Color and symbol coded visual cues for relating screen items to each other

• US 8,694,908 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2012
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Christensen, Catherine, Gonzalez, Ricardo L, Hamilton, David B, Wickham, Daina P, Medl, Robert E
• Primary Examiner(s): Augustine, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US13/528,933
• Publication Number:
  US 20120262480A1
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• Field of Search: 715/772, 715/775, 715/781, 715/810, 715/835, 715/837, 715/849
• US Class Current: 715/772
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range

Abstract

Described is a system and method for visually delineating a relationship between diverse, but related graphical objects in a graphical user interface. An icon that has specified color scheme is associated with the diverse, but related graphical objects. When one of the related graphical objects is displayed, the icon is displayed within the displayed graphical object. The persistence of the icon with the specified color scheme in the displayed graphical objects allows them to be recognized as related.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture comprising computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein implementing a method of delineating a relationship between related graphical objects, said computer readable program code executable in a computer and said medium comprising:

computer readable program code associating a first icon with a first set of diverse, but, related graphical objects, said first icon having a first color scheme, and computer readable program code associating a second icon with a second set of at least two diverse, but related graphical objects, said second icon having a second color scheme, said first and second icons being distinguishable from each other;

when a graphical object in said first set is displayed, computer readable program code displaying said first icon within said displayed graphical object in said first set, and when a graphical object in said second set is displayed, displaying said second icon within said displayed graphical object in said second set; and

wherein said displayed graphical objects in said first and second sets are recognizable as related by the persistence of said first and second icons, respectively, and

wherein said persistence of said first icon with said first color scheme provides user assistance when traversing a series of graphical templates, and

wherein said persistence of said second icon with said second color scheme provides user assistance when traversing a different series of graphical templates.

2. The article of manufacture of claim 1, wherein said first icon is displayed within a visible portion of said displayed graphical object in said first set and said second icon is displayed within a visible portion of said displayed graphical object in said second set.

3. An article of manufacture comprising computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein implementing a method of delineating a relationship between related graphical objects, said computer readable program code executable in a computer and said medium comprising:

computer readable program code associating a first icon with a first graphical object, said first icon having a first color scheme;

computer readable program code displaying said first icon with said first specified color scheme within said first graphical object;

computer readable program code progressively displaying a first series of graphical objects diverse from, but related to said first graphical object, said first series of graphical objects reflecting an evolution of progression of development of said first graphical object;

computer readable program code associating a second icon with a second graphical object, said second icon having a second color scheme;

computer readable program code displaying said second icon with said second specified color scheme within said second graphical object;

computer readable program code progressively displaying a second series of graphical objects diverse from, but related to said second graphical object, said second series of graphical objects reflecting another evolution of progression of development of said second graphical object, and

wherein said first icon with said first color scheme is displayed within each graphical object in said first series of graphical objects and said second icon with said second color scheme is displayed within each graphical object in said second series of graphical objects, and said first icon associated with the evolution of progression of development of said first graphical object being distinguishable from said second icon associated with said another evolution of progression of development of said second graphical object.

4. The article of manufacture of claim 3, wherein said related graphical objects reflecting said evolution of progression of development of said first graphical object collectively comprise a user assistance wizard.