Ordered multiple selection user interface

• US 8,782,557 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2008
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dernis, Mitchell Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): HO, RUAY L
• Application Number:
  US12/147,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20090327960A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,210 Days
• Field of Search: 715/823, 715/821, 715/860, 386/292, 707/200, 707/706, 725/5
• US Class Current: 715/823
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

Techniques and mechanisms providing a visual indication of ordinal ranks of objects in an ordered list. When an object is selected for the ordered list, an ordinal rank for the object within the ordered list is determined and a visual indication of the ordinal rank is rendered to a user interface.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining ordinal ranks of two or more objects within an ordered list;

presenting an option that allows an ordinal rank of a selected object to be changed to a chosen ordinal rank;

receiving data indicative of the chosen ordinal rank;

reordering the ordinal ranks of the two or more objects based on the chosen ordinal rank; and

rendering a visual indication of the reordered ordinal ranks of the two or more objects,

wherein the visual indication of the reordered ordinal ranks comprises displayed labels each displayed in a window proximate to a visual representation of a corresponding one of the two or more objects, wherein the window is semi-transparent.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving data indicative of a deselection of an object in the ordered list;

determining an ordinal rank of one or more remaining objects in the ordered list based on the received data indicative of the deselection; and

rendering a visual indication of the determined ordinal rank of the one or more remaining objects.

3. A system comprising:

a memory storing processor-executable instructions;

a processor in communication with the memory to receive the processor-executable instructions;

a selection monitoring module configured to track modifications to an ordered list of objects, the modifications comprising changing an ordinal rank of a selected object to a chosen ordinal rank, wherein an option is presented that allows choosing the chosen ordinal rank; and

a rendering module configured to modify a visual representation of the ordered list of objects, wherein the modified visual representation comprises a visual indication of one or more ordinal ranks of objects in the ordered list,

the processor performing an order-dependent action on the objects in the ordered list according to their respective ordinal ranks,

wherein the visual indication of one or more ordinal ranks comprises one or more displayed labels each displayed in a user interface proximate to a visual representation of a corresponding object in the ordered list, wherein the user interface is semi-transparent.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the modifications to the ordered list of objects further comprise one or more of:

appending an object to the ordered list; and

removing an object from the ordered.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a context menu interface module configured to provide a menu of options related to an ordering of objects in the ordered list of objects in response to a selection of the selected object in the ordered list of objects.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the context menu interface module is configured to provide the menu of options only if an order dependent task is available to be performed on the ordered list of objects.

7. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to:

determine ordinal ranks of two or more files within an ordered list of files;

present an option that allows an ordinal rank of a selected file to be changed to a chosen ordinal rank;

receive data indicative of the chosen ordinal rank;

reorder the ordinal ranks of the two or more files based on the chosen ordinal rank; and

cause a display device to exhibit a visual indication of the reordered ordinal ranks of the two or more files,

wherein the visual indication of the reordered ordinal ranks comprises displayed labels each displayed in a user interface proximate to a visual representation of a corresponding one of the two or more files, wherein the user interface is semi-transparent.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising computer executable instructions that when executed on the computing device cause the computing device to:

detect a user deselection of a file;

determine an ordinal rank of one or more files remaining in the ordered list of files after removal of the deselected file; and

cause a display device to exhibit a visual indication of the determined ordinal rank of the one or more files remaining in the ordered list of files after removal of the deselected file.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the computer executable instructions further comprise instructions that when executed on the computing device cause files in the ordered list of files to be written to a storage medium in an order of the files in the ordered list.