Method and system for displaying status of critical indicators on diverse display devices and indicating changes in status

• US 6,600,499 B1
• Filed: 04/13/2000
• Issued: 07/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: MacPhail, Margaret Gardner
• Primary Examiner(s): Cabeca, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): DETWILER, BRIAN J
• Application Number:
  US09/548,694
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 Days
• Field of Search: 345/440, 345/440.2, 345/736, 345/764, 345/771, 345/772, 345/835, 345/837, 345/846, 345/977, 700/27, 710/15, 710/17, 710/18, 710/19
• US Class Current: 715/772
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

In a system and method for displaying status of critical indicators or variables, icons representing the indicators are displayed in superposition with a reference shape. The reference shape is divided into “higher-interest” and “lower-interest” portions, such that display of an icon over the higher-interest portion of the reference shape indicates a higher-interest value of the corresponding variable. The reference shape is preferably elongated horizontally, with its upper portion designated as the higher-interest portion and its lower portion designated the lower-interest portion. Each monitored variable may be allocated a vertical “slice” of the reference shape, such that the position of the corresponding icon when the variable is in the higher-interest state is laterally aligned with the position of the icon when the variable is in the lower-interest state. A change in the status of a variable, from higher-interest to lower-interest or vice versa, may be signaled by a change in appearance of the corresponding icon, and the time at which the change occurs may be displayed in the vicinity of the corresponding icon. This representation is believed to make the status of each monitored variable visible at a glance. The simplicity of the representation may allow it to be used effectively on various computational devices, including those with small, monochrome displays.

Claims

1. A method of displaying information, said method comprising:

superimposing a first icon upon a first or second portion of a reference shape indicative of whether a present value of a first monitored variable corresponding to the first icon is within a first predetermined higher-interest range or within a first predetermined lower-interest range;

wherein the first portion of the reference shape corresponds to the first predetermined higher interest range and the second portion of the reference shape corresponds to the first predetermined lower interest range and

altering an appearance of the first icon for a first predetermined time interval following a crossing of the present value between the first higher-interest range and the first lower-interest range.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said superimposing comprises displaying the first icon corresponding to the present status of the first monitored variable.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the crossing between the first predetermined higher-interest range and the first predetermined lower-interest range comprises a crossing of a first predetermined threshold value of the monitored variable.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the monitored variable comprises a computer system or network quantity.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first portion of the reference shape comprises an upper portion of the reference shape, and the second portion of the reference shape comprises a lower portion of the reference shape.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said altering the appearance of the first icon comprises causing the icon to blink.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising storing information regarding a time at which the crossing of the present value between the first higher-interest range and the first lower-interest range occurs.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising displaying the information regarding the time at which the crossing occurs.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said reference shape comprises an oval elongated in a horizontal direction.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying a first alternative status icon upon a display screen such that the first alternative status icon is superimposed on the reference shape, wherein the first alternative status icon corresponds to an alternative status of the first monitored variable, and wherein the first alternative status icon is positioned over the first portion of the reference shape when the first icon is positioned over the second portion of the reference shape, and the first alternative status icon is positioned over the second portion of the reference shape when the first icon is positioned over the first portion of the reference shape.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the first icon exhibits greater contrast with respect to the display screen than does the first alternative status icon.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the first icon and first alternative status icon are positioned along the same perpendicular to a horizontal line bisecting the reference shape.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a second icon on the display screen such that the second icon is superimposed on the reference shape, wherein the second icon corresponds to the present status of a second monitored variable, and wherein the second icon is positioned over the first portion of the reference shape when a present value of the second variable is within a second predetermined higher-interest range, and the second icon is positioned over the second portion of the reference shape when the present value of the second variable is within a second predetermined lower-interest range; and

altering an appearance of the second icon for a second predetermined time interval following a crossing of the present value of the second variable between the second higher-interest range and the second lower-interest range.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the second icon is laterally displaced from the first icon.

15. A method of displaying information, said method comprising:

superimposing a present status icon over a first or second portion of a reference shape indicative of whether a present value of a monitored variable corresponding to the present status icon is within a predetermined higher-interest range or a predetermined lower-interest range;

wherein the first portion of the reference shape corresponds to the predetermined higher interest range and the second portion of the reference shape corresponds to the predetermined lower interest range; and

storing information regarding a time at which a crossing of the present value between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range occurs.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising displaying the information regarding the time at which the crossing occurs.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein said displaying the information regarding the time comprises displaying the information during a predetermined time interval following the crossing.

18. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein said displaying the information regarding the time comprises displaying the information in response to a user selection of the present status icon.

19. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising altering an appearance of the present status icon for a predetermined time interval following the crossing of the present value of the variable between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range.

20. A system for displaying information, said system comprising:

a display screen;

a display controller operably coupled to the display screen, wherein the display controller is adapted to display a reference shape on the display screen, and wherein the display controller is further adapted to displays a present status icon corresponding to the present status of a monitored variable on the display screen, such that the present status icon is superimposed on the reference shape, and the present status icon is positioned over a first portion of the reference shape when a present value of the monitored variable is within a predetermined higher-interest range, and over a second portion of the reference shape when the present value of the monitored variable is within a predetermined lower-interest range, and wherein the display controller is further adapted to alter an appearance of the first present status icon for a predetermined time interval following a crossing of the present value of the variable between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range; and

a storage medium operably coupled to the display controller, wherein the storage medium is adapted to store information relating to the predetermined higher-interest and lower-interest ranges.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the display screen, display controller and storage medium are associated with the same computational device.

22. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the display controller and storage medium are associated with a first computational device, and the display screen is associated with a second computational device, such that the display controller and display screen are coupled using a remote transmission link.

23. The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the monitored variable characterizes a computer system or network quantity, the first computational device comprises a system administration console, and the second computational device comprises a portable device.

24. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the display controller is further adapted to display on the display screen information regarding a time at which the crossing of the present value between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range occurs.

25. A system for displaying information, said system comprising:

a display screen;

means for displaying a reference shape on the display screen;

means for displaying a present status icon corresponding to the present status of a monitored variable on the display screen, such that the present status icon is superimposed on the reference shape, and the present status icon is positioned over a first portion of the reference shape when a present value of the monitored variable is within a predetermined higher-interest range, and over a second portion of the reference shape when the present value of the monitored variable is within a predetermined lower-interest range;

means for altering an appearance of the present status icon for a predetermined time interval following a crossing of the present value of the variable between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range; and

a storage medium adapted to store information relating to the predetermined higher-interest and lower-interest ranges.

26. A system for displaying information, said system comprising:

a display screen;

a display controller operably coupled to the display screen, wherein the display controller is adapted to display a reference shape on the display screen, and wherein the display controller is further adapted to display a present status icon corresponding to the present status of a monitored variable on the display screen, such that the present status icon is superimposed on the reference shape, and the present status icon is positioned over a first portion of the reference shape when a present value of the monitored variable is within a predetermined higher-interest range, and over a second portion of the reference shape when the present value of the monitored variable is within a predetermined lower-interest range, and wherein the display controller is further adapted to display on the display screen information regarding a time at which a crossing of the present value between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range occurs; and

a storage medium operably coupled to the display controller, wherein the storage medium is adapted to store information relating to the predetermined higher-interest and lower-interest ranges.

27. The system as recited in claim 26, wherein said display controller is further adapted to alter an appearance of the present status icon for a predetermined time interval following the crossing of the present value of the variable between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range.

28. A system for displaying information, said system comprising:

a display screen;

means for displaying a reference shape on the display screen;

means for displaying a present status icon corresponding to the present status of a monitored variable on the display screen, such that the present status icon is superimposed on the reference shape, and the present status icon is positioned over a first portion of the reference shape when a present value of the monitored variable is within a predetermined higher-interest range, and over a second portion of the reference shape when the present value of the monitored variable is within a predetermined lower-interest range;

means for storing information regarding a time at which a crossing of the present value between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range occurs; and

a storage medium operably coupled to the means for storing information, wherein the storage medium is adapted to hold information relating to the higher interest and lower-interest ranges.

29. A computer-usable carrier medium, comprising:

first program instructions executable on a computational device for displaying a reference shape upon a display screen associated with the computational device;

second program instructions executable on the computational device for displaying a present status icon upon the display screen such that the present status icon is superimposed on the reference shape, wherein the present status icon corresponds to the present status of a monitored variable, and wherein the present status icon is positioned over a first portion of the reference shape when a present value of the variable is within a predetermined higher-interest range, and the present status icon is positioned over a second portion of the reference shape when the present value of the variable is within a predetermined lower-interest range; and

third program instructions executable on the computational device for altering an appearance of the present status icon for a predetermined time interval following a crossing of the present value of the variable between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range.

30. The carrier medium as recited in claim 29, further comprising information relating to the predetermined higher-interest and lower-interest ranges.

31. The carrier medium as recited in claim 29, further comprising fourth program instructions executable on the computational device for storing information regarding a time at which the crossing of the present value between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range occurs.

32. The carrier medium as recited in claim 31, further comprising fifth program instructions executable on the computational device for displaying the information regarding the time at which the crossing occurs on the display screen.

33. A computer-usable carrier medium, comprising:

first program instructions executable on a computational device for displaying a reference shape upon a display screen associated with the computational device;

second program instructions executable on the computational device for displaying a present status icon upon the display screen such that the present status icon is superimposed on the reference shape, wherein the present status icon corresponds to the present status of a monitored variable, and wherein the present status icon is positioned over a first portion of the reference shape when a present value of the variable is within a predetermined higher-interest range, and the present status icon is positioned over a second portion of the reference shape when the present value of the variable is within a predetermined lower-interest range; and

third program instructions executable on the computational device for storing information regarding a time at which a crossing of the present value between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range occurs.

34. The carrier medium as recited in claim 33, further comprising fourth program instructions executable on the computational device for displaying the information regarding the time at which the crossing occurs on the display screen.

35. The carrier medium as recited in claim 34, wherein said fourth program instructions are further executable for displaying the information regarding the time during a predetermined interval following the crossing.

36. The carrier medium as recited in claim 34, wherein the fourth program instructions are further executable for displaying the information regarding the time in response to a user selection of the first present status icon.

37. The carrier medium as recited in claim 33, further comprising fourth program instructions executable on the computational device for altering an appearance of the present status icon for a predetermined time interval following the crossing of the present value of the variable between the higher-interest range and the lower-interest range.

38. At least one icon adapted for display upon a display screen, said icon corresponding to a present status of a variable monitored using the display screen, wherein the icon is adapted to be superimposed over a first portion of a reference shape displayed on the display screen when a present value of the monitored variable is within a higher-interest range and over a second portion of the reference shape when the present value is within a lower-interest range;

and wherein the icon is further adapted to exhibit an altered appearance during a predetermined time interval following a crossing of the present value between the higher-interest and lower-interest ranges.