SCROLLABLE SMART MENU

• US 20150033188A1
• Filed: 07/23/2013
• Published: 01/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Devi, Renu
• Application Number:
  US13/948,813
• Publication Number:
  US 20150033188A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/824
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Technologies are generally described for providing a scrollable context menu for interacting with content displayed on a user interface. The scrollable context menu may include a base set of commands available for execution on selected textual and other content. A user may scroll the menu to display a carousel of additional available options employing traditional input such as mouse and stylus input and employing touch and gesture based interaction. The scrollable context menu may present visual cues to indicate that additional options are available. Each command in the base set of commands displayed on the scrollable context menu may be a command commonly used by a user and associated with a user profile unique to the user. The user profile may be saved such that commonly used commands may be preserved and displayed each time the scrollable context menu is presented to the user from any application or device.

Claims

1. A method executed at least in part in a computing device for providing a scrollable smart context menu, the method comprising:

detecting selection of a portion of content displayed on a user interface of a client device;

displaying a context menu including a base set of commands for interacting with the selected portion of content;

displaying a visual indicator for indicating that one or more additional commands are available for execution on the selected portion of content;

detecting a user action to navigate to the one or more additional commands; and

upon detection of selection of an additional command, displaying a new base set of commands.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a visual indicator comprises:

displaying at least one inactive command preceding the base set of commands and at least one inactive command following the base set of commands, wherein the inactive command has not yet been rendered.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

shading at least one inactive command preceding the base set of commands and the at least one inactive command following the base set of commands to indicate that the command is inactive and not yet rendered.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a visual indicator further comprises:

displaying one or more of;

an arrow, a chevron, and a pointer on the base set of claims to indicate that additional commands are available in a direction of the indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a user action to navigate to the one or more additional commands comprises:

detecting one or more of;

a tap action on the visual indicator for the command on the user interface, a swipe action on the visual indicator for the command on the user interface, a press and hold action on the visual indicator for the command on the user interface, a keyboard entry combination, a mouse input, and a pen input.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to detecting the user action to navigate to the one or more additional commands, continuously displaying new additional commands in the base set of commands.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to detecting the user action to navigate to the one or more additional commands, displaying an expanded region in addition to the base set of commands, wherein the expanded region displays two or more additional commands.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

enabling the user to perform a second user action on one of the additional commands from the expanded region to select the additional command for display in the base set of commands.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

upon detection of selection of the additional commands from the expanded region, positioning the selected command in a center position of the base set of commands and hiding the expanded region.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least three commands in the base set of commands.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a context menu including a base set of commands comprises:

displaying a most frequently used set of commands for interacting with the selected portion of content in the base set of commands.

12. A computing device for providing a scrollable smart context menu, the computing device comprising:

an input device;

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory and the input device, the processor executing an application and causing a user interface associated with the application to be displayed on a screen, wherein the processor is configured to;

detect selection of a portion of content displayed on a user interface of a client device;

display a context menu including a base set of commands for interacting with the selected portion of content;

display at least two inactive commands, wherein one inactive command precedes the base set of commands and one inactive command follows the base set of commands to indicate that one or more additional commands are available for execution on the selected portion of content;

detect a user action to navigate to the one or more additional commands; and

upon detection of selection of an additional command, display a new base set of commands.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

detect the user action on one of the at least two inactive commands, wherein the user action includes one or more of;

a tap action, a swipe action, a press and hold action, a keyboard entry combination, a mouse input and a pen input on; and

continuously display new additional commands in the base set of commands in response to the user action on one of the at least two inactive commands, wherein the new additional commands are continuously displayed in a carousel configuration.

14. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

display at least three most frequently used set of commands for interacting with the selected portion of content in the base set of commands.

15. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

display at least three most recently used set of commands for interacting with the selected portion of content in the base set of commands.

16. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

detect a selection of a command from the base set of commands;

perform the action associated with the command on the selected portion of content; and

store the command selection in a user profile associated with a user.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

prioritize the stored selections in the user profile according to a most frequent command selection;

detect a selection of a similar portion of content by the user; and

display the most frequently use commands from the user profile in a context menu associated with the similar portion of content.

18. A computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for providing a scrollable smart context menu, the instructions containing:

detecting selection of a portion of content displayed on a user interface of a client device;

displaying a context menu including a base set of commands for interacting with the selected portion of content wherein the base set of commands includes at least three commands most frequently used by a user interacting with a similar portion of content;

displaying at least two inactive commands, wherein one inactive command precedes the base set of commands and one inactive command follows the base set of commands to indicate that one or more additional commands are available for execution on the selected portion of content;

detecting a user action to navigate to the one or more additional commands;

upon detection of selection of an additional command, displaying a new base set of commands; and

rendering and activating the commands displayed in the new base set of commands.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein instructions further comprise:

upon detection of the user action to navigate to the one or more additional commands, displaying an expanded region of the base set of claims, wherein the expanded region includes two or more additional commands.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein instructions further comprise:

marking the at least two inactive commands according to one or more of;

a shading scheme, a coloring scheme, a highlighting scheme and a magnifying scheme, to indicate that the commands are currently inactive.