System and method for selecting a setting by continuous or discrete controls

• US 20050246646A1
• Filed: 08/20/2004
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Anthony, Colin R., Sierra, Giampiero M., Cummins, Charles, Tubbs, Kenneth M., Beam, Tyler K., De Vorchik, David G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,424,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/747
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method and apparatus for selecting a setting within a selected view mode for displaying one or more items in a screen display. Continuous and discrete controls are simultaneously presented to the user. Input is accepted from either the continuous control or from the discrete control. The input mechanism can be a hardware device, such as a keyboard or mouse, or a software control presented in a graphical user interface. The continuous control includes a setting range display, visually indicating the range over which the setting may be adjusted, and a setting selection indicator visually indicating the current selection. The discrete setting control has a mode range display and a set of one or more discrete default settings which are available for selection.

Claims

1-9. -9. (canceled)

10. A graphical user interface embodied on one or more computer readable media and executable on a computer, said graphical user interface comprising:

a screen display for displaying a plurality of available view modes and a plurality of controls available for selection of a setting within a view mode; and

a view control presented in the screen display and operable to obtain, according to user choice, selection of said setting by continuous or discrete control, and operable to obtain a single user input indicative of both a selected view mode and a setting within the selected view mode.

11. The graphical user interface of claim 10, wherein the continuous control comprises a slider input.

12. The graphical user interface of claim 10, wherein the presentation of the controls is activated by the use of a button.

13. The graphical user interface of claim 10, wherein the discrete control comprises icons of varying size represented in the screen display, and the selected setting determines the icon size.

14. The graphical user interface of claim 13 wherein metadata corresponding to the icons is displayed in the screen display and the selected setting determines the amount of metadata displayed as a function of icon size.

15. The graphical user interface of claim 12, wherein the button is split, having two alternative activation regions.

16. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein one portion of the button allows selection of the view mode from the plurality of available view modes by cycling through available view modes sequentially, and the face of said button portion changes to display a graphic image representative of the currently selected mode.

18. The graphical user interface of claim 10, wherein the view control comprises a slider input.

22. The graphical user interface of claim 10, wherein the plurality of available view modes includes at least one of the following view modes:

list, details, properties, preview, thumbnails, tiles and icons.

23. The graphical user interface of claim 18, wherein the slider input presents a continuous spectrum of settings for one or more of the available view modes.

24. The graphical user interface of claim 10, wherein the selected setting determines size of at least one item in the screen display.

17. (canceled)

19-21. -21. (canceled)

35. (canceled)

36. A control in a graphical user interface for user selection of a mode and a setting within that mode, the control comprising:

a setting range display indicating a plurality of available settings, said setting range display including,

a continuous setting control having a setting range display, visually indicating the range over which the setting may be adjusted, and a setting selection indicator, visually indicating the current selection; and

a discrete setting control having a setting range display and a set of one or more discrete default settings which are available for selection within the same mode;

a mode range display indicating a plurality of available modes corresponding to the plurality of available settings; and

a user selection component operable to receive a single user selection indicative of one of the available settings and one of the available modes.

25. The view control according to claim 36, wherein, upon selection, said setting selection indicator is adjusted within said setting range display to indicate the selection.

26. The view control of claim 25, wherein the setting selected is icon size within a local file browser.

27. The view control of claim 25, wherein the setting selected is icon size within an internet browser.

28. The view control of claim 25, wherein the view control is presented in an operating system.

29. The view control of claim 25, wherein the view control is presented in an application program.

30. The view control of claim 25, wherein the view control is presented in a web interface.

37. An apparatus for selecting a mode and a setting within that mode for a screen display in which one or more items may be displayed in a plurality of modes, the apparatus comprising:

an input mechanism for obtaining a single user input indicative of both a selected mode and a selected setting, the input mechanism including,

a first input mechanism for obtaining user input from a continuously variable range of settings; and

a second input mechanism, alternative to said first input mechanism, for obtaining user input indicative of a discrete setting; and

computer-useable instructions for mapping the single user input to the selected mode and for mapping the single user input to the selected setting within that mode.

31. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein the computer-usable instructions include computer-useable instructions for mapping the user input to the selected setting.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the input mechanism is an input device.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the input device is a keyboard, a pointing device, a joystick or a stylus.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the input mechanism is a view control presented in a graphical user interface.

38. A graphical user interface embodied on one or more computer readable media and executable on a computer, said graphical user interface comprising:

a split button having two alternative activation regions, one portion of the button configured to allow selection of a mode from a plurality of available modes by cycling through the available modes sequentially, wherein the face of the button portion changes to display a graphic image representative of the currently selected mode.

39. The graphical user interface according to claim 38, wherein each of the available modes has a predefined setting and selection of one of the modes by cycling through the available modes includes the predefined setting associated with the selected mode.

40. The graphical user interface according to claim 39, wherein the predefined setting for the selected mode is configured to be changed in response to a second portion of the button being activated.

41. A graphical user interface embodied on one or more computer readable media and executable on a computer, said graphical user interface comprising:

a split button having two alternative activation regions, one portion of the button configured to allow selection of a mode from a plurality of available modes with a predefined setting for the mode by cycling through the available modes sequentially, and a second portion of the button configured to allow simultaneous selection of a mode from a plurality of available modes and a setting from a plurality of available settings for the mode.

42. The graphical user interface according to claim 41, further comprising a control including a slider, which is displayed in response to activation of the second portion of the button, wherein the location of the slider represents the simultaneous selection of the mode from the plurality of available modes and the setting for the mode.

43. The graphical user interface according to claim 41, wherein the face of the button portion changes to display a graphic image representative of the currently selected mode.