System and method for viewing information underlying lists and other contexts

• US 20050144560A1
• Filed: 12/29/2003
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Li-Te, Rueckner, Devon J., Gruen, Daniel M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,496,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/711
• 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 system and method is provided for viewing extended text information associated with a particular item in place. A user may invoke a text scrolling area in order to view extended text in place with out obstructing the view of other screen items. Multiple scrolling areas may be created to view text associated with multiple items.

Claims

1. A method for displaying information about an item in a graphical user interface, the method comprising:

presenting one or more fields of an item to the user via the graphical user interface;

presenting an icon associated with the item to the user; and

in response to the user selecting said icon, presenting extended information associated with said item to the user, said extended information presented in place of one or more of said previously presented fields of said item.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said item is part of a list of items and wherein the method further comprises:

presenting said list of items to the user, each of said items in said list of items presented as one or more fields of said item;

presenting, for each of said items in said list of items, an icon associated with said item to the user;

in response to the user selecting said icon for one of said items, presenting extended information associated with said selected item to the user, said extended information presented in place of one or more of said previously presented fields of said selected item.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

presenting left and right arrows associated with said extended information allowing the user to view all of said extended information associated with said selected item in place without obstructing viewing of other items in said list of items.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

in response to the user selecting said icon for said selected item a second time, replacing said extended information with said previously displayed one or more fields.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

in response to the user selecting, for one or more additional items from said list of items, said icon associated with said one or more additional items, presenting extended information associated with said selected one or more items to the user, said extended information presented in place of one or more of said previously presented fields.

6. A graphical user interface for displaying a list of items and extended information associated with one or more items in the list of items, the graphical user interface comprising:

a list of items, each of said items in the list of items having one or more fields; and

an icon associated with each of said items in said list of items, wherein in response to the user selecting said icon, extended information associated with said item is presented in place of one or more of said fields.

7. The graphical user interface of claim 6 further comprising:

left and right arrows associated with said extended information allowing the user to view all of said extended information associated with said selected item in place without obstructing viewing of other items in said list of items.

8. A graphical user interface for displaying a list of items and extended information associated with one or more items in the list of items, the graphical user interface comprising:

means for presenting a list of items to the user, each of said items in said list of items presented as one or more fields of the item;

means for presenting, for each of said items in said list of items, an icon associated with said item to the user;

in response to the user selecting said icon for one or more of said items, means for presenting extended information associated with said selected item to the user, said extended information presented in place of one or more of said previously presented fields.

9. The graphical user interface of claim 8 further comprising:

means for presenting left and right arrows associated with said extended information allowing the user to view all of said extended information associated with said selected item in place without obstructing viewing of other items in said list of items.

10. The graphical user interface of claim 8 further comprising:

in response to the user selecting said icon for said selected item a second time, means for replacing said extended information with said previously displayed one or more fields.

11. The graphical user interface of claim 8 further comprising:

in response to the user selecting, for one or more additional items from said list of items, said icon associated with said one or more additional items, means for presenting extended information associated with said selected one or more items to the user, said extended information presented in place of one or more of said previously presented fields.