PREDICTIVE CONTEXTUAL TOOLBAR FOR PRODUCTIVITY APPLICATIONS

• US 20140201672A1
• Filed: 01/11/2013
• Published: 07/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Borzello, Eric M., Kelly, Kathleen R., Reid, Charles Marcus III
• Granted Patent: US 9,652,109 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/779
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• 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 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence

Abstract

A predictive contextual toolbar is presented that provides an identifiable region on which predicted commands can be surfaced. This user interface can be presented in cases where an indication of a request for a command (such as a formatting tool) is received, for example, while a user is interacting with a canvas of a productivity application. When conditions for surfacing a predictive command are met, the system can display an identifiable region on which predicted commands are surfaced according to context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command. The identifiable region may be an extension of a mini toolbar. One or more dynamic predicted commands can be surfaced on the identifiable region to provide easily accessible, user specific, context related commands.

Claims

1. A user interface comprising:

a canvas; and

an identifiable region on which dynamic predicted commands are surfaced in response to an interaction with the canvas.

2. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the identifiable region is a designated region of the canvas.

3. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the identifiable region is a designated region of a tool bar.

4. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the interaction comprises a selection of content, a right click, or a gesture.

5. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the predicted commands relate to a selected content.

6. The user interface of claim 5, wherein the predicted commands further relate to at least one preceding command.

7. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the predicted commands comprise formatting commands.

8. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the identifiable region is configured to surface 1-5 commands at a same time.

9. A method comprising:

determining whether conditions for surfacing a predictive command are met; and

displaying an identifiable region on which predicted commands are surfaced according to context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

surfacing one or more dynamic predicted commands on the identifiable region; and

dismissing a surfaced command in response to receiving a selection of the surfaced command.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprise a selection of content.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprise a right click or a gesture over content or repeated selection of a menu or tabs.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein displaying the identifiable region comprises displaying a mini toolbar having an extension region for surfacing the predicted commands.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprises information related to the selection of the content and at least one preceding command.

15. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

determining whether conditions for surfacing a predictive command are met;

displaying an identifiable region on which predicted commands are surfaced according to context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command;

surfacing one or more dynamic predicted commands on the identifiable region; and

dismissing a surfaced command in response to receiving a selection of the surfaced command.

16. The medium of claim 15, further comprising dismissing the identifiable region when it is determined that a dismissal interaction with the canvas is received.

17. The medium of claim 15, wherein the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprise a selection of content or a right click or gesture over content or repeated selection of a menu or tabs.

18. The medium of claim 15, wherein displaying the identifiable region comprises displaying a mini toolbar having an extension region for surfacing the predicted commands.

19. The medium of claim 15, wherein the context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprises information related to the selection of the content and at least one preceding command.

20. The medium of claim 15, wherein displaying the identifiable region comprises displaying the identifiable region at a location in proximity to a cursor.