Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-14
2001-05-29
dela Torre, Crescelle N. (Department: 2773)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
active
06239803
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of operating systems and their graphic user interfaces, application software, display of item lists, and the selection of items from such lists using a least possible physical effort.
2. Description of the Background Art
Typically a list box is a rectangular graphic containing an arbitrary, vertical list of items displayed one item per line from which one or more desired items can be selected using either mouse or cursor control manipulation. List boxes are commonly integrated into the Graphic User Interface (GUI) of current operating system for use in making selections from such data sets as Font names, scaling sizes, file names, etc. Combo boxes combine a list box with an edit box to enable the user to update the item list. List/Combo Boxes evolved from research conducted by Xerox during the late 1970's, adapted to the Apple Lisa and the X-Windows system in the 1980's, and subsequently influenced the design of Microsoft Windows in the early 1990's. While manuals of style detail how to format list/combo boxes, a search of the professional literature and review of commercial products concludes that scant research has been published and there has been only modest design changes since their original commercial introduction. This invention alters this picture since the very different list display and the resultant management capabilities made available by this invention enables the user to display and select one or more items from a list with considerably less physical effort than is required using techniques presently employed.
Richard Simon, (Windows 95 WIN 32 Programming API Bible, 1996, p. 26) suggests that a list/combo box control should display between 3 and 8 items. With lists of this size the user action required to make a selection is either to traverse the mouse to the desired item and left clicking or to stroke the “↓” and “↑” cursor control keys to illuminate the desired item and stroke the “Enter” key. For lists exceeding approximately eight items, the current art generally offers a scrolling capability and some manifestation of “Page-Up” and “Page-Down” function keys. A traditional scrollbar, located at the side of the display rectangle, provides a thumb and possibly “Up” and “Down” scroll buttons commonly positioned at the top and bottom of the scollbar. Once the cursor is in the scrollbar any of three options are available to alter the items displayed. A left click within the scrollbar body scrolls the display to the same relative location in the list as the click was in the scollbar. An alternate scroll technique is to drag the thumb until the desired item becomes visible. Less rapid but more visually comprehensible scrolling is achieved via the scroll buttons. A single click on either of these buttons scrolls the list a given number of items—usually 1 to 3—in the indicated direction. A press performed on either scroll button initiates continuous scrolling until the button is released. When the desired item is displayed on the computer screen it is selected by traversing the mouse to highlight the desired item followed by a left click. Inclusive selection of contiguous items between the currently illuminated and the previously selected item is generally accomplished by a “Shift+Left−Click” operation. Multiple items at arbitrary locations can generally be selected via successive illumination of desired items and performing a “Ctrl+Left−Click” operation on each item desired.
The current art of the scrollbar contains several sub-optimum design features. Use of the scrollbar requires an initial traverse of a distance that typically exceeds half the width of the display rectangle. Many users find the time between a click on the scrollbar and completion of the scroll excessive and opt instead to employ the thumb drag technique. Some applications—Microsoft Windows Explorer and Visio being examples—display the thumb with a height proportionate to the number of items in the list. When the list is long this design can result in a thumb that presents a very narrow target when approached from the side. Acquiring such a target entails a notably more physical effort than is required to acquire a thumb having height at least equal the thumb width. Once the thumb is acquired, a thumb drag over a long item list can result in a scrolling speed that exceeds the capacity of some users to interpret the items scrolled. An additional disadvantage of the thumb common to long item lists is that to display a desired item the user must drop the thumb within a range of a few pixels. Many users find achieving such precision excessively time consuming and instead employ the thumb drag technique to reach the neighborhood of the desired item and then adopt an alternate technique that demands less muscular control to display the actual item desired. Thus, after acquiring the thumb the user performs a bothersome homing to either acquire a scroll button or the “Page-up” or “Page-Down” keys to perform the final display. To display the top-most or bottom-most item of a list via the scrollbar requires clicking the mouse in the top-most or bottom-most portion of the scrollbar. Targeting these locations, especially when dimensions are not delimited, can be shown more difficult than targeting the top or bottom of the list via the thumb.
Most application systems permit the user to select a desired item via keyboard manipulation. Lack of standard assignments exist among major software vendors regarding the functions assigned the “Page-Up,” “Page-Down,” Home,” and “End” keys. It can be generally assumed that these keys, perhaps in simultaneous stroke with either the “Ctrl” or “Shift,” permit the user to illuminate either the first and last of the items currently on display or the top-most and bottom-most portions of the list. Once the desired item is displayed on the screen, manipulation via the “Up-Arrow;” (↑) and “Down-Arrow,” (↓) keys is performed to change the item highlighted. The generally accepted standard is that a stroke of the “↑” or “↓” key illuminates, respectively, the item preceding or following the item that currently hosts the cursor. If a “t” stroke illuminates the top-most item, an additional “↑” stroke wraps to highlight the bottom-most item of the list. The obverse holds for “↓” stroke. Once the desired item is highlighted a stroke of the “Enter” key affects selection.
The principle weakness of item selection via keyboard manipulation is that the display of a desired item far removed from the currently displayed page but not near the list's top or bottom can take unacceptable time. When the item list is part of the application software's display rather than the operating system's GUI, some applications provide a “Go To . . . ” menu option which displays a dialog box requesting the page number of the page to be displayed. Although the “Go To . . . ” technique can be repeated if the desired item is not displayed users will commonly employ “Page-Up” and “Page-Down” to reach the desired display when the item sought is felt to be close. The “Go To . . . ” technique is inappropriate unless the user has accurate knowledge of where the desired item is located in the list and the list length. Additionally, the two stage requirement of the “Go To . . . ” technique embodies notable overhead. To use this technique the user must either traverse to the menu or execute an accelerator key sequence such as “Alt”+“E”→“G.” Once the dialog box is displayed the user must either key a number or use the mouse to select an item from a list of identifying numbers. Another available technique is to execute multiple strokes of an appropriate key or activate the automated repeat capability from press of that key. Ideally, this leads to sequential display of all items between the current display and the desired display. Commonly, however, the user will either under or over shoot the desired display and must
dela Torre Crescelle N.
Harness Dickey & Pierce
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