NAVIGATING AN INFORMATION HIERARCHY USING A MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICE

• US 20120096358A1
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Published: 04/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GULA Consulting LLC
• Original Assignee: Wounder GmbH (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Barnes, Melvin L. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 11,182,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/325 using wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 : Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 : Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 : Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 : Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 : User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for navigating an information hierarchy using a mobile communication device. The method comprises causing a plurality of selectable items to be presented on a display associated with the mobile communication device, in response to receiving, via an audio input device associated with the mobile communication device, a first voice command indicating that one of the plurality of selectable items is to be selected, causing one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items to thereby form an accentuated selectable item, and, in response to receiving, via the audio input device, a second voice command indicating that the accentuated selectable item is to be selected, causing information associated with the accentuated selectable item to be presented on the display.

Claims

1. A method of navigating an information hierarchy using a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

causing a plurality of selectable items to be presented on a display associated with the mobile communication device, wherein the plurality of selectable items are associated with a first navigational level of the information hierarchy;

in response to receiving, via an audio input device associated with the mobile communication device, a first voice command indicating that one of the plurality of selectable items is to be selected, causing one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items to thereby form an accentuated selectable item; and

in response to receiving, via the audio input device, a second voice command indicating that the accentuated selectable item is to be selected, causing information associated with the accentuated selectable item to be presented on the display, wherein the information associated with the accentuated selectable item corresponds to a second navigational level of the information hierarchy.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving, via the audio input device, a third voice command indicating that the accentuated selectable item is not to be selected, causing a different one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining a set of the plurality of selectable items that correspond to the first voice command, wherein the set of the plurality of selectable items are arranged in sequential order.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein causing one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items comprises causing one of the plurality of selectable items in the set to be displayed differently from the other selectable items and wherein causing said different one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items comprises causing a next sequential one of the plurality of selectable items in the set to be displayed differently from the other selectable items.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein causing one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items comprises causing one of the plurality of selectable items in the set to be displayed differently from the other selectable items and wherein causing said different one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items comprises causing a previous sequential one of the plurality of selectable items in the set to be displayed differently from the other selectable items.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of selectable items are included in a document to be presented on the display and wherein causing said plurality of selectable items to be presented on the display comprises causing a portion of the document including a first subset of the plurality of selectable items in the set to be presented on the display, the method further comprising:

causing a different portion of the document including a second subset of the plurality of selectable items in the set to be presented on the display, wherein said second subset of the plurality of selectable items is different from the first subset of the plurality of selectable items.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to receiving, via the audio input device, a fourth voice command indicating that said different one of the selectable items is to be selected, causing information associated with said different one of the selectable items to be presented on the display, wherein the information associated with said different one of the selectable items corresponds to the second navigational level of the information hierarchy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of selectable items comprise hyperlinks.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein causing one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items comprises highlighting said one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of selectable items comprise one or more of form fields, pull-down menus, scroll boxes, text boxes, form buttons, radio buttons, check boxes, or data fields.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of selectable items are included in a web page to be presented on the display and wherein causing information associated with the accentuated selectable item to be presented on the display comprises transmitting a request to retrieve a linked web page and, in response to receiving data corresponding to the linked web page, causing the linked web page to be presented on the display.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second voice commands are different.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing identifying indicia to be presented on the display in association with the plurality of selectable items, wherein each identifying indicium corresponds to one of the plurality of selectable items; and

in response to receiving, via the audio input device, a third voice command specifying one of the identifying indicia, causing information associated with the selectable item corresponding to said specified one of the identifying indicia to be presented on the display.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein causing identifying indicia to be presented on the display in association with the plurality of selectable items comprises overlaying an identifying indicium over each of the plurality of selectable items.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein a subset of the plurality of selectable items are presented on the display in an identical manner and wherein identifying indicia are only provided for the subset of the plurality of selectable items.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the identifying indicia comprise one or more of letters, numbers, or symbols.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the identifying indicia comprise text corresponding to text included with an image tag.

18. A mobile communication device comprising:

a display;

an audio input device; and

a processor in operative association with the display and the audio input device, the processor configured to;

cause a plurality of selectable items to be presented on the display, wherein the plurality of selectable items are associated with a first navigational level of an information hierarchy;

in response to receiving, via the audio input device, a first voice command indicating that one of the plurality of selectable items is to be selected, causing one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items to thereby form an accentuated selectable item; and

in response to receiving, via the audio input device, a second voice command indicating that the accentuated selectable item is to be selected, causing information associated with the accentuated selectable item to be presented on the display, wherein the information associated with the accentuated selectable item corresponds to a second navigational level of the information hierarchy.

19. The mobile communication device of claim 18, further comprising:

a communication module configured to communicate via a communication network, wherein causing information associated with the accentuated selectable item to be presented on the display comprises transmitting to a server via the communication network a request to retrieve a linked web page and, in response to receiving from the server via the communication network data corresponding to the linked web page, causing the linked web page to be presented on the display.

20. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:

instructions for causing a plurality of selectable items to be presented on a display associated with a mobile communication device, wherein the plurality of selectable items are associated with a first navigational level of an information hierarchy;

instructions for, in response to receiving, via an audio input device associated with the mobile communication device, a first voice command indicating that one of the plurality of selectable items is to be selected, causing one of the selectable items in the plurality of selectable items to be displayed differently from the other selectable items to thereby form an accentuated selectable item; and

instructions for, in response to receiving, via the audio input device, a second voice command indicating that the accentuated selectable item is to be selected, causing information associated with the accentuated selectable item to be presented on the display, wherein the information associated with the accentuated selectable item corresponds to a second navigational level of the information hierarchy.