Method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen and a computer readable medium containing such a method as a program code

• US 7,549,131 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2002
• Issued: 06/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Adam, Chris, Lengeling, Gerhard
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong; Stephen S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pitaro; Ryan F
• Application Number:
  US10/334,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20040125083A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,359 Days
• Field of Search: 715/856
• US Class Current: 715/856
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen and a computer readable medium containing such a method as a program code.

When using a graphic program which displays data in a graphical manner, it is often difficult to maintain control of the cursor. In particular, when a user attempts to draw a straight line using the cursor, it is difficult to control the cursor sufficiently accurately. The consequence is often not a straight line but one with steps of one or more pixels.

Thus, the present invention is related to a method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen, comprising:

• • determining an initial position of said cursor; wherein the improvement lies indefining at least one corridor which includes said initial position;
  • monitoring movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor, and
  • displaying said movement as a line on said screen.

Claims

1. A method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen, comprising:

determining an initial position of said cursor;

defining at least one corridor based on said initial position;

monitoring movement and a current position of said cursor, wherein said monitoring occurs in real time;

displaying a first visual indicator when the current position of the cursor is within one of the at least one corridor and wherein displaying the first visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the first visual indicator indicates that the current position of the cursor is within the one of the at least one corridor and wherein the first visual indicator is an interactive straight line extending from the initial position;

displaying a second visual indicator when the current position of the cursor is outside the at least one corridor and wherein displaying the second visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the second visual indicator indicates that the current position of the cursor is outside the at least one corridor;

displaying said movement as a first straight line on said screen upon determining a final position of said cursor rests within the one of at least one corridor; and

displaying said movement as actual movement on said screen upon determining the final position of said cursor rests outside the at least one corridor, wherein displaying said movement as actual movement is placing a permanent visible element where said cursor moves between said initial position and said final position.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which there are two corridors, coterminous with each other with the initial position where the two corridors coterminate.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which there are four corridors, coterminous and orthogonal to each other forming an axis with the initial position at the zero axis point.

4. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, in which said corridors comprise divergent boundaries, said boundaries being defined at an angle of equal to or less than 2 degrees.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which said determining said initial position includes monitoring a control of said cursor to ascertain whether said control has been activated.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, in which said monitoring of said movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor includes monitoring said control to ascertain whether said control has been disabled.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which said corridor is substantially parallel to the perimeter of the screen.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, in which said corridor may be defined at an angle to the perimeter of the screen which is not equal to 0, 90 or 180 degrees.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which said screen is used to display graphical data.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which the first visual indicator displays a plurality of lines along the at least one corridor, wherein the plurality of lines indicate locations of the at least one corridor.

11. A method of controlling movement of a cursor on a screen, comprising:

determining an initial position of said cursor;

defining four corridors, coterminous and orthogonal to each other forming an axis with the initial position at a zero axis point;

monitoring movement and a current position of said cursor, wherein said monitoring occurs in real time;

displaying a first visual indicator when the current position of the cursor is within one of the four corridors and wherein displaying the first visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the first visual indicator indicates that the current position of the cursor is within the one of the four corridors and wherein the first visual indicator is an interactive straight line extending from the initial position;

displaying a second visual indicator when the current position of the cursor is outside the four corridors and wherein displaying the second visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the second visual indicator indicates that the current position of the cursor is outside the four corridors;

displaying said movement as a first straight line on said screen upon determining that a final position of said cursor rests within the one of the four corridors; and

displaying said movement as actual movement on said screen upon determining that the final position of said cursor rests outside the four corridors, wherein displaying said movement as actual movement is placing a permanent visible element where said cursor moves between said initial position and said final position.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, in which said corridors comprise divergent boundaries, said boundaries being defined at an angle of equal to or less than 2 degrees.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, in which said zero axis point is equal to or greater than 1 pixel by 1 pixel of said screen.

14. A method as claimed in claim 11, in which said determining said initial position includes monitoring a control of said cursor to ascertain whether said control has been activated.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14, in which said monitoring of said movement of said cursor to determine whether a final position of said cursor rests within the corridor includes monitoring said control to ascertain whether said control has been disabled.

16. A method as claimed in claim 11, in which said screen is used to display graphical data.

17. A method as claimed in claim 11, in which the first visual indicator displays a plurality of lines along the four corridors, wherein the plurality of lines indicate locations of the four corridors.

