Method and system for efficient organization of selectable elements on a graphical user interface

• US 5,897,670 A
• Filed: 07/12/1996
• Issued: 04/27/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Nielsen, Jakob
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cao H.
• Application Number:
  US08/679,539
• Time in Patent Office: 1,019 Days
• Field of Search: 395/331, 395/332, 395/333, 395/334, 395/335, 395/339, 395/352, 395/353, 395/346, 395/337, 395/356, 395/357, 395/762, 345/336, 345/329, 345/331, 345/333, 345/356, 345/357, 345/346, 345/339
• US Class Current: 715/866
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

A method and system for organizing selectable elements on a graphical user interface (GUI). Initially, the method provides at least two selectable elements for display on a GUI. Each selectable element is associated with a target element when it is selected. The method generates a first access frequency index for each selectable element in the list which corresponds to a number of times the selectable element is selected. Next, the selectable elements are organized on the GUI based upon the first access frequency index generated for each selectable element. In one embodiment, the selectable elements with a higher first access frequency index are placed in first area on the GUI while selectable elements with a lower first access frequency index are placed in a second area on the GUI. As a result, a user can select the selectable elements on a GUI easier when they are organized according to the principles of this invention.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of organizing selectable elements on a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising the steps of:

(1) providing a list of at least two selectable elements for display on said GUI, each selectable element in said list associated with a respective target element;

(2) generating a first access frequency index for each selectable element in said list corresponding to a number of times said selectable element has been selected by a plurality of users, step (2) comprising steps of;

receiving N access frequency counts associated with said selectable element and generated over a corresponding N previous time intervals, each of said access frequency counts corresponding to a total number of times said selectable element was selected during each time interval;

weighting access frequency counts received in a more recent time interval with greater magnitude than access frequency counts received in an older time interval; and

summing said weighted access frequency counts from each of said N previous time intervals; and

(3) organizing said selectable elements with a higher first access frequency index in a first area on said GUI and said selectable elements with a lower first access frequency index in a second area on said GUI,

whereby a current user can select said selectable elements organized on said GUI in a more efficient manner.

2. The method in claim 1 further comprising the step of adding a first access frequency count from said N access frequency count for said selectable element to said sum.

3. The method in claim 1, wherein at least one target element is associated with a sublist of at least two selectable subelements, said method further including before step (3) and after step (2), the step of generating a second access frequency index for each selectable subelement in said sublist corresponding to a number of times each selectable subelement has been selected.

4. The method in claim 3 wherein the step of generating a second access frequency index for a selectable subelement further comprises the steps of:

receiving N access frequency counts associated with a selectable subelement and generated over a corresponding N previous time intervals, each of said access frequency counts corresponding to a total number of times said selectable subelement was selected during each time interval;

weighting access frequency counts in more recent time intervals with greater magnitude than access frequency counts received in older time intervals; and

summing said weighted access frequency counts at each of said N previous time intervals.

5. The method in claim 4 further comprising the step of adding a first access frequency count from said N access frequency counts for said selectable subelement to said sum.

6. The method in claim 3 further comprising the step of organizing said selectable subelements with a higher second access frequency index in a first area on said GUI and said selectable subelements with a lower second access frequency index in a second area on said GUI,

whereby a user can select said selectable subelements organized on said GUI in a more efficient manner.

7. The method in claim 6 wherein said selectable elements located in said first area on said GUI are more easily selected with a pointing device than said selectable elements located in said second area on said GUI.

8. The method in claim 3, further comprising the step of:

modifying said first access frequency index to have a magnitude corresponding to a sum of said first access frequency index and said second access frequency index.

9. The method in claim 3 wherein at least two of said selectable subelements are hypertext links.

10. The method in claim 3 wherein at least two of said selectable subelements are GUI buttons.

11. The method in claim 1 wherein at least two of said selectable element are hypertext links.

12. The method in claim 1 wherein at least two of said selectable elements are GUI buttons.

13. The method in claim 1 performed over a computer based network having a server computer system and a client computer system, wherein said server computer system performs said steps associated with organizing said selectable elements on a GUI.

14. The method in claim 1 performed over a computer based network having a server computer system and a client computer system, wherein said client computer system performs said steps associated with organizing said selectable elements on a GUI.

15. The method in claim 1 wherein said list of selectable elements only includes selectable elements in a predetermined category.

16. The method in claim 15 wherein said predetermined category is selected from a list of user types including novice users, intermediate users and advanced users.

17. The method in claim 15 wherein said predetermined category is selected from a list of operating systems including Unix, DOS, Windows, and Macintosh.

46. The method in claim 1 wherein said selectable elements located in said first area on said GUI are more easily selected with a pointing device than said selectable elements located in said second area on said GUI.

18. A computing apparatus configured to organize selectable elements on a graphical user interface (GUI), comprising:

(1) a mechanism configured to provide a list of at least two selectable elements for display on said GUI, each selectable element in said list associated with a respective target element;

(2) a mechanism configured to generate a first access frequency index for each selectable element in said list corresponding to a number of times said selectable element has been selected by a plurality of users;

the mechanism configured to generate a first access frequency index, the first access frequency index mechanism further comprising;

a mechanism configured to receive N access frequency counts associated with said selectable element and generated over a corresponding N previous time intervals, each of said access frequency counts corresponding to a total number of times said selectable element was selected during each time interval;

a mechanism configured to weight access frequency counts received in a more recent time interval with greater magnitude than access frequency counts received in an older time interval; and

a mechanism configured to sum weighted access frequency counts from each of said N previous time intervals; and

(3) a mechanism configured to organize said selectable elements with a higher first access frequency index in a first area on said GUI and said selectable elements with a lower first access frequency index in a second area on said GUI,

whereby a current user can select said selectable elements organized on said GUI in a more efficient manner.

