Method of controlling view of large expansion tree

Details Method of controlling view of large expansion tree Method of controlling view of large expansion tree

1998-12-15

2002-04-30

Bayerl, Raymond J. (Department: 2173)

Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system

Display driving control circuitry

Controlling the condition of display elements

C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S215000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06380957

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer systems, specifically, to a method of displaying information associated with computer file systems, such as devices, directories, files, and symbolic links, and more particularly to such a method that displays a tree structure having expandable/collapsible nodes.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical structure for a conventional computer system includes one or more processing units connected to a system memory device (random access memory or RAM) and to various peripheral, or input/output (I/O), devices such as a display monitor, a keyboard, a graphical pointer (mouse), and a permanent storage device (hard disk). The system memory device is used by a processing unit in carrying out program instructions, and stores those instructions as well as data values that are fed to or generated by the programs. A processing unit communicates with the other components by various means, including one or more interconnects (buses), or direct memory-access channels. A computer system may have many additional components, such as serial and parallel ports and expansion slots for connection to, e.g., printers and network adapters. Other components might further be used in conjunction with the foregoing; for example, a display adapter might be used to control a video display monitor, a memory controller can be used to access the system memory, etc.
To an end user, most computer systems have the same general structure for storing and accessing data, that is, by placing the data in “files” whose names have a particular format, and placing the files in “folders” or “directories” to further organize them. These files and directories are physically encoded into the machine's storage device, e.g., hard disk, along with other logical file system objects, such as symbolic links (“shortcuts” or “aliases” for other devices, directories or files). Computer operating systems such as UNIX, OS/2 or MS-DOS use this type of a filing system (“UNIX” is a trademark of UNIX System Laboratories; OS/2 is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp.; MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.). In these systems, each file has a unique path name which identifies its location within the file structure.
Most computers have a “root” directory from which all other directories or sub-directories branch out, so it is convenient to display the file system as a tree structure. A directory tree allows a user to organize software applications or data which have related subject matter or a common theme. Additionally, software applications can organize directory tree members into a hierarchical configuration. A directory tree is typically displayed within a graphical user interface (GUI) of the computer system. A GUI allows a user to select files and otherwise manipulate the display and execute commands utilizing a graphical pointing device, commonly referred to as a mouse.
As shown in
FIG. 1A
, a typical GUI may display a directory tree
10
within a pane
12
of a larger window area
14
. In this example, pane
12
is on the left side of window
14
, while the right side contains another pane
16
which is used to display logical file system objects that reside in a particular device or directory that has been selected in pane
12
. The root directory for this file system is the “Desktop” which includes three items: “My Computer”; “Network”; and “Recycle Bin”. In
FIGS. 1A-1D
, right pane
16
displays the same objects since “My Computer” is selected in left pane
12
for each of those figures. User selection of one of these objects can be accomplished by “pointing and clicking” the object using the mouse.
The items which reside in the root directory are connected or linked in the GUI using a vertical (dotted) line which can be referred to as a linking indicator. In
FIG. 1A
, only an outer linking indicator
18
is shown. Furthermore, the “My Computer” and “Network” objects are visually anchored to outer linking indicator
18
using small boxes or nodes which contain a plus sign (+). These nodes (expansion controls) indicate that there are other directories or folders present within the respective items, and selection of the nodes (by pointing and clicking) can be used to further expand or collapse the directory structures, as shown in
FIGS. 1B-1D
.
As seen in
FIG. 1B
, when the expansion control
21
adjacent “My Computer” is selected, the “+” indicator symbol changes to a minus sign (−), and the various items within that object are displayed as part of the directory tree in pane
12
. In other words, the presence of a particular indicator symbol “+” or “−” provides an indication of whether the object is in a collapsed state or in an expanded state. When neither symbol appears to the left of a directory/device, no directories (or subdirectories) exist as a subset of that object (e.g., the “Recycle Bin”).
FIG. 1B
also uses an inner linking indicator
23
(another vertical dotted line) to connect the various objects that reside within the expanded “My Computer,” i.e., at the next level in the hierarchy.
Oftentimes, expansion of a directory tree using the nodes results in a displayed tree structure which is larger than the size of the available pane. In such cases, the full directory can be scanned using scroll bars that move (pan) the available display area along the tree structure. This oversizing of the directory tree can generally arise from one of three causes. First, a selected object (branch) may have to many sibling branches (the breadth of the tree). Second, the user may have expanded multiple sibling branches (scope of use). Third, there may be too many levels of branches open (depth of the tree). These three causes are illustrated in
FIGS. 1B-1D
, respectively. Of course, a combination of these causes can also lead to a directory tree that is too large to fit within the confines of the pane.
In
FIG. 1B
, expansion control
24
has been selected in addition to control
21
, resulting in an expansion that reveals various folders residing on “Hard drive (C:)”. The number of these folders (“Acroread,” “Authorty,” etc.) is so high that they cannot all be shown within pane
12
. Accordingly, a vertical scroll bar
26
is generated by the GUI in a conventional fashion to allow vertical scrolling of the entire tree structure.
In
FIG. 1C
, expansion controls
28
and
30
have been selected in addition to control
21
, resulting in an expansion that reveals various folders residing on the CD-ROM device “(D:)”, and on the “Network”. Again, the total number of these folders is so high that they cannot all be shown within pane
12
, and vertical scroll bar
26
is generated.
In
FIG. 1D
, expansion controls
32
,
34
,
36
and
38
have been selected in addition to control
21
, resulting in an expansion that reveals various folders residing within a five-level deep folder entitled “Austin.” The number of levels reached, combined with the number of folders at the fifth level, result in a tree expansion that is again too large to fit within the available display area.
There are several methods of adjusting the display (GUI) to allow viewing of more of a directory tree that has been partially obscured due to excessive expansion. First, the size of pane
12
may be changed in some GUIs, by selecting the pane boundary within window
14
and “dragging” it to the right, without adjusting the overall size of window
14
. Second, the boundaries of window
14
can be alternatively (or additionally) resized with a corresponding increase in the size of pane
12
resulting. Finally, a user can collapse previously expanded nodes of the tree so as to hide or obscure lower level branches of those nodes, but this procedure must be performed manually, and can be very tedious and time-consuming. It would, therefore, be desirable to devise a method of simplifying the display of a directory tree to avoid oversizing the tree as a result of node expansion. It would be further advantageous if the met

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