Labels and tooltips for context based menus

• US 9,250,766 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2011
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Gil, Erez Kikin, Kotler, Matthew, Sachidanandam, Vignesh, Pearson, Mark, Friend, Ned
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu, Tadeese
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhang, Shangao
• Application Number:
  US13/341,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20130019174A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,495 Days
• Field of Search: 715707-709, 715/711, 715/810, 715/811, 715/817, 715/819, 715/825, 715/834
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• 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 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04895 Guidance during keyboard input operation, e.g. prompting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

Tooltips associated with a context based menu are presented for providing information about executable commands on the context based menu. Tooltips may provide information about how to interact with the context based menu including what graphical icons on the context based menu represent and what actions a user can take to execute commands from the context based menu. The tooltips may be brief labels of the commands on the context based menu and may also expand to descriptive tooltips providing more information about the commands. The tooltips may be automatically presented in response to a detected period of inactivity by a user and may additionally be presented in response to detection of a user action such as a press and hold action in association with one or more commands on the context based menu, and may be displayed in a variety of positions around the context based menu.

Claims

1. A method executed in a computing device for providing a textual assistance associated with a context based menu, the method comprising:

detecting the context based menu displayed on a user interface in one of a collapsed and expanded state, wherein the context based menu appears adjacent to a focus point including one of;

an insertion point and a selection point, and allows commands associated with one or more items represented by one or more graphical icons that are displayed on the context based menu to be scoped by context;

in response to a first selection of the one or more items on the context based menu, displaying a pre-tooltip associated with the first selected item, wherein the pre-tooltip provides a first information that describes a first action to be executed on an activation of the first selected item;

in response to detecting an activation of the first selected item,

executing the first action associated with the first selected item; and

displaying a post-tooltip associated with the first selected item, wherein the post-tooltip provides a second information that describes a performance of the first action;

positioning the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on one of an interior and an exterior of the context based menu in response to the first selection and the activation; and

in response to positioning the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on the exterior of the context based menu, configuring the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip to curve around the context based menu and presenting the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip at an offset from one of the one or more graphical icons associated with the first selected item to avoid an occlusion of the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on the context based menu.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first selected item is selected by one or more of:

a press and hold action, a swipe action, a keyboard entry combination, a hovering action by a mouse input, a press and hold action and a hovering action by a pen input, a tap action on the first selected item, an accelerometer sensor based input, an orientation sensor based input, an optically captured gesture, a time based input, a proximity to another device, a proximity to another person, and a proximity to a place.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the press and hold action and the hovering action have a greater timing threshold than a timing threshold for the tap action on the first selected item, such that the press and hold action and the hovering action are operative to activate the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip include a label that provides a short description of the first selected item, and wherein the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip are displayed adjacent to other tooltips associated with a remaining subset of the one or more items.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

in response to a determination of a period of inactivity following an display of the context based menu, displaying the label associated with the pre-tooltip on the context based menu, wherein the label accommodates text within a predefined region of the user interface.

6. The method of claim 5, farther comprising:

presenting the label along one of;

a left side, a right side, a top, and a bottom of one or more items of the context based menu based on one of;

a default parameter, an available display area, a location of the context based menu on the user interface, an attribute of the user, a content on a displayed page, and at least one other displayed user interface element.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

expanding the label to descriptive tooltips displayed outside the context based menu, wherein the descriptive tooltips provide additional information associated with the one or more items on the context based menu.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the descriptive tooltips accommodate at least one from a set of:

multiple lines of text with a greater maximum number of characters than the label, a graphic, and an image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip provide information about the one or more items displayed on the context based menu associated with one or more of:

what the graphical icons for the one or more items represent, how to interact with the context based menu on the user interface, actions for executing the commands on the context based menu, the commands available for execution on the context based menu, a description of a type of the commands available in a sub-menu, a functionality of the commands available for execution on the context based menu, how to navigate to a submenu associated with the context based menu, default actions that can be executed from the context based menu, and a last command executed in response to a user action on the one or more items, and wherein a language of the information provided by the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip are determined based on a user attribute.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the first selection of the one or more items on the context based menu, presenting the pre-tooltip associated with the one or more items on the context based menu at a location near one of;

a left side, a right side, a top, and a bottom of the context based menu, which is least likely to he occluded by a finger of the user, wherein the location of the pre-tooltip are selected based on at least one from a set of;

a default parameter, an available display area, a location of the context based menu on the user interface, an attribute of the user, a content on a displayed page, and at least one other displayed user interface element.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

modifying the location of the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip in response to a change in on at least one from a set of;

a displayed content on the user interface, an available display area, and a location of the context based menu.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the pre-tooltip faster in response to a press and hold action at a center of the context based menu compared to the press and hold action on an individual item on the context based menu.

13. A computing device for providing tooltips associated with a context based menu, the computing device comprising:

an input device;

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory and the input device, the processor executing an application and causing a user interface associated with the application to be displayed on a screen, wherein the processor is configured to;

detect the context based menu displayed on the user interface, wherein the context based menu allows commands associated with one or more items represented by one or more graphical icons that are displayed on the context based menu to be scoped by context;

in response to a first selection of the one or more items on the context based menu, display a pre-tooltip associated with the first selected item, wherein the pre-tooltip provides a first information that describes a first action to be executed on an activation of the first selected item;

in response to detecting an activation of the first selected item,

execute the first action associated with the first selected item; and

display a post-tooltip associated with the first selected item, wherein the post-tooltip provides a second information that describes a performance of the first action;

position the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on one of an interior and an exterior of the context based menu in response to the first selection and the activation; and

in response to positioning the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on the exterior of the context based menu, configure the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip to curve around the context based menu and presenting the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip at an offset from one of the one or more graphical icons associated with the first selected item to avoid an occlusion of the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on the context based menu.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to:

employ one or more of a color scheme, an animation scheme, a graphical scheme, a textual scheme, and a shading scheme to emphasize an association of one of the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip with a corresponding item of the one or more items.

15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the application is one of a web-based application and a cloud-based application enabling the user to interact with content displayed through a browser on a client device.

16. A method executed in a computing device for providing tooltips associated with a context based menu on a touch and gesture enabled device, the method comprising:

detecting the context based menu displayed on a user interface, wherein a location of the context based menu is selected at one of a fixed location on the user interface and a dynamically selected location based on one or more of;

a selected portion of a plurality of displayed content, a displayed content type, an available display area, a plurality of user interface borders, and a device type, and wherein the context based menu allows commands associated with one or more items represented by one or more graphical icons that are displayed on the context based menu to be scoped by context;

in response to a first selection of the one or more items on the context based menu, displaying a pre-tooltip associated with the first selected item, wherein the pre-tooltip provides a first information that describes a first action to be executed on an activation of the first selected item;

in response to detecting an activation of the first selected item,

executing the first action associated with the first selected item; and

displaying a post-tooltip associated with the first selected item, wherein the post-tooltip provides a second information that describes a performance of the first action;

positioning the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on one of an interior and an exterior of the context based menu in response to the first selection and the activation; and

in response to positioning the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on the exterior of the context based menu, configuring the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip to curve around the context based menu and presenting the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip at an offset from one of the one or more graphical icons associated with the first selected item to avoid an occlusion of the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip on the context based menu.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

hiding the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip after an expiration of a time period, wherein the pre-tooltip and the post-tooltip are presented and hidden in an animated fashion.