Apparatus and method for highlighting related user interface controls

• US 20070226650A1
• Filed: 03/23/2006
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hintermeister, Gregory, Rahn, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,607,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/822
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

An apparatus and method is described for highlighting related user interface controls to selected items in order to improve the ease of use and the intuitiveness of a graphical user interface. In preferred embodiments, user interface controls that are related to a selected object in the display are uniquely highlighted when an object is selected to show the user what user interface options are related to or available to perform some action on the selected object. The preferred embodiments of related highlighted controls can be used in conjunction with prior art highlighted controls that show what actions are available to the user for the current environment or cursor location.

Claims

1. A computer apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory coupled to the at least one processor;

a graphical user interface in the memory and executed by the at least one processor comprising;

a plurality of user interface controls;

at least one object on a display screen that can be selected by a user; and

wherein the graphical user interface, in response to the user selecting an object, uniquely highlights a user interface control based on the selected object and independent of other user interface controls that may be highlighted to show availability based on the context of the graphical user interface.

2. The computer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the graphical user interface highlights the user interface control based on a single aspect of the selected object.

3. The computer apparatus of claim 2 wherein the single aspect of the selected object is a file extension corresponding to the object.

4. The computer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the interface control that is highlighted is chosen from the following:

a menu button, a drop down menu button, a toolbar button, a windows toolbar button, a input field in an internet page displayed on a browser, and a button in an internet page displayed on a browser.

5. The computer apparatus of claim 1 wherein different highlighting methods are used to emphasize different criteria for the related controls to indicated to the user different types of controls available to use for the selected object.

6. The computer apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a subsetted tab feature wherein navigation through a menu by keyboard control is limited to uniquely highlighted menu controls.

7. A method for highlighting related user interface controls in a computer apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

(A) identifying an object selected by a user;

(B) identifying which user interface controls are related to the selected object; and

(C) uniquely highlighting only those user interface controls that are related to the selected object.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein identifying which user interface controls are related to the selected object includes determining a single aspect of the selected object that relates to specific class of user interface controls.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the single aspect of the selected object is a file extension corresponding to the object.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the interface control that is highlighted is chosen from the following:

a menu button, a drop down menu button, a toolbar button, a windows toolbar button, a input field in an internet page displayed on a browser, and a button in an internet page displayed on a browser.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein different highlighting methods are used to emphasize different criteria for the related controls to indicated to the user different types of controls available to use for the selected object.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of navigating through user interface controls using keyboard keys, where the sequence of the user interface controls navigated is limited to uniquely highlighted menu controls.

19. A method for deploying computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing the method of claim 7.

13. A program product comprising:

a graphical user interface comprising;

a plurality of user interface controls;

at least one object on a display screen that can be selected by a user; and

wherein the graphical user interface, in response to the user selecting an object, uniquely highlights a user interface control based on the selected object and independent of other user interface controls that may be highlighted to show availability based on the context of the graphical user interface; and

recordable media bearing the graphical user interface.

14. The program product of claim 13 wherein the graphical user interface highlights the user interface control based on a single aspect of the selected object

15. The program product of claim 14 wherein the single aspect of the selected object is a file extension corresponding to the object.

16. The program product of claim 13 the interface control that is highlighted is chosen from the following:

a menu button, a drop down menu button, a toolbar button, a windows toolbar button, a input field in an internet page displayed on a browser, and a button in an internet page displayed on a browser.

17. The program product of claim 13 wherein different highlighting methods are used to emphasize different criteria for the related controls to indicated to the user different types of controls available to use for the selected object.

18. The program product of claim 13 further comprising a subsetted tab feature wherein navigation through a menu by keyboard control is limited to uniquely highlighted menu controls.