Method and apparatus for graphical selection of data

• US 6,348,936 B1
• Filed: 05/28/1998
• Issued: 02/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Berteig, Mishkin
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Application Number:
  US09/086,148
• Time in Patent Office: 1,363 Days
• Field of Search: 345/123, 345/124, 345/125, 345/341, 345/973, 345/974, 345/784, 345/802, 345/833, 345/856, 345/862, 345/785, 345/786, 345/787, 345/684, 345/686, 345/687
• US Class Current: 715/856
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars

Abstract

The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for selecting data using a graphic object such as a slider that incorporates a display area for displaying information about the data that is selected. In an embodiment of the invention, an arbitrarily sized and shaped slider for selecting data from an arbitrarily sized and shaped graphical representation related to an underlying set of data are displayed on a display screen. Each position in the display screen occupied by the graphical representation correlates to particular data from the set of data represented the graphical representation. As the slider is moved relative to the display screen, information identifying the data corresponding to the current position of a reference datum of the slider is displayed in an information display area of the slider.

Claims

1. A method for selecting data from a set of data comprising:

associating a display screen with data from said set of data;

displaying on said display screen a moveable graphic object comprising a reference datum and a display area within said graphic object;

moving said graphic object within said display screen, wherein said graphic object is moveable in more than one direction within said display screen; and

displaying in said display area a subset of said set of data associated only with a current position of said reference datum on said display screen, wherein said subset of said set of data displayed in said display area changes to reflect the data at a current position of said reference datum on said display screen as said graphic object moves from a first position to a second position within said display screen.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said moving said graphic object is in response to a user action.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphic object comprises displaying a visible representation of said reference datum on said display screen.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphic object is moveable in more than one dimension.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphic object comprises a slider.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said data in said set of configuration data comprises parameters of a screen object.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said data in said set of configuration data comprises color data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said subset of said set of data comprises color data.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein said data in said set of configuration data comprises line thickness data.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said subset of said set of data comprises line thickness data.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said data in said set of configuration data comprises document data.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a graphical representation related to said set of configuration data on said display screen.

13. A computer program product comprising:

a computer processor usable medium having computer processor readable program code embodied therein for selecting data from a set of data, said computer processor readable program code comprising;

computer processor readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to associate a display screen with data from said set of data;

computer processor readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to display on said display screen a moveable graphic object, said graphic object comprising a reference datum and a display area within said graphic object;

computer processor readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to move said graphic object within said display screen, wherein said graphic object is moveable in more than one direction within said display screen; and

computer processor readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to display in said display area a subset of said set of data associated only with a position of said reference datum on said display screen, wherein said display changes to reflect the subset of said set of data at a current position of said reference datum on said display screen as said graphic object moves from a first position to a second position within said display screen.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising computer processor readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to move said graphic object in response to user action.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising computer processor readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to display a visible representation of a reference datum associated with said graphic object on said display screen.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein said graphic object is movable in more than one dimension.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein said graphic object comprises a slider.

18. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein said data in said set of configuration data comprises parameters of a screen object.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein said data in said set of configuration data comprises color data.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein said subset of said set of data comprises color data.

21. The computer program product of claim 18 wherein said data in said set of configuration data comprises line thickness data.

22. The computer program product of claim 21 wherein said subset of said set of data comprises line thickness data.

23. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein said data in said set of configuration data comprises document data.

24. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising computer processor readable program code configured to cause a computer processor to display a graphical representation related to said set of configuration data on said display screen.

25. A graphical user interface displayed on the display screen of a computer processor equipped appliance comprising:

a moveable graphic object, said graphic object comprising a reference datum and a display area within said graphic object, said graphic object moveable in more than one direction within said display screen from a first position to a second position, said display area displaying a subset of a set of data associated only with a current position of said reference datum on said display screen as said graphic object moves within said display screen, such that said subset of data displayed on said display area when said reference datum is in said first position is the data associated with said first position and the subset of data displayed on said display area when said reference datum is in said second position is the data associated with said second position.

26. The graphical user interface of claim 25 wherein said graphic object is movable in more than one dimension.

27. The graphical user interface of claim 25 wherein said graphic object comprises a sliding control button.

28. The graphical user interface of claim 25 further comprising a graphical representation related to said set of configuration data.

29. The graphical user interface of claim 28 wherein said graphical representation comprises a color palette.

30. The graphical user interface of claim 28 wherein said graphical representation comprises a scroll bar.

31. The graphical user interface of claim 25 wherein said set of configuration data comprises parameters of a screen object.

32. The graphical user interface of claim 25 wherein said set of configuration data comprises configuration data.

33. The graphical user interface of claim 25 wherein said set of configuration data comprises document data.

34. A video memory of a computer processor equipped appliance comprising:

pixel data representing a movable graphic object, said graphic object comprising a reference datum and a display area within said graphic object, said pixel data representing said display area comprising pixel data representing a subset of a set of data associated only with a current position of said reference datum on a display screen of said appliance, said graphic object moveable in more than one direction within said display screen from a first position to a second position, and said subset of said set of data changes to reflect a current position of said reference datum as said graphic object moves within said display screen, such that said subset of data displayed on said display area when said reference datum is in said first position is the data associated with said first position and the subset of data displayed on said display area when said reference datum is in said second position is the data associated with said second position.

35. The video memory of claim 34 further comprising pixel data representing a graphical representation relating to said set of configuration data.

36. The video memory of claim 34 further comprising pixel data representing a reference datum associated with said graphic object.

37. The video memory of claim 34 wherein said graphic object comprises a slider.

38. The video memory of claim 35 wherein said graphical representation comprises a color palette.

39. The video memory of claim 35 wherein said graphical representation comprises a scroll bar.

40. The video memory of claim 34 wherein said set of configuration data comprises parameters of a screen object.

41. The video memory of claim 34 wherein said set of configuration data comprises configuration data.

42. The video memory of claim 34 wherein said set of configuration data comprises document data.

43. The video memory of claim 36 wherein said reference datum comprises a central point of said graphic object.

44. The video memory of claim 36 wherein said pixel data representing said reference datum is located in a portion of said video memory separate from a portion of said video memory in which said pixel data representing said graphic object is located.

45. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for selecting a color value from a display region, said computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to;

display on said display screen a moveable graphic object, said graphic object comprising a reference datum and a display area within said graphic object;

move said graphic object from a first position to a second position within said display screen in response to user actions, wherein said graphic object is moveable in more than one direction within said display screen; and

display in said display area only the color associated with a current position of said reference datum on said display screen, wherein said display in said display area changes to reflect the color at said reference datum as said graphic object moves within said display screen, such that the color displayed in said display area in a first position of said reference datum changes to reflect the color associated with a second position of said reference datum as said reference datum moves from said first position to said second position.