Method and apparatus for designing, rendering and programming a user interface

• US 20030169293A1
• Filed: 02/03/2003
• Published: 09/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concepts Appsgo Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Concepts Appsgo Incorporated
• Inventors: Savage, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 7,441,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

A method of displaying a user interface, comprising the steps of first obtaining a representation of the user interface. The representation includes conceptual components representing multi-dimensional arrays of elements of the user interface. The conceptual components include a vector parameter related to a multi-dimensional size of the array, and matrices having dimensions related to those of the array.

The method proceeds by executing a device-specific rendering algorithm on the representation of the user interface and displaying the user interface on the device.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a user interface, comprising the steps of:

a) obtaining a representation of the user interface, the representation including conceptual components representing multi-dimensional arrays of elements of the user interface, said conceptual components including a vector parameter related to a multi-dimensional size of the array, and matrices having dimensions related to those of the array;

b) executing a device-specific rendering algorithm on the representation of the user interface; and

c) displaying the user interface on the device.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the representation includes container components, control components, and text components.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said rendering algorithm selects matrices of said conceptual components according to the capabilities of the device.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said user interface is displayed by pushing components onto a stack, and the user is allowed to interact only with the component at the top of the stack.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said device provides a graphical user interface.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein said stack has at least two entries and said component at the top of the stack is rendered as a dialog box.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the rendering algorithm operates as a state machine which uses location and context to determine device components.

8. A method of encoding a user interface, comprising the steps of:

a) creating conceptual components representing a multi-dimensional array of elements of the user interface, said conceptual components including a vector parameter related to a multi-dimensional size of the array, and matrices having dimensions related to those of the array; and

b) establishing connections between said conceptual components, said connections being indicative of relationships between said conceptual components.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein said matrices include a labels matrix including identifiers associated with elements in the array.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the multi-dimensional size of said labels matrix is equal to said vector parameter.

11. A method according to claim 9, wherein the identifiers are used to display corresponding elements of the user interface.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the multi-dimensional size of said labels matrix is equal to said vector parameter.

13. A method according to claim 9, wherein said identifiers include text strings.

14. A method according to claim 9, wherein said identifiers include bitmap images.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein said identifiers include text strings.

16. A method according to claim 8, wherein said matrices include a flag matrix including a binary flag for each element in the array indicative of whether modification of the corresponding element of the user interface is permitted.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the multi-dimensional size of said flag matrix is an accumulation of an additional vector parameter with said vector parameter.

18. A method according to claim 16, wherein the number of cells in said flag matrix is a multiple of the product of the coordinates of said vector parameter.

19. A method according to claim 8, wherein said matrices include an images matrix including graphic elements associated with elements in the array.

20. A method according to claim 19, wherein the multi-dimensional size of said images matrix is an accumulation of an additional vector parameter with said vector parameter.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the number of cells in said images matrix is a multiple of a product of the coordinates of said vector parameter.

22. A method according to claim 19, wherein graphic elements are used to display the corresponding elements of the user interface.

23. A method according to claim 22, wherein the multi-dimensional size of said images matrix is an accumulation of an additional vector parameter with said vector parameter.

24. A method according to claim 22, wherein the number of cells in said images matrix is a multiple of a product of the coordinates of said vector parameter.

25. A method according to claim 8, wherein said matrices include a values matrix.

26. A method according to claim 25, wherein the multi-dimensional size of said values matrix is an accumulation of an additional vector parameter with said vector parameter.

27. A method according to claim 25, wherein the number of cells in said values matrix is a multiple of a product of the coordinates of said vector parameter.

28. A method according to claim 25, wherein elements of said values matrix are used to determine the function of the corresponding interface elements.

29. A method according to claim 28, wherein the multi-dimensional size of said values matrix is an accumulation of an additional vector parameter with said vector parameter.

30. A method according to claim 28, wherein the number of cells in said values matrix is a multiple of a product of the coordinates of said vector parameter.

31. A method according to claim 8, wherein said conceptual components include text components.

32. A method according to claim 31, wherein said text components define editable text fields.

33. A method according to claim 32, wherein said text components include values matrices with entries corresponding to said text fields to store the text associated with said text fields.