19. The apparatus in claim 18 further comprising a mechanism configured to add a first access frequency count from said N access frequency counts for said selectable element to said sum.

20. The apparatus in claim 19, wherein at least one target element is associated with a sublist of at least two selectable subelements and a mechanism is configured to generate a second access frequency index for each selectable subelement in said sublist corresponding to a number of times each selectable subelement has been selected.

21. The apparatus in claim 20 wherein the mechanism configured to generate a second access frequency index for a selectable subelement further comprises:

a mechanism configured to receive N access frequency counts associated with a selectable subelement and generated over a corresponding N previous time intervals, each of said access frequency counts corresponding to a total number of times said selectable subelement was selected during each time interval;

a mechanism configured to weight access frequency counts in more recent time intervals with greater magnitude than access frequency counts received in older time intervals; and

a mechanism configured to sum said weighted access frequency counts at each of said N previous time intervals.

22. The apparatus in claim 21 further comprising a mechanism configured to add a first access frequency count from said N access frequency counts for said selectable subelement to said sum.

23. The apparatus in claim 20 further comprising a mechanism configured to organize said selectable subelements with a higher second access frequency index in a first area on said GUI and said selectable subelements with a lower second access frequency index in a second area on said GUI,

whereby a user can select said selectable subelements organized on said GUI in a more efficient manner.

24. The apparatus in claim 23 wherein said selectable elements located in said first area on said GUI are more easily selected with a pointing device than said selectable elements located in said second area on said GUI.

25. The apparatus in claim 21, further comprising:

a mechanism configured to modify said first access frequency index to have a magnitude corresponding to a sum of said first access frequency index and said second access frequency index.

26. The apparatus in claim 20 wherein at least two of said selectable subelements are hypertext links.

27. The apparatus in claim 20 wherein at least two of said selectable subelements are GUI buttons.

28. The apparatus in claim 18 wherein at least two of said selectable elements are hypertext links.

29. The apparatus in claim 18 wherein at least two of said selectable elements are GUI buttons.

30. The apparatus in claim 18 further comprising a computer based network having a server computer system and a client computer system, wherein said server computer system is configured to organize said selectable elements on a GUI.

31. The apparatus in claim 18 further comprising a computer based network having a server computer system and a client computer system, wherein said client computer system is configured to organize said selectable elements on a GUI.

47. The apparatus in claim 18 wherein said selectable elements located in said first area on said GUI are more easily selected with a pointing device than said selectable elements located in said second area on said GUI.

32. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable code tangibly embodied therein for organizing selectable elements on a graphical user interface (GUI), the computer program product comprising;

(1) code configured to provide a list of at least two selectable elements for display on said GUI, each selectable element in said list associated with a respective target element;

(2) code configured to generate a first access frequency index for each selectable element in said list corresponding to a number of times said selectable element has been selected by a plurality of users by;

code configured to receive N access frequency counts associated with said selectable element and generated over a corresponding N previous time intervals, each of said access frequency counts corresponding to a total number of times said selectable element was selected during each time interval;

code configured to weight access frequency counts received in a more recent time interval with greater magnitude than access frequency counts received in an older time interval; and

code configured to sum weighted access frequency counts from each of said N previous time intervals; and

(3) code configured to organize said selectable elements with a higher first access frequency index in a first area on said GUI and said selectable elements with a lower first access frequency index in a second area on said GUI,

whereby a current user can select said selectable elements organized on said GUI in a more efficient manner.

33. The code in claim 32 further comprising code configured to add a first access frequency count from said N access frequency count for said selectable element to said sum.

34. The code in claim 32, wherein at least one target element is associated with a sublist of at least two selectable subelements and said code is configured to generate a second access frequency index for each selectable subelement in said sublist corresponding to a number of times each selectable subelement has been selected.

35. The code in claim 34 wherein the code configured to generate a second access frequency index for a selectable subelement further comprises:

code configured to receive N access frequency counts associated with a selectable subelement and generated over a corresponding N previous time intervals, each of said access frequency counts corresponding to a total number of times said selectable subelement was selected during each time interval;

code configured to weight access frequency counts in more recent time intervals with greater magnitude than access frequency counts received in older time intervals; and

code configured to sum said weighted access frequency counts at each of said N previous time intervals.

36. The code in claim 35 further comprising code configured to add a first access frequency count from said N access frequency counts for said selectable subelement to said sum.

37. The code in claim 34 further comprising code configured to organize said selectable subelements with a higher second access frequency index in a first area on said GUI and said selectable subelements with a lower second access frequency index in a second area on said GUI,

whereby a user can select said selectable subelements organized on said GUI in a more efficient manner.

38. The code in claim 37 wherein said selectable elements located in said first area on said GUI are more easily selected with a pointing device than said selectable elements located in said second area on said GUI.

39. The code in claim 34, further comprising:

code configured to modify said first access frequency index to have a magnitude corresponding to a sum of said first access frequency index and said second access frequency index.

40. The code in claim 34 wherein at least two of said selectable subelements are hypertext links.

41. The code in claim 34 wherein at least two of said selectable subelements are GUI buttons.

42. The code in claim 32 wherein at least two of said selectable elements are hypertext links.

43. The code in claim 32 wherein at least two of said selectable elements are GUI buttons.

44. The code in claim 32 further comprising a computer based network having a server computer system and a client computer system, wherein said server computer system is configured to organize said selectable elements on a GUI.

45. The code in claim 32 further comprising a computer based network having a server computer system and a client computer system, wherein said client computer system is configured to organize said selectable elements on a GUI.

48. The code in claim 32 wherein said selectable elements located in said first area on said GUI are more easily selected with a pointing device than said selectable elements located in said second area on said GUI.