Adjusting appearance of icons in an electronic device

• US 10,345,991 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2015
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bouknight, Jr., Wendell J., Hochstedt, Erik W., La, Thai T., Price, Dana L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pitaro, Ryan F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lobo, Carl P
• Application Number:
  US14/741,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20160370972A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,484 Days
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77

Abstract

Adjusting appearance of icons in an electronic device includes determining, for icons proximate to one another on a display of the electronic device, a visual property of each icon, wherein the determining includes a computer system computing a quantitative indication of the visual property for each icon. The visual properties of the icons are compared, wherein the comparing includes the computer system determining at least one quantitative difference for the visual properties of the icons. The visual property of at least one of the icons is changed by the computer system responsive to a comparison of the at least one quantitative difference to a predetermined threshold quantity, such that the at least one of the icons is more visually distinct.

Claims

1. A method for adjusting appearance of icons on a display of an electronic device, where the icons include groups, each group having a first icon and a subgroup associated with the group'"'"'s first icon, where each subgroup includes any icon that is adjacent to the first icon, the method comprising:

receiving user input enabling automatic changing of appearance of the icons and indicating a threshold amount of similarity;

initializing the icons of the electronic device responsive to the user input enabling automatic changing of appearance of the icons, where the initializing includes changing, by the computer system in successive iterations from one of the groups to a next one of the groups, a quantitative average hue of the first icon of each group according to a certain procedure, where the change of each group according to the certain procedure increases the visual property quantitative difference between the quantitative average hue of the first icon of the group and quantitative average hue of at least one of the icons of its subgroup, so that the user is more easily able to visually distinguish each icon from any adjacent icon;

waiting for a user change in icon layout; and

adjusting the icons responsive to detecting a user change in layout, including changing, by the computer system in successive iterations, a quantitative average hue of the first icon of each group according to the certain procedure, so that the user is again more easily able to visually distinguish each icon from any adjacent icon, where the certain procedure for each respective group includes;

determining the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group and the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup; and

responsive to the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group not exceeding the threshold amount of similarity relative to at least one of the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup, determining possible ranges of quantitative hues that are at least the threshold amount of similarity different than the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup;

wherein changing the quantitative average hue of the first icon of each respective group includes changing the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group to a midpoint of a largest one of the possible ranges.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein icons that are adjacent include icons in a same row.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein icons that are adjacent include icons in a same column.

4. A system for adjusting appearance of icons on a display of an electronic device, where the icons include groups, each group having a first icon and a subgroup associated with the group'"'"'s first icon, where each subgroup includes any icon that is adjacent to the first icon, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium connected to the processor, wherein the computer readable storage medium has stored thereon a program for controlling the processor, and wherein the processor is operative with the program to execute the program for;

receiving user input enabling automatic changing of appearance of the icons and indicating a threshold amount of similarity;

initializing the icons of the electronic device responsive to the user input enabling automatic changing of appearance of the icons, where the initializing includes changing, by the computer system in successive iterations from one of the groups to a next one of the groups, a quantitative average hue of the first icon of each group according to a certain procedure, where the change of each group according to the certain procedure increases the visual property quantitative difference between the quantitative average hue of the first icon of the group and quantitative average hue of at least one of the icons of its subgroup, so that the user is more easily able to visually distinguish each icon from any adjacent icon;

waiting for a user change in icon layout; and

adjusting the icons responsive to detecting a user change in layout, including changing, by the computer system in successive iterations, a quantitative average hue of the first icon of each group according to the certain procedure, so that the user is again more easily able to visually distinguish each icon from any adjacent icon, where the certain procedure for each respective group includes;

determining the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group and the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup; and

responsive to the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group not exceeding the threshold amount of similarity relative to at least one of the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup, determining possible ranges of quantitative hues that are at least the threshold amount of similarity different than the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup;

wherein changing the quantitative average hue of the first icon of each respective group includes changing the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group to a midpoint of a largest one of the possible ranges.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein icons that are adjacent include icons in a same row.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein icons that are adjacent include icons in a same column.

7. A computer program product for adjusting appearance of icons on a display of an electronic device, where the icons include groups, each group having a first icon and a subgroup associated with the group'"'"'s first icon, where each subgroup includes any icon that is adjacent to the first icon, including a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for execution by a computer system, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to implement a method comprising:

receiving user input enabling automatic changing of appearance of the icons and indicating a threshold amount of similarity;

initializing the icons of the electronic device responsive to the user input enabling automatic changing of appearance of the icons, where the initializing includes changing, by the computer system in successive iterations from one of the groups to a next one of the groups, a quantitative average hue of the first icon of each group according to a certain procedure, where the change of each group according to the certain procedure increases the visual property quantitative difference between the quantitative average hue of the first icon of the group and quantitative average hue of at least one of the icons of its subgroup, so that the user is more easily able to visually distinguish each icon from any adjacent icon;

waiting for a user change in icon layout; and

adjusting the icons responsive to detecting a user change in layout, including changing, by the computer system in successive iterations, a quantitative average hue of the first icon of each group according to the certain procedure, so that the user is again more easily able to visually distinguish each icon from any adjacent icon, where the certain procedure for each respective group includes;

determining the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group and the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup; and

responsive to the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group not exceeding the threshold amount of similarity relative to at least one of the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup, determining possible ranges of quantitative hues that are at least the threshold amount of similarity different than the average quantitative hues of the icons in its subgroup;

wherein changing the quantitative average hue of the first icon of each respective group includes changing the average quantitative hue of the first icon of the respective group to a midpoint of a largest one of the possible ranges.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein icons that are adjacent include icons in a same row.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein icons that are adjacent include icons in a same column.