34. A method according to claim 8, wherein said conceptual components include control components to enable a user to make selections.

35. A method according to claim 34, wherein said control components include values matrices with entries corresponding to selections available to the user.

36. A method according to claim 35, wherein the entries in the values matrix are chosen from a state matrix.

37. A method according to claim 8, wherein said conceptual components include container components to form parents in the connections.

38. A method according to claim 37, wherein the size of said matrices is related to dimensions of parents of the conceptual component.

39. A method according to claim 37, wherein the connections form a tree.

40. A method according to claim 39, wherein the size of said matrices is an accumulation of vector parameters of its parent conceptual components in the tree and said vector parameter.

41. A method according to claim 37, wherein said container components include values matrices with entries corresponding to instances of child components.

42. A method of selecting a layout for a user interface, comprising the steps of:

a) obtaining a representation of the interface;

b) generating a plurality of parses of the interface;

c) measuring the suitability of each parse; and

d) choosing a parse with high suitability.

43. A method according to claim 42, wherein said representation includes device components representing multi-dimensional arrays of elements of the user interface, said conceptual components including a vector parameter indicative of a multi-dimensional size of the array, and matrices having dimensions corresponding to the array.

44. A method according to claim 43, wherein said parses are generated by successively designating elements of the user interface as working nodes and successively considering operators to be associated with the working nodes.

45. A method according to claim 44, wherein said parses are organized using a binary tree structure.

46. A method according to claim 45, wherein said parses are generated by moving nodes down in the tree.

47. A method according to claim 46, wherein the number of parses under consideration is reduced by using predetermined rules.

48. A method according to claim 47, wherein said rules use the dimensions of the device components as a parameter.

49. A method according to claim 48, wherein the suitability is measured using a ratio of the dimensions of the device components.

50. A method according to claim 49, wherein the suitability is also measured using an indication of usage of the surface of the display.

51. A method according to claim 42, wherein the suitability is measured using a ratio of the dimensions of the device components.

52. A method according to claim 51, wherein the suitability is also measured using an indication of usage of the surface of the display.

53. A method according to claim 44, wherein the selection of operators considers each valid combination of elements and operators.

54. A method according to claim 53, wherein validity of the combinations is determined by predefined rules.

55. A method according to claim 42, wherein Schroder numbers are used to organize the plurality of parses.

56. A method according to claim 55, wherein the Schroder numbers indicate the number of possible parses.

57. A method according to claim 42, wherein the parses are generated by adding positional relationships to the representation of the interface.

58. A method of distributing a user interface to at least one of a plurality of client devices with differing input and output devices, said method comprising the steps of:

a) organizing the user interface into conceptual components representing multi-dimensional arrays of elements of the user interface, said conceptual components including a vector parameter indicative of a multi-dimensional size of the array, and matrices having dimensions corresponding to the array; and

b) providing the representation of the user interface to at least one of the client devices to allow the client device to render the user interface using a selection of the matrices.

59. A data carrier containing processor executable instructions to instruct a processor to encode a user interface by:

a) creating conceptual components representing a multi-dimensional array of elements of the user interface, said conceptual components including a vector parameter indicative of a multi-dimensional size of the array, and matrices having dimensions corresponding to the array; and

b) establishing connections between said conceptual components, said connections being indicative of relationships between said conceptual components.

60. A server device for providing an application to client devices, the server device comprising:

a) an interface encoder for creating conceptual components representing a multi-dimensional array of elements of the user interface, said conceptual components including a vector parameter indicative of a multi-dimensional size of the array, and matrices having dimensions corresponding to the array;

and for establishing connections between said conceptual components, said connections being indicative of relationships between said conceptual components.

61. A client device for executing an application by providing output to a user and receiving input from the user, the client device comprising:

a) a processor;

b) a storage device containing processor implementable instructions for obtaining a representation of the user interface, the representation including conceptual components representing multi-dimensional arrays of elements of the user interface, said conceptual components including a vector parameter indicative of a multi-dimensional size of the array, and matrices having dimensions corresponding to the array;

b) a rendering engine operable on the representation of the user interface to produce a device-specific rendering of the user interface; and

c) an output device for providing the rendering to the user.