing up video, which typically requires a fast internet connection and CPU. In the background, the video is not only downloaded but also decoded and temporarily written to memory. When this is done, the user can watch high-definition video without any stutter, even with a slow internet connection and CPU. Recently, the ability to play HD video has been the only reason to upgrade a computer. Use of the “queue” function can eliminate the need to buy a new computer.

On a computer mouse, the “queue” button is what the “forward” button should have been because the “forward” button does not make much sense. Most of the time, going “forward” is actually going back to where the user was prior to clicking the “back” button. This action is not used often. Due to the convenient location of mouse buttons, they should control the most-frequently-used actions on a computer. Thus, a better way to see mouse buttons is as follows: click “back” to go to the past, “left” click to stay in the present, and click “queue” to set up the future.