Combination tool that zooms in, zooms out, pans, rotates, draws, or manipulates during a drag
First Claim
1. A display system, comprising:
- a screen display for displaying graphical content further comprising data content; and
an input device means, for defining a fixed reference point location and a movable current point location on said screen display; and
a programmable controller operative to provide a first function region having a predetermined shape spatially relative to and containing said reference point location and second and third function regions each contiguous with at least one previously provided function region;
wherein at least three function regions are each assigned a substantially different corresponding specific function, andeach of said specific functions comprises one or more corresponding operations, andsaid programmable controller is operative to selectively actuate one or more said operations, the determined operations being selected based on, but not limited to, said current point location being within said corresponding function region, andat least one of all said plural operations is operable to continuously modify said displayed data content based on, but not limited to, both said reference point location and said current point location,whereby, a user may press and drag into different regions of a display to perform different operations such as panning, rotating, zooming, or others without having to first select the function with an additional user action such as a key press, click of an icon, pausing the motion of a cursor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
After positioning the cursor and pressing-and-holding a mouse button to begin a drag, a user continues to drag the cursor out of and into plural popped up regions. While the cursor is within a region, an associated function effects the displayed graphical information in a particular way, such as continuously panning, drawing, zooming, or rotating. Upon rolling-out of a region without entering a contiguous region, the last function continues to execute and all popped up regions are removed such that the user may utilize the entire display without being switched to another function. In a simple form, after release of the mouse button, a tool may zoom out if the user held the mouse substantially stationary and zoom in on a rectangle if the mouse was dragged. Reducing the number of times a user clicks by eliminating the step of selecting a function should help avoid repetitive strain injuries.
89 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A display system, comprising:
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a screen display for displaying graphical content further comprising data content; and an input device means, for defining a fixed reference point location and a movable current point location on said screen display; and a programmable controller operative to provide a first function region having a predetermined shape spatially relative to and containing said reference point location and second and third function regions each contiguous with at least one previously provided function region; wherein at least three function regions are each assigned a substantially different corresponding specific function, and each of said specific functions comprises one or more corresponding operations, and said programmable controller is operative to selectively actuate one or more said operations, the determined operations being selected based on, but not limited to, said current point location being within said corresponding function region, and at least one of all said plural operations is operable to continuously modify said displayed data content based on, but not limited to, both said reference point location and said current point location, whereby, a user may press and drag into different regions of a display to perform different operations such as panning, rotating, zooming, or others without having to first select the function with an additional user action such as a key press, click of an icon, pausing the motion of a cursor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A display system, comprising:
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a screen display for displaying graphical content further comprising data content; and an input device means, for defining a fixed reference point location and a movable current point location on said screen display, where said current point location is defined by dragging; and a first means for providing a predetermined sized first region spatially relative to and containing said reference point location; and a second means for zooming out said data content in response to completing said drag while said current point location is within said first region, thereby previously non-visible data content is displayed; and a third means for magnifying and displaying a selected portion of said data content in response to completing said drag while said current point location is outside of said first region, where said reference point location and said current point location define the size and position of said selected portion; whereby, a user may press and release an arbitrary location without dragging to zoom out, or the user may press and drag beyond a region'"'"'s boundary to draw a rectangle of interest then release to zoom in, without having to first select either a zoom in or a zoom out function by way of an additional user action such as a key press, click of an icon, gesture, marking menu stroke, or pausing. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A display system, comprising:
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a screen display for displaying graphical content further comprising data content; and an input device means for defining a fixed reference point location and a movable current point location on said screen display, and a programmable controller operative to provide a first function region containing said reference point location and further providing two or more additional function regions contiguous with at least one previously provided function region; wherein at least three of said function regions are assigned substantially different corresponding functions, and each of said functions comprises one or more corresponding operations, and said programmable controller is further operative to selectively actuate at least one said operation in response to said current point location exiting the corresponding function region without entering a contiguous function region, namely rolled-out; whereby a user may press an arbitrary location to display pop-up menu items, then drag out of the desired item'"'"'s region to actuate it, such as pop-up new menu items or actuate a file save operation. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification