PROVIDING SUITABLE MENU POSITION INDICATORS THAT PREDICT MENU PLACEMENT OF MENUS HAVING VARIABLE POSITIONS DEPENDING ON AN AVAILABILITY OF DISPLAY SPACE

• US 20090125845A1
• Filed: 11/13/2007
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wrp IP Management, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: LACOCK, TYLER S., PALMER, JAKE
• Granted Patent: US 7,882,449 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/841
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

The present invention discloses a solution for using menu position indicators to accurately show where an intelligently placed menu will appear. Positioning of menus can automatically vary in the solution depending upon available screen space and an origin point for the menu. A menu position indicator can include a graphical image capable of indicating a direction of the menu appearance, such as an arrow or triangle. The menu position indicator for a menu can change depending upon a position of an origin point and depending upon available screen space for displaying the associated menu. When a position of a main menu changes, calculations can be performed to determine where a submenu of the main menu will be presented, and the menu position indicator can be adjusted accordingly.

Claims

1. A method for presenting menu indictors that predict a placement of a variably placed menu comprising:

identifying a graphical user interface menu having a plurality of placement positions depending upon available display space relative to a point of origin, wherein each of the plurality of placement positions is associated with a different menu placement indicator;

determining one of the plurality of placement positions based upon a current position of a point of origin within a display region; and

presenting the menu placement indicator associated with the determined placement position within the display region.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a menu event for presenting the graphical user interface menu corresponding to the presented menu placement indicator; and

presenting the graphical user interface menu within the display region in the determined placement position.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a graphical user interface event, which changes the point of origin relative to the display region; and

responsive to the graphical user interface event, repeating said determining and presenting steps.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein menu placement indicators are at least one of an arrow and a triangle indicating a direction in which said associated graphical user interface is to be presented.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of placement positions comprise to the right, to the left, above, and below a location that the menu placement indicator is at within the display region.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said menu placement indicator is an item in an option list of a parent menu, and wherein said graphical user interface menu is a child menu of said parent menu.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said parent menu is a context menu.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said point of origin is a point of said context menu.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ordering said plurality of placement positions in a preferred order based upon user configured settings.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of claim 1 are performed by at least one machine in accordance with at least one computer program stored in a computer readable media, said computer programming having a plurality of code sections that are executable by the at least one machine.

11. A displayable graphical user interface (GUI) element comprising:

a menu placement indictor presented within a graphical user interface, which indicates a direction that an associated menu is to be placed within a display relative to the menu placement indicator when the associated menu is activated, wherein said menu placement indicator is configured to indicate a plurality of different directions depending upon which of a plurality of different possible positions the associated menu is to be placed in when activated.

12. The GUI element of claim 11, wherein said plurality of different directions comprise to the right and to the left of the menu placement indicator.

13. The GUI element of claim 11, wherein said plurality of different directions comprise above and below the menu placement indicator.

14. The GUI element of claim 11, wherein said menu placement indicator is an item in an option list of a parent menu, and wherein said graphical user interface menu is a child menu of said parent menu.

15. The GUI element of claim 14, wherein when space within a display region is available to the right of the parent menu to present the child menu, the menu placement icon indicates to the right and said child menu is placed to the right of the parent menu when activated.

16. The GUI element of claim 15, wherein when no space in the display region is available to the right of the parent menu to present the child menu, and wherein when space within a display region is available to the left of the parent menu to present the child menu, the menu placement icon indicates to the left and said child menu is placed to the left of the parent menu when activated.

17. The GUI element of claim 16, wherein when no space in the display region is available to the left of the parent menu to present the child menu, and wherein when space within a display region is available below said parent menu to present the child menu, the menu placement icon indicates to the bottom and said child menu is placed to below the item in the option list.

18. An interface manager of a computing device comprising:

software stored in a machine readable medium configured to execute upon said computing device comprising programmatic instructions for determining a position proximate to a main menu that a submenu is able to be placed within space available of a display, wherein said programmatic instructions are configured to situationally determine a plurality of different placement positions for said submenu when said submenu is activated, wherein said programmatic instructions are further configured to present a menu placement indicator proximate to a menu item of said main menu, wherein said menu item is associated with said submenu, and wherein said menu placement indicator is continuously updated to indicate to a user which direction said submenu is to be placed when activated.

19. The interface manager of claim 18, wherein said main menu is a context menu, and wherein said menu placement indicator is at least one of an arrow and a triangle indicating a direction in which said submenu is to be presented relative to said menu placement indicator.