SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SCROLLING INFORMATION IN A UI TABLE

• US 20100211908A1
• Filed: 02/18/2009
• Published: 08/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Luk, Philip, Lee, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 8,751,954 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/786
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons

Abstract

Displaying information in a column of a user interface (UI) on a display screen is enhanced by a column scroll control that displays information that is otherwise truncated from display in the space allocated to the column. The control is sensitive to a threshold limited scrolling input from a user to activate the display of the information ticker style. The display of the remainder of the user interface may be maintained while the column is scrolled. The controls are advantageous for trackball and similar pointing devices especially those used with handheld wireless communication devices (cellular phones, PDAs, smart phones, etc.) where one handed operation is desirable and where display screen sizes and resolutions often require truncation of information in a particular column entry or entries.

Claims

1. A method of scrolling information in a user interface on a display screen, said method comprising:

displaying information within a space of the user interface allocated to the space on the display screen and wherein the information is truncated to fit the space;

providing a scroll control that, when selected, is operable to scroll the information in the space to display the truncated information in response to a user providing threshold limited scrolling input via a pointing device; and

displaying the truncated information ticker style automatically in response to said user input.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the truncated information scrolls the truncated information until all of the information is displayed without further user input.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the user interface comprises a table having one or more rows and one or more columns and wherein the space comprises one or more of the columns such that the scroll control is associated with one or more of the columns to scroll information in the one or more rows.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the space comprises one or more of the columns for a particular row such that the scroll control is associated with the one or more columns to scroll information in the particular row.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising, in response to user input deselecting the scroll control, redisplaying the information in the space to remove the truncated information.

6. The method of claim 1 comprising providing a plurality controls for operating the user interface including said scroll control, said controls selectable by moving a pointing device along a first axis and wherein said scroll control is operable in response to scrolling input along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis.

7. The method of claim 1 comprising determining that the scrolling input via the pointing device meets a predetermined threshold to trigger the displaying of the truncated information.

8. A system for scrolling information in a user interface on a display screen, said system comprising:

the display screen and pointing device providing directional input along at least two axes;

a processor and memory coupled thereto, said memory storing instructions and data for configuring the execution of the processor to;

display information in a column of the user interface within a space allocated to the column on the display screen and wherein the information is truncated to fit the space;

provide a column scroll control that, when selected, is operable to scroll the column to display the truncated information in response to a user providing threshold limited scrolling input via the pointing device; and

display the truncated information in the space ticker style automatically in response to said user input.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the instructions and data configure the execution of the processor such that displaying the truncated information scrolls the truncated information until all of the information is displayed without further user input.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the instructions and data configure the execution of the processor to redisplay the information in the column to remove the truncated information in response to user input deselecting the column scroll control.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the instructions and data configure the execution of the processor to move a focus about the user interface to select the column scroll control in response to user input.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the instructions and data configure the execution of the processor to provide a plurality controls for operating the user interface including said column scroll control, said controls selectable by moving a pointing device along a first axis and wherein said column scroll control is, when selected, operable in response to scrolling input along a second axis.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the instructions and data configure the execution of the processor such that the information is displayed in a plurality of columns in a row and wherein the column scroll control for the row is selectively associated with one of the plurality of columns.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the instructions and data configure the execution of the processor to determine that the scrolling input via the pointing device meets a predetermined threshold to trigger the display of the truncated information.

15. A computer program product having computer readable code embodied therein, for execution by a processor for configuring a computer to display information in a user interface on a display screen, the code configuring the execution of the processor to:

display information in a column of the user interface within a space allocated to the column on the display screen and wherein the information is truncated to fit the space;

provide a column scroll control that, when selected, is operable to scroll the column to display the truncated information in response to a user providing threshold limited scrolling input via the pointing device; and

display the truncated information in the space ticker style automatically in response to said user input.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the code configures the execution of the processor such that displaying the truncated information scrolls the truncated information until all of the information is displayed without further user input.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the code configures the execution of the processor to redisplay the information in the column to remove the truncated information in response to user input deselecting the column scroll control.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the code configures the execution of the processor to provide a plurality controls for operating the user interface including said column scroll control, said controls selectable by moving a pointing device along a first axis and wherein said column scroll control is, when selected, operable in response to scrolling input along a second axis.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the code configures the execution of the processor such that the information is displayed in a plurality of columns in a row and wherein the column scroll control for the row is selectively associated with one of the plurality of columns.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the code configures the execution of the processor to determine that the scrolling input via the pointing device meets a predetermined threshold to trigger the display of the truncated information.