Scope user interface for displaying the priorities and properties of multiple informational items

• US 8,701,027 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2001
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: van Dantzich, Maarten R., Robbins, Daniel C., Horvitz, Eric J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Roswell, Michael
• Application Number:
  US09/882,857
• Publication Number:
  US 20020054117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,687 Days
• Field of Search: 345/706, 345/767, 345/768, 345/802, 345/805, 345/807, 345853-854, 345/764, 715/767, 715/768, 715/802, 715/805, 715/807, 715/853, 715/854, 715/764
• US Class Current: 715/768
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and methodology to provide a glanceable, interactive user interface associated with one or more prioritized informational items or notifications. Such items can be received from external sources and/or from a notification system, wherein priorities can be assigned by the sources and/or automatically determined by a computer-based prioritization system. The notifications are then arranged and/or located in a graphical display according to the assigned priorities, thus enabling a user to quickly glance at the display and determine how many items are pending, where items have originated from, and what urgency level is associated with respective items. Various shapes, locations, colors, and sounds are utilized in a variety of ergonomic configurations, some controlled by the invocation of a variety of filters and informational lenses to enable users to easily manage a plurality of information sources.

Claims

1. A notification system, comprising:

a priorities system that prioritizes one or more e-mails according to context; and

a user interface that comprises a plurality of colored wedges with one or more objects displayed thereon, the wedges represent one of a user context or a source of the emails, the emails are represented by the one or more objects which are displayed based on respective priority, the user interface provides feedback about one or more user actions relating to at least some of the one or more e-mails, the one or more user actions comprising a time of response to the at least some of the one or more e-mails, reading the at least some of the one or more e-mails, deleting the at least some of the one or more e-mails or ignoring the at least some of the one or more e-mails,

the priorities system configured to adjust its decision making regarding the prioritization of one or more subsequently received e-mails based on the feedback provided by the user interface, about the one or more user actions relating to the one or more e-mails.

2. The notification system of claim 1, wherein at least one of a shape and a color of the one or more display objects are indications of a priority of the one or more e-mails.

3. The notification system of claim 2, further comprising clustering rules for displaying N number of display objects in a display space, N being an integer, the clustering rules comprising rendering as many of the one or more display objects as can fit in the display space.

4. The notification system of claim 1, further comprising mapping rules for associating one or more display objects representing the one or more e-mails in a display space.

5. The notification system of claim 1, the user interface further configured to provide an indication of change over time associated with the one or more e-mails.

6. The notification system of claim 5, further comprising a fast forward and a replay selection to provide the indication of change over time.

7. The notification system of claim 1, the user interface further configured to render one or more display objects representing the one or more e-mails as brighter, darker, decaying, changing color or becoming more or less transparent to indicate change.

8. The notification system of claim 1, the user interface further configured to provide a summary or an enlargement of the one or more e-mails.

9. The notification system of claim 1, the user interface further configured to provide semantic zooming to enable users to receive various levels of information regarding the one or more e-mails.

10. The notification system of claim 1, the wedges are further divided into one of concentric circles, squares, rectangles, or triangles to facilitate delineating the respective priorities of the displayed objects.

11. The notification system of claim 1, the user interface comprises a transparent cover for the wedges and the display objects that mitigates inadvertent setting of priorities by a user such that the user can provide explicit training to the priorities system by removing the cover via a mouse selection and drag operation rearranging the display objects on the wedges and locking the cover in place after the rearrangement.

12. Computer-executable instructions for performing a method to provide prioritized e-mails, the computer-executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable media, the method comprising,

prioritizing one or more e-mails according to context;

representing one of a context or a source of the one or more emails in a user interface as a plurality of colored sectors;

rendering the one or more e-mails based upon a priority of the one or more e-mails as corresponding objects on the sectors;

sensing a user'"'"'s interaction with at least some of the one or more e-mails, the user'"'"'s interaction with the at least some of the one or more e-mails comprising a time of response to the at least some of the one or more e-mails, reading the at least some of the one or more e-mails, deleting the at least some of the one or more e-mails or ignoring the at least some of the one or more e-mails; and

adapting a decision relating to assigning a priority to one or more subsequently received e-mails based on the user'"'"'s interaction with the at least some of the one or more e-mails.

13. A signal to transmit the computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 12.

14. A notification system, comprising,

means for prioritizing at least one e-mail according to context;

means for rendering the at least one prioritized e-mail on a display as at least one object located according to its priority on one or more colored wedges that represent one of a domain or source of the email;

means for sensing a user'"'"'s interaction with the at least one prioritized e-mail, the user'"'"'s interaction comprising how fast a user responds to the at least one prioritized e-mail, whether the user reads the at least one prioritized e-mail or whether the user deletes or saves the at least one prioritized e-mail; and

means for altering a decision about a priority of at least one subsequently received e-mail based on the user'"'"'s interaction with the at least one prioritized e-mail.

15. A scope user interface, comprising:

at least one display object mapped to at least one of a plurality of e-mails prioritized according to context, the object is displayed based on an assigned priority on a portion of at least one display sector, wherein one or more display sectors represent one of contexts or sources of the e-mails; and

a feedback component to sense a user'"'"'s interaction with the scope user interface, wherein the scope user interface is configured to modify prioritization decisions about at least some subsequently received e-mails based on the user'"'"'s interaction with the scope user interface, the user'"'"'s interaction comprising how fast a user responds to a prioritized e-mail, whether the user reads the prioritized e-mail or whether the user deletes or saves the prioritized e-mail.

16. The user interface of claim 15, the sectors are arranged in a circular pattern.