Floating action buttons

• US 7,818,672 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gardner, Scott T., Miller, Andrew R., Coggins, Robert E, Bryant, Christopher W., McCormack, Michael J
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadeese
• Application Number:
  US11/026,349
• Publication Number:
  US 20060156247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,119 Days
• Field of Search: 715/672, 715/673, 715/674, 715/767, 715/859, 715/808, 715/856, 715/862, 715/810, 715/708, 715/711, 715/715, 715/768, 715/817, 715/821, 715/840, 715/841, 715/843, 715/802
• US Class Current: 715/715
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• 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

A user interface (UI) includes floating action buttons. Respective hot zones are established for associated respective UI elements. When a focus is targeting (e.g., located at) a given hot zone, one or more floating action buttons that are associated therewith are presented as part of the UI. Activation of a particular action button of the one or more floating action buttons causes an action corresponding to the particular action button to be implemented. In an example implementation, the actions available through the one or more floating action buttons may be context-sensitive such that the actions thereof are tailored to the type of item corresponding to the UI element (e.g., an icon, a graphical element, a text portion, a screen area, etc.).

Claims

1. A processor-accessible storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform acts comprising:

establishing respective hot zones for respective ones of multiple UI elements representing objects selected by a user;

presenting, when a focus enters a hot zone associated with an item in a list of items, at least one floating action button relevant to the represented objects selected by the user to the right of an item entry in the list of items listed in user selectable groups;

wherein the focus comprises at least one of a pointer focus or a key focus; and

wherein the hot zone comprises at least one of a hover over zone or a key indication zone;

presenting a context menu upon activation of the floating action button;

presenting a collapse or expand button for each user selectable group, the collapse button being configured to hide items in the user selectable group upon activation and the expand button being configured to reveal items in the group upon activation;

presenting text of the item entry as a bubble above or below the hover over zone when obscured by the floating action button;

removing the presented at least one floating action button from the UI when the focus leaves the hot zone;

performing an action corresponding to the at least one floating action button when the at least one floating action button is activated, wherein the action affects one or more of the objects selected by the user; and

wherein the at least one floating action button and the action corresponding thereto are dependent upon a type of an item corresponding to the UI element that is associated with the hot zone in focus or a mode of an application utilizing the user interface, or both.

2. The processor-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions are further adapted to present the at least one floating action button such that the at least one floating action button at least partially overlaps the hot zone.

3. The processor-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions are further adapted to establish a particular hot zone for a particular UI element such that the particular hot zone surrounds the particular UI element.

4. One or more processor-accessible storage media comprising processor-executable instructions that when executed by a processor, performs the following:

creating a user interface (UI) element representing an object including a hot zone floating action button effectuator that is adapted to establish a hot zone for the object selected by the user, the hot zone floating action button effectuator including a focus monitor and an action button presenter;

monitoring with the focus monitor a location of a focus indicator to determine if the focus indicator becomes located at the hot zone;

presenting with the action button presenter one or more action buttons to the right of an item entry in a list of items listed in user selectable groups when the focus indicator is determined to be located at the hot zone;

presenting a collapse or expand button for each of the user selectable groups, the collapse button being configured to hide items in the group upon activation and the expand button being configured to reveal items in the group upon activation;

presenting text of the item entry as a bubble above or below the hover over zone when obscured by the action button; and

modifying the object upon activation by the user of the action button to the right of an item entry.

5. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 4, wherein the one or more action buttons are ascertained by the action button presenter from a data structure that maps the UI element to the one or more action buttons.

6. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 5, wherein one or more actions corresponding to the one or more action buttons are related to an item corresponding to the UI element by context and/or subject matter.

7. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 4, wherein the hot zone floating action button effectuator further includes an action implementer;

the action implementer adapted to implement a particular action corresponding to a particular action button of the one or more action buttons when the particular action button is detected to be activated with a standard mechanism.

8. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 7, wherein the processor-executable instructions further include a UI component that presents a context menu when the particular action button of the one or more action buttons is activated with a non-standard mechanism.

9. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 4, wherein the hot zone floating action button effectuator is further adapted to visually delete from a display screen the presented one or more action buttons when the focus indicator is determined by the focus monitor to be moved beyond the hot zone.

10. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 4, wherein the focus indicator comprises at least one of a key indicator or a pointer indicator;

and wherein the hot zone comprises at least one of a hover over zone or a key indication zone.

11. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the key indicator or the pointer indicator comprises:

encircling the key indication zone or hover over zone with a solid or dashed line;

changing a background color of the key indication zone or hover over zone;

changing a size of the key indication zone or hover over zone;

increasing size of text within the key indication zone or hover over zone;

or

inverting the video of the key indication zone or hover over zone.

12. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the key indicator or the pointer indicator comprises applying a graphical halo effect to the key indication zone or hover over zone.

13. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the key indicator or the pointer indicator comprises darkening or brightening the key indication zone or hover over zone.

14. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 4, wherein the processor-executable instructions further include at least one of an application program or an operating system program;

and wherein the hot zone floating action button effectuator comprises at least part of a UI component of the application program or the operating system program.

15. A method comprising:

determining by a computer processor if a focus has entered a hot zone representing a selected object;

causing presentation of one or more relevant floating action button icons if the focus is determined to have entered the hot zone, the one or more relevant floating action button icons associated with the hot zone being and configured to reveal a group of items upon activation;

presenting upon activation of one of the floating action buttons the group of items as a bubble proximate to the hover over zone when obscured by the floating action button; and

affecting the selected object upon activation of one of the group of items.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein:

the determining comprises;

determining if a focus indicator is located at the hot zone;

the presenting comprises;

ascertaining the one or more floating action button icons that are associated with the hot zone using a mapping data structure; and

displaying the ascertained associated floating action button icons such that at least one action button icon of the floating action button icons at least partially overlaps the hot zone.

17. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

checking if the focus is no longer within the hot zone; and

if the focus is no longer within the hot zone, removing the one or more floating action button icons.

18. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

detecting if at least one action button of the one or more floating action button icons is activated using a standard activation mechanism;

if at least one action button icon is detected to be activated using the standard activation mechanism, implementing an action corresponding to the activated at least one action button icon;

detecting if at least one action button of the one or more floating action button icons is activated using a non-standard activation mechanism; and

if at least one action button is detected to be activated using the non-standard activation mechanism, presenting a context menu that is related to an action corresponding to the activated at least one action button icon.

19. A processor-accessible storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform acts comprising:

establishing a hot zone corresponding to an item on a display;

presenting a hover over menu when a user focus enters the hot zone;

presenting within the hover over menu a plurality of floating action button icons;

presenting, upon activation of one of the plurality of floating action button icons, a further context menu adjoining the activated floating action button icon, the context menu presenting options related to the activated floating action button icon, wherein each option comprises an icon; and

modifying the item upon activation of one of the context menu options.

20. A processor-accessible storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform acts comprising:

establishing a first hot zone corresponding to an item displayed on a display;

presenting a hover over menu when a user focus enters the first hot zone;

presenting within the hover over menu a plurality of floating action button icons which are relevant to the item;

presenting, upon activation of one of the plurality of floating action button icons, a further context menu adjoining the activated floating action button icon, the context menu presenting options related to the activated floating action button icon, wherein each option comprises an icon;

altering presentation of the icon presented in the context menu when the user focus enters a second hot zone associated with the icon.

21. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 20, further comprising presenting a focus indicator upon entry to the first hot zone, second hot zone, or both, the focus indicator comprising:

encircling the zone with a solid or dashed line;

changing a background color of the zone;

changing a size of the zone;

increasing size of text within the zone;

or

inverting the video of the zone.

22. The one or more processor-accessible storage media as recited in claim 20, further comprising applying a graphical halo effect to the first hot zone, second hot zone, or both, when focused on the zone.