System and method for prioritized interface design

• US 20050054384A1
• Filed: 08/22/2003
• Published: 03/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Joseph, Kurt M., Pasquale, Theodore, Mills, Scott H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,308,288 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72472 wherein the items are sorted according to specific criteria, e.g. frequency of use

Abstract

A system and method for prioritized interface design are disclosed. In one embodiment of a system incorporating teachings of the present disclosure, a wireless-enabled device may include a display, a user input mechanism, and a housing component that at least partially defines an internal cavity. The device may have several engines including a display engine that can initiate presentation of a menu that has several selectable items displayed in respective menu positions. The device may also include a metric engine that tracks some selection metric for the selectable items and a priority engine that determines a prioritization level for the selectable items. In some embodiments, the prioritization level may be related to a selection metric. The device may also have a mapping engine that modifies assigned menu positions for the selectable items in response to changes in the prioritization level of the items.

Claims

1. A prioritizing interface system comprising:

a wireless-enable device comprising a housing component, a display and a user input mechanism, the housing component at least partially defining an internal cavity;

a display engine located within the internal cavity and operable to initiate presentation of a menu comprising a plurality of selectable items displayed in respective menu positions;

a metric engine communicatively coupled to the user input mechanism and located within the internal cavity, the metric engine operable to track at least one selection metric for at least one of the selectable items;

a priority engine communicatively coupled to the metric engine and located within the internal cavity, the priority engine operable to determine a prioritization level for the at least one selectable item, the prioritization level at least partially based on the at least one selection metric; and

a mapping engine communicatively coupled to the priority engine and located within the internal cavity, the mapping engine operable to modify an assigned menu position for the at least one selectable item in response to a changed prioritization level for the at least one selectable item.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of secondary selectable items displayable by the display engine in response to receipt of a user input identifying the at least one selectable item.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the metric engine is further operable to track a selection metric for at least one of the plurality of secondary selectable items.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory located within the internal cavity; and

a data store resident on the memory, the data store comprising a template with fields representing assignable menu positions, at least one of the fields linked to the at least one selectable item.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the mapping engine links the at least one selectable item to a different field to modify the assigned menu position for the at least one selectable item.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless-enabled device is selected from the group consisting of a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a notebook computer, an audio player, a video player, and a gaming device.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory located within the internal cavity;

a plurality of secondary selectable items displayable by the display engine in response to receipt of a user input identifying the at least one selectable item;

the primary template having fields representing assignable menu positions, at least one of the fields linked to the at least one selectable item, the at least one of the fields additionally linked to the secondary template;

the secondary template having fields representing dependent menu positions linked to the respective secondary selectable items; and

a data store resident on the memory, the data store comprising the primary template and the secondary template.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the mapping engine links the at least one selectable item to a different field of the primary template to modify the assigned menu position for the at least one selectable item.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a preset display template linking the plurality of selectable items to fixed menu positions.

10. An interface prioritization method comprising:

presenting a menu within a graphical user interface of a wireless-enabled device, the menu comprising an available menu option displayed in a menu location;

receiving a user input selecting the available menu option;

tracking a selection metric for the available menu option; and

using the selection metric to determine an appropriate menu location for the available menu option.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing a presentation template in memory local to the wireless-enabled device, the presentation template comprising fields representing assignable menu positions, wherein a first field represents the menu location and a second field represents a modified location.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

removing a link associating the first field to the available menu option;

linking the available menu option to the second field; and

presenting a modified menu with the available menu option in the modified location.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the menu further comprises an other available menu option displayed in a different menu location, further comprising;

receiving a user input selecting the other menu option;

tracking the selection metric for the other menu option; and

using the selection metric for the other menu option to determine an appropriate menu location for the other menu option.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing a presentation template in memory local to the wireless-enabled device, the presentation template comprising fields representing assignable menu positions, wherein a first field represents the menu location and a second field represents a modified location;

removing a link associating the first field to the available menu option;

linking the second field to the available menu option; and

additionally linking the second field to a secondary template having fields representing dependent menu positions linked to secondary selectable items depending upon the available menu option.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing a preset display template directly linking the available menu option to the menu location.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing a modifiable presentation template in memory local to the wireless-enabled device, the modifiable presentation template comprising fields representing assignable menu positions, wherein a first field represents the menu location and a second field represents a modified location.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving a user input indicating a presentation preference.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising presenting a preset menu in response to a preset preference user input.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable data operable to initiate presentation of a menu comprising a plurality of selectable items displayed in respective menu positions, to track at least one selection metric for at least one of the selectable items, to determine a prioritization level for the at least one selectable item at least partially based on the at least one selection metric, and to modify an assigned menu position for the at least one selectable item in response to a changed prioritization level for the at least one selectable item.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, comprising additional computer-readable data operable to maintain a template with fields representing assignable menu positions, at least one of the fields linked to the at least one selectable item, and to link the at least one selectable item to a different field in order to modify the assigned menu position for the at least one selectable item.