Radial menu selection

• US 9,459,791 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2012
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Mouilleseaux, Jean-Pierre M., Migos, Charles J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Belousov, Andrey
• Application Number:
  US13/544,919
• Publication Number:
  US 20120278762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,548 Days
• Field of Search: 715/705, 715/834, 715/856
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A method comprising of displaying a GUI object is disclosed. The method displays a first graphical user interface (GUI) object with multiple selectable GUI items. The method detects a movement of a cursor in a direction of a particular selectable GUI item. The method determines an expected location for the stopping of the cursor. The method displays, at the expected location, a second GUI object corresponding to the particular GUI item.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

defining a first radial menu for display around a position indicator;

defining a second radial menu as a submenu of the first radial menu, the second radial menu for displaying at a particular location;

determining the particular location for the second radial menu by predicting a stopping location of the position indicator using direction and at least one additional parameter of the position indicator when the position indicator is moved from the center of the first radial menu in order to select a particular menu item of the first radial menu that corresponds to the second radial menu;

displaying the second radial menu at the predicted stopping location while the position indicator is moving; and

moving the second radial menu from the predicted stopping location to a final location where the movement of the position indicator stops.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first radial menu comprises a first plurality of selectable GUI items for arranging radially around the position indicator and the submenu comprises a second plurality of selectable GUI items for arranging radially around the particular location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting the stopping location of the position indicator is performed by an operating system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicting the stopping location of the position indicator is performed by an application that runs on top of an operating system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional parameter comprises at least one of speed and acceleration of the position indicator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional parameters comprise both speed and acceleration of the position indicator as the position indicator moves from the center of the menu out of the menu.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying the position indicator having been located over the particular selectable item for a time exceeding a preset duration, and performing a function corresponding to the particular selectable item in response to the function when the position indicator being located over the particular selectable item for the time exceeding the preset duration.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving an activation command for displaying the first radial menu.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the activation command comprises a signal that a stylus has contacted a surface.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the activation command comprises a signal that a mouse button has been pressed.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by at least one processing unit, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

displaying a first graphical user interface (GUI) object comprising a plurality of selectable GUI items arranged radially around a position indicator, each of the selectable GUI items being associated with a set of angles from a center point of the first GUI object;

detecting a movement of the position indicator;

as the position indicator moves out of the GUI object at a particular angle associated with a particular one of the selectable GUI items, determining an expected location at which the position indicator is predicted to stop moving, before the movement stops, based on the direction and at least one additional parameter of the position indicator;

displaying, at the expected location, a second GUI object corresponding to the particular selectable GUI item; and

moving the second GUI object from the expected location to a location where the movement actually stops.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for identifying the position indicator having been located over the particular selectable item for a time exceeding a preset duration, wherein the set of instructions for performing a function corresponding to the particular selectable item is also for performing the function when the position indicator has been identified as being located over the particular selectable item for the time exceeding the preset duration.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the plurality of selectable GUI items corresponds to a plurality of functions, the computer program further comprising a set of instructions for displaying a submenu when a selectable GUI item corresponding to a function to display the submenu is selected.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one additional parameter is one of (i) speed and (ii) acceleration of the position indicator as the position indicator moves out of the GUI object.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the movement of the position indicator is determined by a movement of a stylus on a surface and the expected location is determined based at least partly on a pressure of the stylus on the surface.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the surface is a graphics tablet.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the surface is a touch sensitive display.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the second GUI object comprises a second plurality of selectable GUI items arranged radially around the expected location, the computer program further comprising sets of instructions for:

detecting an outward motion of the position indicator from the center of the second GUI object;

correlating the outward motion to a second selectable GUI item from the second plurality of selectable GUI items; and

performing a function associated with the selected GUI item.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the set of instructions for correlating the outward motion to the second selectable item comprises a set of instructions for identifying a direction of the outward motion.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, the set of instructions further comprising receiving an activation command to display the first GUI object.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the activation command comprises a signal that a stylus has contacted a surface.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the activation command comprises a signal that a mouse button has been pressed.

23. A computer system, comprising:

a display device;

a processor;

a storage device comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor, configure the processor to perform operations comprising;

displaying, on the display device, a first graphical user interface (GUI) object comprising a plurality of selectable GUI items arranged radially around a position indicator, each of the selectable GUI items being associated with a set of angles from a center point of the first GUI object;

detecting a movement of the position indicator;

as the position indicator moves out of the GUI object at a particular angle associated with a particular one of the selectable GUI items, determining an expected location on the display device at which the position indicator is predicted to stop moving, before the movement stops, based on the direction and at least one additional parameter of the position indicator;

displaying, at the expected location on the display device, a second GUI object corresponding to the particular selectable GUI item; and

moving the second GUI object from the expected location on the display device to a location where the movement actually stops.

24. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the one additional parameter is one of (i) speed and (ii) acceleration of the position indicator as the position indicator moves out of the GUI object.

25. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the movement of the position indicator is determined by a movement of a stylus on a surface of the display device and the expected location is determined based at least partly on a pressure of the stylus on the surface of the display device.

26. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the surface of the display device is a graphics tablet.

27. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the surface of the display device is a touch sensitive display.

28. The computer system of claim 23, wherein the second GUI object comprises a second plurality of selectable GUI items arranged radially around the expected location, and wherein the processor is further configured to perform operations comprising:

detecting an outward motion of the position indicator from the center of the second GUI object;

correlating the outward motion to a second selectable GUI item from the second plurality of selectable GUI items; and

performing a function associated with the selected GUI item.

29. The computer system of claim 23, wherein correlating the outward motion to the second selectable item comprises identifying a direction of the outward motion.

30. The computer system of claim 23, the processor further causing the user interface to perform operations comprising receiving an activation command to display the first GUI object.

31. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the activation command comprises a signal that a stylus has contacted a surface of the display device.

32. The computer system of claim 30, wherein the activation command comprises a signal that a mouse button has been pressed.