Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-06
2002-12-03
Bayeri, Raymond J. (Department: 2173)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06489978
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed broadly relates to the field of computers computing, and more particularly relates to the menu items in the field of graphical user interfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphical user interfaces have been improving for a long time. From the beginning of computer history, computer developers have been working on ways to improve the easy of use of the machine with end-user by building better user interfaces. One of the purposes of the graphical user interfaces (GUIs) were to make it easier to perform complicated tasks such a moving files and starting programs. The history of computer GUI goes back to a project by the Xerox Corporation in the 1970s to present information more easily to end-users. Soon Apple through its Macintosh and Lisa line of products, Microsoft through its Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 products, IBM through its OS/2 products and others began to offer even more sophisticated GUIs and improved on the innovations made by Xerox. Higher resolution displays, the introduction of color graphics , the use of animated objects, the use of photorealistic pictures and even the introduction of 3-D user interfaces have greatly improved the ease of use of the computer. of GUIs.
Although GUIs have continued to evolve and make tasks easier for end-users there are some tasks that are still very burdensome to complete. Referring to
FIG. 1
is a screen capture of an application program
100
entitled “Paint” that ships with Windows 95 and other Microsoft products. Shown is a typical pull-down menu bar
102
with various menu items. One menu
108
item entitled “View” has an associated pull-down menu
104
with various end-user selectable options, such as the option
106
entitled “Color Box”. The pull down menu
104
is activated by moving cursor
112
with a mouse (not shown) or other graphical pointing device. A check box
110
denoted by symbol “✓” notifies the end-user that this option
106
“Color Box” is currently selected. The instant the end-user selects this option
106
“Color Box” the pull-down menu
104
is programed to disappear from the application program
100
and the cursor changes to a pencil
202
as shown in FIG.
2
. This action of changing the state of an option
106
from enabled to disabled is disruptive to the end-user. The end-user cannot discern that the action has been completed or what selection has been made because the box has disappeared. The end-user many times re-pulls opens the pull-down menu
104
to double check to determine if the option
106
state has been changed. The option state
106
in this example would change from the check box
110
denoted by symbol “✓” to an absence of a checked box
110
. Of course, alternately for this particular example an end-user may notice that the corresponding graphic
114
for the option
106
“Color Box” has disappeared, as shown in FIG.
2
. However, many times the end-user is a novice with an application program
100
and may not understand what items changed on the application screen. Moreover, many times application program
100
does not give any graphical feedback at all to an end-user of the state of an option
106
has changed. Accordingly, a need exists for a method to provide the end-user feedback that an option state has changed.
Still another burden with the changing of option states in menus, dialog boxes using radio buttons and other types of menu choices in which the menu closes immediately is the requirement of changing several options at once. Stated differently, if an end-user wishes to change more than one option in a pull-down menu
104
, such as both option
106
“Color Box” and option
116
“Status Bar”, the end-user must repeat the action of selecting pull-down menu bar
102
with various menu items. Each option
106
and
116
must be selected individually. This is unnecessarily burdensome. Accordingly, a need exists for a method to provide an end-user a method for selecting many option states on one menu item without having to reopen the menu.
Although the examples in
FIGS. 1 and 2
have been limited to one example of application program
100
and one type of menu, i.e., pull-down menu
104
, other menu types including radio buttons and check boxes, that disappear automatically after the end-user makes a selection suffer the same shortcomings as discussed above for the pull-down menu
104
. Accordingly, a need exists to overcome the problems with changing states on application program options with these menu types as well.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly, in accordance with the present invention, a method for presenting a graphical menu item on a display. The method comprising the steps of: receiving a time delay selected by an end-user; presenting to the end-user a graphical menu item wherein at least one menu item having an selectable option state; receiving input from the end-user for changing the option state on at least one menu item; and waiting an amount of time greater than the time delay before removing the graphical menu item from the display.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an information processing system and computer readable storage medium is disclosed for carrying out the above method.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6208340 (2001-03-01), Amin et al.
Gong Qing
Wang Huifang
Bayeri Raymond J.
Fleit Kain Gibbons Gutman & Bongini P.L.
Hailu Tadesse
Meyers Steven J.
Shofi David M.
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