Cursor for Presenting Information Regarding Target

• US 20080244460A1
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Louch, John
• Granted Patent: US 10,078,414 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/711
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

In a graphical user interface, when a cursor is positioned over an icon or link associated with a target, the appearance of the cursor changes to present information describing or related to the target. Such information can include, for example, an excerpt of the contents of the target, and/or meta-data for the target, and/or an indication of what application or applications may be used to open the target. The information presented in the cursor can be shown in graphical form or in text form, or in a combination of both.

Claims

1. A method for displaying information about a target, comprising, in a user interface:

moving a cursor in response to user input; and

responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to a user-activatable element referencing a target, changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to changing the appearance of the cursor, obtaining information about the target.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to changing the appearance of the cursor, pre-fetching information about a plurality of targets.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein pre-fetching information about a plurality of targets comprises storing the information in a local cache.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target comprises displaying the information within the cursor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target comprises displaying the information adjacent to the cursor.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to user input indicating movement of the cursor, moving the information correspondingly.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to the cursor being positioned to no longer point to the user-activatable element, causing the cursor to revert to its previous appearance.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the user-activatable element comprises a link; and

the target comprises a web page.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the target comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target;

an excerpt of text from the target;

meta-data about the target;

a representation of an application able to open the target;

a summary of the target;

a description of the target;

an animation;

an icon; and

a hypertext link.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

responsive to a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target being available, the information about the target comprises a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target; and

responsive to a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target not being available, the information about the target comprises information other than a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the target comprises representations of a plurality of applications able to open the target.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving user input selecting one of the applications in the plurality; and

opening the target using the selected application.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target is performed responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to a user-activatable element for at least a predetermined period of time.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to receiving user input requesting additional information, changing the appearance of the cursor to include additional information about the target.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to receiving user input requesting other information, changing the appearance of the cursor to include other information about the target.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to receiving user input requesting additional information, enlarging the cursor to include additional information about the target.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising scrolling the information in the cursor.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to receiving user input requesting scrolling, scrolling the information in the cursor.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to changing the appearance of the cursor:

obtaining information about the target; and

scaling the information to fit within the cursor.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the target comprises one selected from the group consisting of:

a document;

a web page;

an image;

a file; and

an application.

22. A method for displaying information about a target, comprising, in a user interface:

displaying a web page comprising a plurality of links;

moving a cursor in response to user input; and

responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to a link referencing a target, changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the target comprises a second web page, and wherein the information about the target comprises a thumbnail representation of the second web page.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the target comprises a file, and wherein the information about the target comprises a thumbnail representation of content in the file.

25. A method for displaying information about a target, comprising, in a user interface:

moving a cursor in response to user input; and

responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to a user-activatable element referencing a target, and responsive to receiving user input requesting information about the target, changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein receiving user input requesting information about the target comprises detecting user activation of a key on a keyboard.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising, responsive to receiving user input requesting that the information be removed, changing the appearance of the cursor to revert to its previous appearance.

28. A method for displaying information within a cursor, comprising:

displaying a plurality of graphical user interface elements;

receiving user input to position a cursor;

displaying the cursor at a position specified by the received user input; and

responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to one of the graphical user interface elements, changing the appearance of the cursor to display information describing an item represented by the graphical user interface element.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

pre-fetching information about a plurality of targets references by the plurality of graphical user interface elements.

30. A computer system, comprising:

an input device, for receiving user input to position a cursor;

a display device, for;

displaying a plurality of graphical user interface elements;

displaying the cursor at a position specified by the received user input; and

responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to one of the graphical user interface elements, changing the appearance of the cursor to display information describing an item represented by the graphical user interface element.

31. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the display device displays the information describing the item within the cursor.

32. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the display device displays the information describing the item adjacent to the cursor.

33. The computer system of claim 30, wherein, responsive to user input indicating movement of the cursor, the display device moves the information correspondingly.

34. The computer system of claim 30, wherein, responsive to the cursor being positioned to no longer point to the user-activatable element, the display device causes the cursor to revert to its previous appearance.

35. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the information about the target comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target;

an excerpt of text from the target;

meta-data about the target;

a representation of an application able to open the target;

a summary of the target;

a description of the target;

an animation;

an icon; and

a hypertext link.

36. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the information about the target comprises representations of a plurality of applications able to open the target.

37. The computer system of claim 36, further comprising:

receiving user input selecting one of the applications in the plurality; and

opening the target using the selected application.

38. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the input device changes the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target is responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to a user-activatable element for at least a predetermined period of time.

39. The computer system of claim 30, wherein, responsive to the input device receiving user input requesting additional information, the display device changes the appearance of the cursor to include additional information about the target.

40. The computer system of claim 30, wherein, responsive to the input device receiving user input requesting other information, the display device changes the appearance of the cursor to include other information about the target.

41. The computer system of claim 30, wherein, responsive to the input device receiving user input requesting other information, the display device enlarges the cursor to include additional information about the target.

42. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the target comprises one selected from the group consisting of:

a document;

a web page;

an image;

a file; and

an application.

43. A computer program product for displaying information about a target, comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

computer program code, encoded on the medium, for, in a user interface;

moving a cursor in response to user input; and

responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to a user-activatable element referencing a target, changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target.

44. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, prior to changing the appearance of the cursor, obtaining information about the target.

45. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, prior to changing the appearance of the cursor, pre-fetching information about a plurality of targets.

46. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the computer program code for pre-fetching information about a plurality of targets comprises computer program code for storing the information in a local cache.

47. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the computer program code for changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target comprises computer program code for displaying the information within the cursor.

48. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the computer program code for changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target comprises computer program code for displaying the information adjacent to the cursor.

49. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, responsive to user input indicating movement of the cursor, moving the information correspondingly.

50. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, responsive to the cursor being positioned to no longer point to the user-activatable element, causing the cursor to revert to its previous appearance.

51. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein:

the user-activatable element comprises a link; and

the target comprises a web page.

52. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the information about the target comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target;

an excerpt of text from the target;

meta-data about the target;

a representation of an application able to open the target;

a summary of the target;

a description of the target;

an animation;

an icon; and

a hypertext link.

53. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein:

responsive to a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target being available, the information about the target comprises a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target; and

responsive to a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target not being available, the information about the target comprises information other than a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target.

54. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the information about the target comprises representations of a plurality of applications able to open the target.

55. The computer program product of claim 54, further comprising computer program code for:

receiving user input selecting one of the applications in the plurality; and

opening the target using the selected application.

56. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the computer program code for changing the appearance of the cursor to include information about the target operates responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to a user-activatable element for at least a predetermined period of time.

57. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, responsive to receiving user input requesting additional information, changing the appearance of the cursor to include additional information about the target.

58. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, responsive to receiving user input requesting other information, changing the appearance of the cursor to include other information about the target.

59. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, responsive to receiving user input requesting additional information, enlarging the cursor to include additional information about the target.

60. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for scrolling the information in the cursor.

61. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, responsive to receiving user input requesting scrolling, scrolling the information in the cursor.

62. The computer program product of claim 43, further comprising computer program code for, prior to changing the appearance of the cursor:

obtaining information about the target; and

scaling the information to fit within the cursor.

63. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the target comprises one selected from the group consisting of:

a document;

a web page;

an image;

a file; and

an application.