Method for efficient input device selection of onscreen objects
First Claim
1. A method for input selection of objects within an area of a display screen by means of an input device having coordinates within such area, comprising:
- identifying selectable items within said area;
creating a map of said selectable items;
establishing within said area one or more non-overlapping regions, each such region containing a selectable item and being substantially larger in area than such selectable item and all of said regions together in the aggregate occupying a substantial portion of said area;
monitoring the coordinates of said input device;
determining whenever said coordinates have moved into one of said regions; and
whenever it is so determined that said coordinates have moved into one of said regions, remapping said coordinates to new coordinates within the perimeter of the selectable item.
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Abstract
The present invention tunes, or focuses, an input device'"'"'s effective targeting capability to the task at hand in a computer system. If there are only 5 choices selectable by a user on a given active screen area on the computer'"'"'s display device, the present invention logically constrains the input device'"'"'s cursor movement is to only those five positions, no matter what pixel-by-pixel movement is actually being generated by the movement of the input device. The currently displayed area and its selectable subcomponents (e.g., radio buttons) at any given moment are determined. A logical map of these selectable items and subcomponents is created for use as a filter for input coordinates received from the input device, with each selectable item mapped to a "region" of the input coordinate field. Upon initiation of the present invention, a start point, in the logical map is determined from for the current location of the input device on screen cursor. A highlight is placed around the onscreen selectable item identified by the start point coordinates according to the map. All input device movements are tracked, and mapped to the logical map of the screen area. If at any time mouse movement causes the cursor to enter the logical region identified in the map with a different selectable item than the one currently highlighted, the highlight is moved to the new selectable item and the old highlight is erased. If the input device indicates the user has selected the highlighted item, the action associated with the item is executed. In this manner, the input device cursor will be constrained to move from one selectable item to the next and never be located in a position where an item may not be selected.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for input selection of objects within an area of a display screen by means of an input device having coordinates within such area, comprising:
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identifying selectable items within said area; creating a map of said selectable items; establishing within said area one or more non-overlapping regions, each such region containing a selectable item and being substantially larger in area than such selectable item and all of said regions together in the aggregate occupying a substantial portion of said area; monitoring the coordinates of said input device; determining whenever said coordinates have moved into one of said regions; and whenever it is so determined that said coordinates have moved into one of said regions, remapping said coordinates to new coordinates within the perimeter of the selectable item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An interactive electronic apparatus, in which input selection may be made of objects within an area of the display thereof, comprising,
a general purpose digital computer; -
a display screen; an input device; means for identifying selectable items within an area of said display screen; means for creating a map of said selectable items; means for establishing within said area one or more non-overlapping regions, each such region containing a selectable item and being substantially larger in area than such selectable item, and all of said regions together in the aggregate occupying a substantial portion of said area corresponding to said selectable items; means for monitoring the coordinates of said input device; means for determining whenever said coordinates have moved into one of said regions; and means for remapping said coordinates to new coordinates within the perimeter of the selectable item whenever it is so determined that said coordinates have moved into one of said regions. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification