User-interface design

• US 20050285965A1
• Filed: 06/24/2004
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Ording, Bas, Zimmer, Mark, Graffagnino, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,068,103 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/333.11
• 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

Graphical user interface objects are specified by a collection of attribute-value pairs, the collection of which comprise a complete description of the object and may be used by a rendering element to create a visual representation of the object. In practice, each of a first portion of attributes may be associated with two or more values—each value (for a given attribute) specifying that attribute'"'"'s value for a unique resolution. A second portion of attributes are associated with a single value and are, therefore, display resolution independent. Accordingly, the target object may be displayed at any of the specified design display resolutions or accurately displayed at any resolution between the specified design display resolutions.

Claims

1. A method to represent a graphical user interface object, comprising:

receiving values for each of a plurality of attributes associated with a graphical user interface object, said plurality of attributes specifying display characteristics of the graphical user interface object;

associating at least one value for each of the plurality of attributes; and

storing the plurality of attributes and their associated values in a file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the display characteristics are sufficiently complete to permit the graphical user interface object to be rendered.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the display characteristics are sufficiently complete to permit the graphical user interface object to be rendered at a plurality of resolutions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of associating comprises assigning a default value to one or more of the plurality of attributes.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of associating comprises:

associating a first portion of the attributes with two or more values, each value associated with a specified display resolution; and

associating a second portion of the attributes with values not associated with any specific resolution.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing the file to a rendering means for generating a visual representation of the graphical user interface object.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the act of generating comprises generating a visual representation of the graphical user interface object at a resolution specified in a value associated with an attribute in the first portion of attributes.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the act of generating comprises generating a visual representation of the graphical user interface object at a resolution between two resolutions specified in two values associated with two attributes in the first portion of attributes.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of generating further comprises generating a visual representation of the graphical user interface object by linearly interpolating between the two resolutions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of associating comprises associating a plurality of values with each of a first portion of attributes and single values with each of a second portion of attributes.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each value associated with each attribute in the first portion of attributes comprise a value for a specified display resolution of the graphical user interface object.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each value associated with each attribute in the second portion of attributes comprise a value that is independent of a display resolution of the graphical user interface object.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of associating comprises a user explicitly associating a value with one or more attributes.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the act of associating comprises automatically associating a value with one or more attributes.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the act of automatically associating a value comprises associating a default value for an attribute, said default value being a function of the type of graphical user interface object.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of storing comprises storing the attributes and their associated values in a hierarchically organized file.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of storing comprises storing the attributes and their associated values in a flat file.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of receiving values comprises receiving values through a graphical user interface design application.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface object is selected from the group consisting of a pushbutton, a bevel button, a metal button, a disclosure button, a pop-up button, a combo button, a pull-down button, a check box, a radio button, a segmented control, a window title bar, a scroll bar track, a scroll bar thumb, a scrollbar cap, a slider track, a slider thumb, a text field, a progress bar, a progress indicator, a list box, a drawer, and a pane splitter.

20. A graphical user interface object rendering method, comprising:

receiving a graphical user interface object recipe file;

identifying the graphical user interface object described by the recipe file;

extracting a plurality of values from the file, wherein each value is associated with an attribute for the identified graphical user interface object; and

rendering the identified graphical user interface object based on the extracted plurality of values.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the act of receiving comprises receiving a hierarchically organized recipe file.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the act of extracting comprises extracting a single value for each of a first portion of associated attributes.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the act of rendering comprises rendering the identified graphical user interface object at a resolution specified by at least one value associated with the first portion of attributes.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the act of extracting further comprises extracting two values for each of a second portion of associated attributes.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the act of rendering comprises rendering the identified graphical user interface object at a resolution between a resolution specified by at least two values associated with the second portion of attributes.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the act of rendering comprises the act of linearly interpolating between the resolutions specified by the at least two values.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein the act of rendering is performed by an operating system level module.

28. A program storage device, readable by a programmable control device, comprising instructions stored thereon for causing the programmable control device to:

receive values for each of a plurality of attributes associated with a graphical user interface object, said plurality of attributes specifying display characteristics of the graphical user interface object;

associate at least one value for each of the plurality of attributes; and

store the plurality of attributes and their associated values in a file.

29. The program storage device of claim 28, wherein the display characteristics are sufficiently complete to permit the graphical user interface object to be rendered.

30. The program storage device of claim 29, wherein the display characteristics are sufficiently complete to permit the graphical user interface object to be rendered at a plurality of resolutions.

31. The program storage device of claim 28, wherein the instructions to associate comprise instructions to assign a default value to one or more of the plurality of attributes.

32. The program storage device of claim 28, wherein the instructions to associate comprise instructions to:

associate a first portion of the attributes with two or more values, each value associated with a specified display resolution; and

associate a second portion of the attributes with values not associated with any specific resolution.

33. The program storage device of claim 32, further comprising instructions to proved the file to a rendering means for generating a visual representation of the graphical user interface object.

34. The program storage device of claim 33, wherein the instructions to generate comprise instructions to generate a visual representation of the graphical user interface object at a resolution between two resolutions specified in two values associated with two attributes in the first portion of attributes.

35. The program storage device of claim 34, wherein the instructions to generate further comprise instructions to generate a visual representation of the graphical user interface object by linearly interpolating between the two resolutions.

36. The program storage device of claim 28, wherein the instructions to associate comprise instructions to associate a plurality of values with each of a first portion of attributes and single values with each of a second portion of attributes.

37. The program storage device of claim 36, wherein each value associated with each attribute in the first portion of attributes comprise a value for a specified display resolution of the graphical user interface object.

38. The program storage device of claim 37, wherein each value associated with each attribute in the second portion of attributes comprise a value that is independent of a display resolution of the graphical user interface object.

39. The program storage device of claim 28, wherein the instructions to associate comprise instructions to permit a user to explicitly associate a value with one or more attributes.

40. The program storage device of claim 39, wherein the instructions to associate comprise instructions to automatically associate a value with one or more attributes without user input.

41. The program storage device of claim 40, wherein the instructions to automatically associate a value comprise instructions to associate a default value for an attribute, said default value being a function of the type of graphical user interface object.

42. The program storage device of claim 28, wherein the instructions to store comprise instructions to store the attributes and their associated values in a hierarchically organized file.

43. The program storage device of claim 28, wherein the instructions to store comprise instructions to store the attributes and their associated values in a flat file.

44. The program storage device of claim 28, wherein the instructions to receive values comprise instructions to receive values through a graphical user interface design application.

45. A program storage device, readable by a programmable control device, comprising instructions stored thereon for causing the programmable control device to:

receive a graphical user interface object recipe file;

identify the graphical user interface object described by the recipe file;

extract a plurality of values from the file, wherein each value is associated with an attribute for the identified graphical user interface object; and

render the identified graphical user interface object based on the extracted plurality of values.

46. The program storage device of claim 45, wherein the instructions to receive comprise instructions to receive a hierarchically organized recipe file.

47. The program storage device of claim 46, wherein the instructions to extract comprise instructions to extract a single value for each of a first portion of associated attributes.

48. The program storage device of claim 47, wherein the instructions to render comprise instructions to render the identified graphical user interface object at a resolution specified by at least one value associated with the first portion of attributes.

49. The program storage device of claim 47, wherein the instructions to extract further comprise instructions to extract two values for each of a second portion of associated attributes.

50. The program storage device of claim 49, wherein the instructions to render comprise instructions to render the identified graphical user interface object at a resolution between resolutions specified by at least two values associated with the second portion of attributes.

51. The program storage device of claim 50, wherein the instruction to render comprise instructions to linearly interpolate between the resolutions specified by the at least two values.

52. The program storage device of claim 45, wherein the instructions to render are performed by an operating system level module.