Pointing apparatus and a pointing method

• US 6,597,383 B1
• Filed: 05/20/1998
• Issued: 07/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Saito, Hitoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kevin M.
• Application Number:
  US09/082,212
• Time in Patent Office: 1,889 Days
• Field of Search: 345/145, 345/146, 345/157, 345/163, 345/856, 345/857, 345/339, 345/345, 345/334, 345/860, 345/768, 345/592
• US Class Current: 715/860
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04801 Cursor retrieval aid, i.e. visual aspect modification, blinking, colour changes, enlargement or other visual cues, for helping user do find the cursor in graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects

Abstract

A positioning apparatus capable of making a position of a pointer on a screen stand out and be prominent at appropriate timing for the user when the user uses a pointing device, such as a mouse. A color of an image within a first region on a screen and a color of an image within a second region, a size of which differs from the size of the first region, are alternately displayed by inverting the image data of the image within the region around a mouse cursor, during the simultaneous depression of a right button of the mouse and a shift key of a keyboard by the user. The use of a rectangular area as the first region in which the center of the area aligns to the coordinate values (M_X, M_Y) of the mouse cursor, and the coordinate values of a top right corner are represented by (M_X+L₁,M_Y+L₁) and the coordinate values of a bottom left corner are represented by (M_X−L₁M_Y−L₁), and a rectangular area as the second region in which the center of the area aligns to the coordinate values (M_X,M_Y) of the mouse cursor, and the coordinate values of the top right corner are represented by (M_X+L₂,M_Y+L₂) and the coordinate values of a bottom left corner are represented by (M_X−L₂,M_Y−L₂), causes an amount of calculation for changing the color to be decreased, wherein the L1 and L2 are predetermined constant values.

Claims

1. A method of assisting a user in locating a pointer on a display screen of a computer, said method comprising:

displaying an image on a display screen of a computer system, said image having image color data for displaying said image;

superimposing a pointer over said image on said display screen;

waiting for a selected input by a user;

identifying a location of said pointer after receiving said selected input;

determining a boundary on said display screen about said pointer, wherein an area enclosed by said boundary has a center on said display screen that is approximately collocated with said location of said pointer; and

changing said image color data of said image within said boundary for a predetermined time period, such that said location of said pointer may be efficiently determined without obstructing said image.

2. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:

repeating the steps of determining and changing while progressively decreasing said area until said area equals a predetermined minimum value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer system includes a keyboard and wherein said step of waiting for a selected input by said user furthers comprises the step of waiting for said user to depress a selected key on said keyboard.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said computer system includes a keyboard and a mouse, wherein said step of waiting for a selected input by said user further comprises the step of delaying for a selected time period following an input from said user utilizing said keyboard or said mouse.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of changing said image color data of said image within said boundary for a predetermined time period further comprises the step of inverting said image color data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of changing said image color data of said image within said geometric shape for a predetermined time period further comprises the step of adding a constant value to said image color data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of changing said image color data of said image within said geometric shape for a predetermined time period further comprises the step of multiplying said image color data by a constant value.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said boundary is a square.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said boundary is a circle.

10. A system for assisting a user in locating a pointer on a display screen of a computer, said system comprising:

a computer having a display screen, a pointer, a user input device, a pointing device, and a storage;

an image displayed on said display screen, said image having image color data for displaying said image;

said pointer displayed on said display screen superimposed over said image;

a location finder routine in said storage and executable by said computer, wherein responsive to a selected input from said user input device, said location finder routine identifies a location of said pointer;

a boundary determiner routine in said storage and executable by said computer, wherein said boundary determiner routine determines a plurality of boundaries on said display screen about said pointer, wherein an area enclosed by said plurality of boundaries has a center on said display screen that is approximately collocated with said location of said pointer; and

an image changer routine in said storage and executable by said computer, wherein said image changer routine changes said image color data of said image within said boundary for a predetermined time period, such that said location of said pointer may be efficiently determined without obstructing said image.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said user input device is a keyboard and said selected input is a depression of a key on said keyboard.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said user input device is a keyboard and said pointing device is a mouse, and wherein execution of said location finder routine is delayed for a selected time period following an input from a user utilizing said keyboard or said mouse.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said image changer routine changes said image color data of said images within said plurality of boundaries for said predetermined time period by inverting said image color data.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein said image changer routine changes said image color data of said images within said plurality of boundaries for said predetermined time period by adding a constant value to said image color data.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein said image changer routine changes said image color data of said images within said plurality of boundaries for said predetermined time period by multiplying said image color data by a constant value.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein said plurality of boundaries are squares.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein said plurality of boundaries are circles.

18. An article of manufacture for use in a computer system for assisting a user in locating a pointer on a display screen of the computer system, the article of manufacture comprising computer readable storage media including program logic embedded therein that causes control circuitry to perform the steps of:

displaying an image on a display screen of a computer system, said image having image color data for displaying said image;

superimposing a pointer over said image on said display screen;

waiting for a selected input by a user;

identifying a location of said pointer after receiving said selected input;

determining a boundary on said display screen about said pointer, wherein an area enclosed by said boundary has a center on said display screen that is approximately collocated with said location of said pointer; and

changing said image color data of said image within said boundary for a predetermined time period, such that said location of said pointer may be efficiently determined without obstructing said image.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said program logic causes said control circuitry to further perform the step of:

repeating the steps of determining and changing while progressively decreasing said area until said area equals a predetermined minimum value.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said computer system includes a keyboard and wherein said step of waiting for a selected input by said user furthers comprises the step of waiting for said user to depress a selected key on said keyboard.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said computer system includes a keyboard and a mouse, wherein said step of waiting for a selected input by said user further comprises the step of delaying for a selected time period following an input from said user utilizing said keyboard or said, mouse.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said step of changing said image color data of said image within said boundary for a predetermined time period further comprises the step of inverting said image color data.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said step of changing said image color data of said image within said geometric shape for a predetermined time period further comprises the step of adding a constant value to said image color data.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said step of changing said image color data of said image within said geometric shape for a predetermined time period further comprises the step of multiplying said image color data by a constant value.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said boundary is a square.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein said boundary is a circle.