Cueing mechanism that indicates a display is able to be scrolled

• US 20050114791A1
• Filed: 11/20/2003
• Published: 05/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Miranti, Richard P., Commarford, Patrick M., Bollenbacher, Rick E., Pastrana, Rodrigo J., Karns, Samuel L.
• Application Number:
  US10/718,441
• Publication Number:
  US 20050114791A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/787
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A method for indicating that a content page is scrollable can include the step of displaying a content page within a display area. A determination can be made that at least a portion of the displayed content page is scrollable. Responsive to the determination, a flyover can be displayed to indicate that the content page is scrollable, where the flyover can be a graphical user interface (GUI) object independent of the content page. The flyover can be a fixed object that appears on top of other windows in the GUI.

Claims

1. A method for indicating that a content page is scrollable comprising the steps of:

displaying a content page within a display area;

determining that at least a portion of the displayed content page is scrollable; and

responsive to said determination, displaying a flyover to indicate that said content page is scrollable.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining step further comprises the step of:

determining that said displayed content page is scrollable vertically, wherein said flyover includes a vertical flyover.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining step further comprises the step of:

determining that said displayed content page is scrollable horizontally, wherein said flyover includes a horizontal flyover.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

scrolling said displayed content page in at least one scrollable direction, wherein a position of said flyover remains fixed during said scrolling step.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

detecting a flyover-close event; and

responsive to said flyover-close event, closing at least one flyover.

6. The method of claim 5, said detecting step further comprising the step of:

determining an occurrence of a scroll event, wherein said scroll event triggers said flyover-close event.

7. The method of claim 5, said detecting step further comprising the step of:

determining that said content page has been scrolled so that an end point of the content page has been displayed, wherein said display of content triggers said flyover-close event.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing a configuration editor for altering at least one of a positioning, appearance, and behavior of said flyover.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

implementing said flyover on an operating system level as a generic graphical user interface object.

10. A system for indicating that a content page is scrollable comprising the steps of:

a flyover graphical user interface item configured to indicate that a content page is scrollable, wherein said flyover is a generic software object implemented at an operating system level;

means for displaying a content page within a display area;

means for determining that at least a portion of the displayed content page is scrollable; and

means for displaying said flyover responsive to said determination.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said flyover is implemented within an operating system specifically designed for a mobile computing device, wherein said mobile computing device comprises at least one of a personal data assistant and a cellular telephone.

12. A machine-readable storage having stored thereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, said code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

displaying a content page within a display area;

determining that at least a portion of the displayed content page is scrollable; and

responsive to said determination, displaying a flyover to indicate that said content page is scrollable.

13. The machine-readable storage of claim 12, wherein said determining step further comprises the step of:

determining that said displayed content page is scrollable vertically, wherein said flyover includes a vertical flyover.

14. The machine-readable storage of claim 12, wherein said determining step further comprises the step of:

determining that said displayed content page is scrollable horizontally, wherein said flyover includes a horizontal flyover.

15. The machine-readable storage of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

scrolling said displayed content page in at least one scrollable direction, wherein said position of said flyover remains fixed during said scrolling step.

16. The machine-readable storage of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

detecting a flyover-close event; and

responsive to said flyover-close event, closing at least one flyover.

17. The machine-readable storage of claim 16, said detecting step further comprising the step of:

determining an occurrence of a scroll event, wherein said scroll event triggers said flyover-close event.

18. The machine-readable storage of claim 16, said detecting step further comprising the step of:

determining that said content page has been scrolled so that an end point of the content page has been displayed, wherein said display of content triggers said flyover-close event.

19. The machine-readable storage of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

providing a configuration editor for altering at least one of a positioning, appearance, and behavior of said flyover.

20. The machine-readable storage of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

implementing said flyover on an operating system level as a generic graphical user interface object.