Method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen and a computer readable medium containing such a method as a program code

• US 20040125083A1
• Filed: 12/31/2002
• Published: 07/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lengeling, Gerhard, Adam, Chris
• Granted Patent: US 7,549,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen and a computer readable medium containing such a method as a program code.

When using a graphic program which displays data in a graphical manner, it is often difficult to maintain control of the cursor. In particular, when a user attempts to draw a straight line using the cursor, it is difficult to control the cursor sufficiently accurately. The consequence is often not a straight line but one with steps of one or more pixels.

Thus, the present invention is related to a method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen, comprising:

determining an initial position of said cursor; wherein the improvement lies indefining at least one corridor which includes said initial position;

monitoring movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor, and

displaying said movement as a line on said screen.

Claims

1. A method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen, comprising

determining an initial position of said cursor;

wherein the improvement lies in defining at least one corridor which includes said initial position;

monitoring movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor, and

displaying said movement as a line on said screen.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which there are two corridors, coterminous with each other with the initial position where the two corridors coterminate.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which there are four corridors, coterminous and orthogonal to each other forming an axis with the initial position at the zero axis point.

4. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, in which said corridors comprise divergent boundaries, said boundaries being defined at an angle of equal to or less than 2 degrees.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which said determining said initial position includes monitoring a control of said cursor to ascertain whether said control has been activated.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, in which said monitoring of said movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor includes monitoring said control to ascertain whether said control has been disabled.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which said corridor is substantially parallel to the perimeter of the screen.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, in which said corridor may be defined at an angle to the perimeter of the screen which is not equal to 0, 90 or 180 degrees.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which said screen is used to display graphical data.

10. A method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen, comprising:

determining an initial position of said cursor;

wherein the improvement lies in defining four corridors, coterminous and orthogonal to each other forming an axis with the initial position at the zero axis point;

monitoring movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor, and

displaying said movement as a line on said screen.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, in which said corridors comprise divergent boundaries, said boundaries being defined at an angle of equal to or less than 2 degrees.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, in which said zero axis point is equal to or greater than 1 pixel by 1 pixel of said screen.

13. A method as claimed in claim 10, in which said determining said initial position includes monitoring a control of said cursor to ascertain whether said control has been activated.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, in which said monitoring of said movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor includes monitoring said control to ascertain whether said control has been disabled.

15. A method as claimed in claim 10, in which said screen is used to display graphical data.

16. A computer readable medium containing a program code for controlling movement of a cursor on a screen, comprising:

determining an initial position of said cursor;

wherein the improvement lies in defining at least one corridor which includes said initial position;

monitoring movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor, and

displaying said movement as a line on said screen.

17. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 16, in which there are two corridors, coterminous with each other with the initial position where the two corridors coterminate.

18. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 16, in which there are four corridors, coterminous and orthogonal to each other forming an axis with the initial position at the zero axis point.

19. A computer readable medium as claimed in any one of claims 16, 17 or 18, in which said corridors comprise divergent boundaries, said boundaries being defined at an angle of equal to or less than 2 degrees.

20. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 16, in which said screen is used to display graphical data.

21. In a computer system including a disc drive incorporating a system computer program, a display having a screen electrically connected to said disc drive, said screen including a cursor for indicating data on the screen and a method of controlling said cursor comprising:

determining an initial position of said cursor;

wherein the improvement lies in defining at least one corridor which includes said initial position;

monitoring movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor, and

displaying said movement as a line on said screen.