RESEARCH & INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Last updated December 23, 2025.
Research Focus
The core of our research is grounded in two simple observations:
First, commercial operating systems are inherently manual. Users must explicitly surface, arrange, and manage digital resources (files, application windows, and URLs) by hand, using a navigation model that is fundamentally application-centric.
To address this, our technology introduces Workspaces as a new organizational unit. A Workspace is the expression of a new, portable file format that encompasses complete desktop configurations: every digital resource (window, tab, file) on the desktop when the file was last saved, including each object's size, position, and focal-contextual attribution. With workspaces, the operating system can support a task-centric navigation model where context switching occurs at the workspace-level, rather than at the window or tab level. This in turn dramatically reduces both the cognitive load required to ready for application-level work and the operational overhead required to set up for it.
Second, not all information carries the same importance at the same moment, yet existing systems rarely make this distinction explicit.
To solve for this, we introduce a dual-region interaction model that evolves the classic desktop metaphor that characterizes Windows, macOS and every other desktop operating system today. This focal-contextual model enables users to define a focal region for primary content and a surrounding contextual region for secondary, supporting information, allowing importance and relevance to be expressed spatially and continuously.
Crucially, these affordances are designed to operate on the user's surface of choice—whether the underlying system is Windows, macOS, or Linux, and whether work is displayed across multiple monitors or on ultra-wide and large-format displays for which the model was originally designed.
Intellectual Property
To provide transparency and confidence in our innovative journey, we set forth below an overview of the intellectual property that protects our technology in support of this vision, with each domain reflecting our commitment to deliver industry-leading solutions for the next era of the desktop.
Patents
Granted Patents
Core Architecture
System-Independent User Interface Framework
Systems and methods for organizing, automating, and managing software environment states.
U.S. Patent No. 12,346,707 ↗Granted on: July 1, 2025
Interaction Model
Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Transitional Graphical User Interface
Ornamental appearance of a focal contextual graphical user interface on a desktop surface.
U.S. Patent No. D1,055,090 ↗Granted on: December 24, 2024
Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Graphical User Interface
Ornamental appearance of a desktop overlayer.
U.S. Patent No. D1,074,727 ↗Granted on: May 13, 2025
Hardware Embodiment
Electronic Device
Ornamental appearance of a display with a central dial located on its lower bezel.
U.S. Patent No. D1,042,449 ↗Granted on: September 17, 2024
Design Variants
Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Transitional Graphical User Interface
An embodiment of the focal contextual desktop.
U.S. Patent No. D1,076,934 ↗Granted on: May 27, 2025
Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Transitional Graphical User Interface
Ornamental appearance of a focal contextual graphical user interface on a handheld display.
U.S. Patent No. D1,071,975 ↗Granted on: April 22, 2025
Pending Patents
System-Independent User Interface Framework (cont.)
US20220197675A1 | WO2022132899A1
Filed: December 17, 2020
User Interface Management Based on Related Content
PCT/US2025/051997
Filed: October 24, 2024
Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Transitional Graphical User Interface (cont.)
Filed: December 17, 2020
Display Screen or Portion Thereof with Graphical User Interface (cont.)
Filed: December 17, 2020
Trademarks
Registered
- U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,157,917 for 'OpenWorkspace' (Wordmark)
- U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,020,295 for 'WorkDisplay' (Wordmark)
- U.S. Trademark Registration No. 8,074,914 for 'Focal Contextual Desktop' (Wordmark)
- U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,348,107 for 'The Peak Desktop Experience' (Wordmark)
- U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,971,062 for 'Automatic Desktop' (Wordmark)
- U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,237,945 for the OpenWorkspace 'sun' logo (Image)
- U.S. Trademark Registration No. 6,982,178 for the WorkDisplay 'WD' logo (Image)
- U.S. Trademark Registration No. 7,874,196 for the 'Experience' logo (Image)
Pending Registration
- U.S. Application Serial No. 99,242,654 for 'WorkDisplay' (Wordmark)
- U.S. Application Serial No. 97,474,980 for 'Imagine What's Possible' (Wordmark)
- U.S. Application Serial No. 99,443,098 for 'FocalContextual' (Wordmark)
Copyright
All content (including but not limited to text, images, videos, and designs) published on openworkspace.com, blog.openworkspace.com, workdisplay.com (along with that published on our various social media channels) is protected under U.S. copyright law as of 2024. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution of this content is prohibited without express written permission.
- 'Introducing OpenWorkspace® —Part I: Expanding the Desktop' (Registration No. TX 9-497-992)
- 'Introducing OpenWorkspace® —Part II: Automating the Desktop' (Registration No. TX 9-505-124)
Trade Secrets
The products and services provided by Open Workspace, LLC incorporate confidential information protected under relevant trade secret laws, including the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and Defend Trade Secrets Act. Use of those products and services is subject to an agreement that the user will not seek to reverse engineer or decompile any software, hardware, firmware or other technology programs provided to it by or on behalf of Open Workspace, LLC unless it has obtained prior written consent.