SELECTION OF HIERARCHICALLY ORGANIZED ITEMS
First Claim
1. A user interface provided by a computing device for selecting hierarchically arranged items, the user interface comprising:
- a first column configured to interactively select a level of a hierarchy, thereby providing a selected level including one or more members;
a second column right of the first column configured to responsively display levels of the selected level, and further configured to interactively select one of the one or more levels of the selected level, and when the selected level includes a number of items, to interactively select one or more of the items, thereby providing at least one selected item;
a third column right of the second column configured to interactively display the at least one selected item and providing a user control to remove the at least one selected item from the third column, wherein the third column retains selected items added from the second column over a number of user interactions; and
a row extending above one or more of the first, second, and third columns, the row including a number of controls to select a hierarchy to populate the first column.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein are user interfaces and related systems and methods for selecting hierarchically arranged items in order to facilitate subsequent operations on an accumulation of such data selected from throughout a hierarchy. More specifically, a columnized user interface is disclosed that includes a final column containing an accumulation of items selected from various locations within the hierarchy. A user may interactively navigate throughout the hierarchy in one or more other columns, while selectively adding specific items from any such hierarchical locations in the final column for subsequent processing. Other tools may support grouping into favorites, recall of previous selections, or other operations to facilitate rapid creation and recreation of item groups for processing.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A user interface provided by a computing device for selecting hierarchically arranged items, the user interface comprising:
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a first column configured to interactively select a level of a hierarchy, thereby providing a selected level including one or more members; a second column right of the first column configured to responsively display levels of the selected level, and further configured to interactively select one of the one or more levels of the selected level, and when the selected level includes a number of items, to interactively select one or more of the items, thereby providing at least one selected item; a third column right of the second column configured to interactively display the at least one selected item and providing a user control to remove the at least one selected item from the third column, wherein the third column retains selected items added from the second column over a number of user interactions; and a row extending above one or more of the first, second, and third columns, the row including a number of controls to select a hierarchy to populate the first column. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A system comprising:
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a database storing items organized into a number of hierarchies, each one of the hierarchies having a number of levels; and a server configured to provide a user interface including a row horizontally extending above three columns, wherein the row includes one or more controls to select a hierarchy from a number of hierarchies to populate the user interface; a first column of the three columns including a vertically arranged group of controls, each one of the group of controls corresponding to one of the number of levels of one of the hierarchies selected from the row, and each one of the group of controls responsive to a first user interaction by populating the second column with one or more members of a corresponding one of the number of levels; and a second column of the three columns positioned right of the first column and including a vertically arranged group of one or more controls, each of the one or more controls corresponding to one of the one or more members of the one of the number of levels selected from the first one of the three columns, and each one of the one or more controls responsive to a second user interaction by; when the one or more members include a lower level of the number of levels in the selected hierarchy beneath a current level displayed in the second column, populating the second column with a vertically arranged group of one or more members of the lower level in place of the one of the number of levels selected from the first one of the three columns, and when the one or more members include an item in the current level, responding to an interaction with the item by populating a third column of the three columns positioned right of the second column with the item, thereby providing a selected item in the third column;
whereinthe third column is configured to retain a number of items selected from the second column over a series of user interactions. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer program product for providing a user interface with a row vertically extending above three columns for selecting hierarchically arranged items from items organized into a number of hierarchies each having a number of levels, the computer program product comprising computer executable code embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, provides the user interface wherein:
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the row includes one or more controls to select a hierarchy from a number of hierarchies to populate the user interface; a first column of the three columns including a vertically arranged group of controls, each one of the group of controls corresponding to one of the number of levels of one of the hierarchies selected from the row, and each one of the group of controls responsive to a first user interaction by populating the second column with one or more members of a corresponding one of the number of levels; and a second column of the three columns positioned right of the first column and including a vertically arranged group of one or more controls, each of the one or more controls corresponding to one of the one or more members of the one of the number of levels selected from the first one of the three columns, and each one of the one or more controls responsive to a second user interaction by; when the one or more members include a lower level of the number of levels in the selected hierarchy beneath a current level displayed in the second column, populating the second column with a vertically arranged group of one or more members of the lower level in place of the one of the number of levels selected from the first one of the three columns, and when the one or more members include an item in the current level, responding to an interaction with the item by populating a third column of the three columns positioned right of the second column with the item, thereby providing a selected item in the third column;
whereinthe third column retains a number of items selected from the second column over a series of user interactions. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification