Methods and apparatus for dynamic menu generation in a menu driven computer system
First Claim
1. A menu-driven digital data processing system comprisingmeans for storing a menu entry data record in said system for each item of a first plurality of displayable menu items of a second lesser plurality of displayable menus, each said record includinga menu field identifying one or more of said second plurality of displayable menus on which the associated menu item is to appear,a text field including the displayable text of the associated menu item, andan action field identifying the action to be initiated in response to the selection of the associated menu item;
- means responsive to the contents of said menu field for selectively displaying all of the menu items identified as appearing on a common identified menu,means for selecting at least one of said displayed menu items, andmeans responsive to the selection of said at least one displayed menu item for initiating the action identified in the action field of the record associated with the selected menu item.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer hardware (FIG. 1) and software (FIG. 2) system uses a plurality of multilevel, hierarchical menus (FIG. 3) to access basic system capabilities. The menu system is made flexible, and responsive to the needs of individual users by means of a menu table (FIGS. 4 and 7) containing the menu entry text for all menus, the identity of the menu on which the entry is to appear, and the action to be taken if that menu entry is selected. The menu table can be edited by the user (15) in response to local needs and is used to generate (FIG. 5) all menus of the menu system dynamically, on the fly, as needed. In one embodiment, the menu table is broken up into separate tables for each menu level. In another embodiment, secondary menu item selection criteria are added to the menu table entries to further condition menu entry selection on user attributes such as geography or time.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A menu-driven digital data processing system comprising
means for storing a menu entry data record in said system for each item of a first plurality of displayable menu items of a second lesser plurality of displayable menus, each said record including a menu field identifying one or more of said second plurality of displayable menus on which the associated menu item is to appear, a text field including the displayable text of the associated menu item, and an action field identifying the action to be initiated in response to the selection of the associated menu item; -
means responsive to the contents of said menu field for selectively displaying all of the menu items identified as appearing on a common identified menu, means for selecting at least one of said displayed menu items, and means responsive to the selection of said at least one displayed menu item for initiating the action identified in the action field of the record associated with the selected menu item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 6)
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5. A display system for dynamically generating all of the menus of a multilevel hierarchical menu system comprising
storage means for storing a plurality of menu entry records, each said menu entry record including the identification of the menu containing such menu entry and the contents of such menu entry, means for storing an identification of the action to be taken upon the selection of any one of said menu entries in association with said menu identification and said menu entry content for the same menu entry, and means, utilizing said storage means, for selectively displaying only one of said menus in said menu system by selectively retrieving from said menu entry records only the menu contents of menu entries having the same menu identification.
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7. A method of dynamically providing the menus of a hierarchical menu-driven digital data processing system comprising the steps of
storing a menu entry data record in said system for each item of a first plurality of displayable menu items of a second lesser plurality of displayable menus, each said record including a menu field identifying one or more of said second plurality of displayable menus on which the associated menu item is to appear, a text field including the displayable text of the associated menu item, and an action field identifying the action to be initiated in response to the selection of the associated menu item; -
in response to the contents of said menu field, selectively displaying all of the menu items identified as appearing on a common identified menu, and in response to the selection of a displayed menu item, initiating the action identified in the action field of the record associated with the selected menu item. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for dynamically generating all of the menus of a multilevel hierarchical menu system comprising the steps of
storing a plurality of menu entry records, each said menu entry record including the identification of the menu containing such menu entry and the contents of such menu entry, storing an identification of the action to be taken upon the selection of any one of said menu entries in association with said menu identification and said menu entry content for the same menu entry, and selectively displaying only one of said menus in said menu system by selectively retrieving from said menu entry records only the menu contents of stored menu entries having the same menu identification.
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13. A menu display system for use with computer programs comprising
means for storing a menu entry record for each displayable line of each menu of said menu system, each said menu entry record including at least one menu entry selection key, and means, responsive to said at least one selection key, for displaying only those menu lines corresponding to menu entry records including the same selection key.
Specification