Method and arrangment for a primary actions menu including one menu item for applications on a handheld electronic device

• US 7,669,144 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Talukdar, Taneem, Griffin, Jason Tyler, Fyke, Steven Henry, Lee, Matthew Richard, Butt, Fahd Sohail
• Primary Examiner(s): Pesin; Boris
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHIAU, SHEN C
• Application Number:
  US11/618,500
• Publication Number:
  US 20070192736A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• Field of Search: 715/829, 715/841, 715/847, 715/810, 715/811, 715/821, 715/825, 715/828
• US Class Current: 715/847
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed that provides for displaying on the screen of a handheld electronic device, an extended menu or a short menu, which is a subset of the corresponding extended menu. The system and method include an application displayed on a screen. If the application is currently running, and no menu is displayed, the user may initiate an ambiguous request. Various short menus, including those with solely one menu item, are provided with their respective menu items being dependent and adjustable based upon the position of a cursor on the display page, the currently opened application, and/or the previous selections. Further, a selection from the short menu is capable of displaying the extended menu corresponding thereto.

Claims

1. A method for displaying, upon user request, an abbreviated menu on a display screen of a handheld electronic device that is relevant to a currently running application on the device, said method comprising:

running an application on the handheld electronic device and thereby causing display of a cursor-navigable page on the display screen of the handheld electronic device, wherein the cursor-navigable page does not include a displayed menu;

receiving an ambiguous request for display of menu items corresponding to the displayed page while a cursor is positioned at a location on the cursor-navigable page; and

displaying an abbreviated menu in response to the received ambiguous request, said abbreviated menu having a short list of menu items which is a subset of a full list of menu items of an extended menu associated with the displayed cursor-navigable page, said short list of menu items consisting of;

(i) one menu item having been assessed a higher probability for being user-selected than at least some menu items of the full list of menu items not included in said short list of menu items and (ii) an extended menu item to expand the short list to the full, extended menu, wherein the extended menu item on the short list and a dedicated push-button on the device for displaying the extended menu are each marked with an insignia.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving of the ambiguous request for display of menu items is in response to actuating an auxiliary user input device on the handheld electronic device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said auxiliary user input device is a navigation tool that controls movement of the cursor on the screen of the handheld electronic device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said navigation tool is a trackball.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the abbreviated menu overlaps the displayed page on the display screen.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the abbreviated menu fills a substantial entirety of the screen.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the abbreviated menu is displayed on the screen in place of the displayed page.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said handheld electronic device is a wireless handheld communication device that transmits data to, and receives data from a communication network utilizing radio frequency signals.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said handheld electronic device is sized to be cradled in the palm of a user'"'"'s hand.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said handheld electronic device is longer than wide.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the width of said handheld electronic device measures between approximately two and approximately three inches thereby facilitating the device being palm cradled.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said handheld electronic device further comprises a keyboard suitable for accommodating textual input to the handheld electronic device and a navigation tool located essentially between the keyboard and the screen of the handheld electronic device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising said short list of menu items, wherein the item displayed in the short list is dynamically updated based upon the user'"'"'s selection of items from the extended menu.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising said short list of menu items, wherein the extended menu choice on the short list and the dedicated push-button on the device for the extended menu are each marked with a substantially similar insignia.

15. A handheld electronic device programmed to display an abbreviated menu of action items on a display screen of the device based on a user request and a page that is displayed on the display screen at the time of the user request, said handheld electronic device comprising:

the display screen on which cursor-navigable pages are displayed when applications are run on the handheld electronic device;

a keyboard located below the display screen and configured to accommodate textual input to the handheld electronic device;

a dedicated push-button on the handheld electronic device; and

a microprocessor having a control program associated therewith for controlling operation of said handheld electronic device, said control program configured to process an ambiguous request for display of menu items corresponding to the screen-displayed page when a user menu request is detected, and, based on said detection of the user menu request, said microprocessor displays an abbreviated menu having a short list of menu items which is a subset of a full list of menu items of an extended menu associated with the displayed page, said short list of menu items consisting of;

(i) one menu item having been assessed a higher probability for being user-selected than at least some items of the full list of menu items not included in said short list of menu items and (ii) an extended menu item to expand the short list to the full, extended menu, wherein the extended menu item on the short list and the dedicated push-button for displaying the extended menu are each marked with an insignia.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein said handheld electronic device is a wireless handheld communication device that transmits data to, and receives data from a communication network utilizing radio frequency signals.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein the width of said handheld electronic device measures between approximately two and approximately three inches thereby facilitating the device being palm cradled.

18. The device of claim 15, further comprising an auxiliary user input device useable for initiating the ambiguous request for display of menu items.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein said auxiliary user input device is a navigation tool that controls movement of the cursor on the screen of the handheld electronic device.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein said navigation tool is a trackball.

21. The device of claim 19, wherein said navigation tool is located essentially between the display and the keyboard in the operable configuration.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising said short list of menu items, wherein the item displayed in the short list is dynamically updated based upon the user'"'"'s selection of items from the extended menu.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising said short list of menu items, wherein the extended menu choice on the short list and the dedicated push-button on the device for the extended menu are each marked with a substantially similar insignia.

24. A processing subsystem configured to be installed in a handheld electronic device comprising a user interface including a display and a keyboard having a plurality of input keys with which letters are associated, said processing subsystem comprising:

operating system software that controls operation of an incorporating handheld electronic device and said operating system software is programmed to control operation of said handheld electronic device, said operating system software is configured to process an ambiguous request for display of menu list of user-selectable actions relevant to a currently running application on the device based upon detection of a user menu request, and, based on said detection of the user menu request, said microprocessor displays an abbreviated menu having a short list of menu items which is a subset of a full menu of items of user-selectable actions available relative to the currently running application on the device, said short list of menu items consisting of;

(i) one menu item having been assessed a higher probability for being user-selected than at least some of the menu items of the full list of menu items that are not included in said short list of menu items and (ii) an extended menu item to expand the short list to the full, extended menu, wherein the extended menu item on the short list and a dedicated push-button on the device for displaying the extended menu are each marked with an insignia.