Address bar user interface control

• US 20050246648A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cummins, Charles, Miner, Patrice L., De Vorchik, David G., Gusmorino, Paul A., Odins-Lucas, Zeke
• Granted Patent: US 7,853,890 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/760
• 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: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence

Abstract

An address bar user interface control includes a plurality of interactive segments, each segment including one or more filters or selection criteria for selecting content from physical and/or virtual locations. A segment may include two or more filters or selection criteria which are logically combined such as by a logical “OR” operation. A user may select a child control associated with an interactive segment, i.e., a parent segment, to provide a list of selectable child filters or selection criteria. In response to selection of a child filter or selection criteria, an interactive segment representing the child filter or selection criteria is added to the address bar succeeding the parent segment and the interactive segments subsequent to the parent segment are removed.

Claims

1. An address bar user interface control for selecting content accessible to a computer system for display, the address bar comprising:

a plurality of interactive segments each including selection criteria for selecting content for display; and

a child control associated with the at least one interactive segment, the child control being selectable to identify selectable child selection criteria corresponding to the selection criteria of the at least one interactive segment.

2. The address bar user interface control of claim 1, further comprising a list of selectable child selection criteria, wherein selecting the child control associated with an interactive segment causes the list of selectable child selection criteria to be displayed.

3. The address bar user interface control of claim 2, further comprising an interactive segment corresponding to a child selection criteria, wherein selecting the child selection criteria from the list of selectable child selection criteria causes the interactive segment corresponding to the child selection criteria to be displayed succeeding the at least one interactive segment.

4. The address bar user interface control of claim 3, wherein selecting the child selection criteria from the list of selectable child selection criteria further causes each interactive segment subsequent to the at least one interactive segment to be removed from the address bar.

5. The address bar user interface control of claim 2, wherein if the interactive segment associated with the child selection criteria has an immediate ancestor selection criteria and the immediate ancestor selection criteria is not displayed, selecting the child control associated with the interactive segment further causes an ancestor list for the interactive segment to be displayed.

6. The address bar user interface control of claim 2, further comprising type identifiers associated with each of the child selection criteria in the list of selectable child selection criteria.

7. The address bar user interface control of claim 1, wherein a child selection criteria includes selection criteria for selecting content stored in a virtual location.

8. The address bar user interface control of claim 1, wherein the at least one interactive segment includes at least two selection criteria which are logically combined for selecting content for display.

9. An address bar user interface control for selecting content accessible to a computer system for display, the address bar comprising:

a first interactive segment including at least two selection criteria logically combined for selecting content for display.

10. The address bar user interface control of claim 9, further comprising a second interactive segment including at least one selection criteria, the second interactive segment preceding the first interactive segment wherein the at least two selection criteria of the first interactive segment further restrict the content selected by the at least one selection criteria of the second interactive segment.

11. The address bar user interface control of claim 9, further comprising a second interactive segment including at least one selection criteria succeeding the first interactive segment wherein selecting the first interactive segment in the address bar causes the second interactive segment to be removed from the address bar.

12. The address bar user interface control of claim 9, wherein the at least two selection criteria are logically combined according to a logical OR operation.

13. The address bar user interface control of claim 9, wherein at least one selection criteria includes selection criteria for selecting content stored in a virtual location.

14. The address bar user interface control of claim 9, wherein at least one selection criteria includes selection criteria for selecting content stored in a physical location.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for performing the method comprising the steps of:

displaying an address bar comprising a plurality of interactive segments, each interactive segment including at least one selection criteria for selecting content to be displayed on a display device, wherein the address bar selects content for display on a display device according to the at least one selection criteria of each of the plurality of interactive segments, and a child control for a first interactive segment, the child control being selectable to identify selectable child selection criteria;

detecting user actions on the address bar; and

upon detecting a user action on the address bar, updating the address bar according to the detected user action.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the detected user action is a selection of the child control, and wherein updating the address bar according to the detected user action comprises displaying a list of selectable child selection criteria in response to selection of the child control.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising causing a second interactive segment corresponding to a child selection criteria to be displayed succeeding the first interactive segment in response to a user selection of the child selection criteria.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising causing each interactive segment subsequent to the at least one interactive segment to be removed from the address bar in response to the user selection of the child selection criteria.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein displaying further comprises displaying a second interactive segment including at least two selection criteria which are logically combined for selecting content for display.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the at least two selection criteria are logically combined by applying a logical OR operation.