18. A computer readable medium containing a program which when executed by a data processing system causes the data processing system to perform a method for controlling movement of a cursor on a screen, the method comprising:

determining an initial position of said cursor;

defining at least one corridor which includes said initial position;

monitoring movement and a current position of said cursor, wherein said monitoring occurs in real time;

displaying a first visual indicator when the current position of the cursor is within one of the at least one corridor and wherein displaying the first visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the first visual indicator indicates that the current position of the cursor is within the one of the at least one corridor and wherein the first visual indicator is an interactive straight line extending from the initial position;

displaying a second visual indicator when the current position of the cursor is outside the at least one corridor and wherein displaying the second visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the second visual indicator indicates that the current position of the cursor is outside the at least one corridor;

displaying said movement as a first straight line on said screen upon determining a final position of said cursor rests within the one of the at least one corridor; and

displaying said movement as actual movement on said screen upon determining the final position of said cursor rests outside the at least one corridor, wherein displaying said movement as actual movement is placing a permanent visible element where said cursor moves between said initial position and said final position.

19. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 18, in which there are two corridors, coterminous with each other with the initial position where the two corridors coterminate.

20. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 18, in which there are four corridors, coterminous and orthogonal to each other forming an axis with the initial position at the zero axis point.

21. A computer readable medium as claimed in any one of claims 18, 19 or 20, in which said corridors comprise divergent boundaries, said boundaries being defined at an angle of equal to or less than 2 degrees.

22. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 18, in which said screen is used to display graphical data.

23. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 18, in which the first visual indicator displays a plurality of lines along the at least one corridor, wherein the plurality of lines indicate locations of the at least one corridor.

24. In a computer system including a disc drive incorporating a system computer program, a display having a screen electrically connected to said disc drive, said screen including a cursor for indicating data on the screen, said computer system comprising:

means for determining an initial position of said cursor;

means for defining at least one corridor which includes said initial position;

means for monitoring movement and a current position of said cursor, wherein said monitoring occurs in real time;

means for displaying a first visual indicator when the current position of the cursor is within one of the at least one corridor and wherein displaying the first visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the first visual indicator indicates that the current position of the cursor is within the one of the at least one corridor and wherein the first visual indicator is an interactive straight line extending from the initial position;

means for displaying a second visual indicator when the current position of the cursor is outside the at least one corridor and wherein displaying the second visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the second visual indicator indicates that the current position of the cursor is outside the at least one corridor;

means for displaying said movement as a first straight line on said screen upon determining a final position of said cursor rests within the one of the at least one corridor; and

means for displaying said movement as actual movement on said screen upon determining the final position of said cursor rests outside the at least one corridor, wherein displaying said movement as actual movement is placing a permanent visible element where said cursor moves between said initial position and said final position.

25. A method of controlling a display, comprising:

determining an initial position of a cursor in response to activation of a control;

displaying actual movement of the cursor while the control is activated, the actual movement comprises a displayed sketch which shows the actual movement of the cursor beginning from the initial position to a current position of the cursor;

displaying a visual indicator in response to the current position of the cursor, wherein the visual indicator has a first appearance when the current position is in a first configuration relative to the initial position and wherein the visual indicator has a second appearance when the current position is in a second configuration relative to the initial position and wherein displaying the visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the first appearance of the visual indicator is removing the displayed sketch and displaying an interactive straight line extending from the initial position;

determining a final position of the cursor in response to deactivation of the control;

removing the displayed sketch from the display and displaying a first straight line when the final position is in the first configuration relative to the initial position;

leaving the displayed sketch on the display when the final position is in the second configuration relative to the initial position.

26. A method as in claim 25 wherein the final position of the cursor is in the first configuration relative to the initial position when the final position is inside of a defined corridor.

27. A method as in claim 26 wherein the final position of the cursor is in the second configuration relative to the initial position when the final position is outside of the defined corridor and wherein the second appearance is leaving the displayed sketch on the display.

28. A method as in claim 27 wherein the cursor is controlled by a user'"'"'s control of a device.

29. A computer readable medium containing a program which when executed by a data processing system causes the data processing system to perform a method for controlling a display, the method comprising:

determining an initial position of a cursor in response to activation of a control;

displaying actual movement of the cursor while the control is activated, the actual movement comprises a displayed sketch which shows the actual movement of the cursor beginning from the initial position to a current position of the cursor;

displaying a visual indicator in response to the current position of the cursor, wherein the visual indicator has a first appearance when the current position is in a first configuration relative to the initial position and wherein the visual indicator has a second appearance when the current position is in a second configuration relative to the initial position and wherein displaying the visual indicator occurs in real time and wherein the first appearance of the visual indicator is removing the displayed sketch and displaying an interactive straight line extending from the initial position; and

determining a final position of the cursor in response to deactivation of the control;

removing the displayed sketch from the display and displaying a straight line when the final position is in the first configuration relative to the initial position;

leaving the displayed sketch on the display when the final position is in the second configuration relative to the initial position.

30. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 29, wherein the final position of the cursor is in the first configuration relative to the initial position when the final position is inside of a defined corridor.

31. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 30, wherein the final position of the cursor is in the second configuration relative to the initial position when the final position is outside of the defined corridor.

32. A computer readable medium as claimed in claim 31, wherein the cursor is controlled by a user'"'"'s control of a device.