EXPANDABLE AND COLLAPSIBLE ARRAYS OF DOCUMENTS

• US 20120198389A1
• Filed: 09/25/2011
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 9224-5489 Quebec Inc., Maya-Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: 9224-5489 Quebec Inc.
• Inventors: AUDET, Mathieu, CASSISTAT, Francois
• Granted Patent: US 9,122,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• 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: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

An embodiment provides a product comprising a machine-readable medium and machine-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method comprising providing a first array of information elements adapted to be expanded into at least one other array of information elements on a display. Another embodiment provides a method of displaying information elements on a display of a computer system with arrays of information elements, the method comprising displaying a first array of information elements, expanding the first array of information elements into at least one other array of information elements, wherein the first array of information elements and the at least one other array of information elements have a commonality. A system and a graphical user interface providing same are equally provided herein.

Claims

1. A product comprising:

a machine-readable medium; and

machine-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method comprising providing a first array of information elements adapted to be expanded into at least one other array of information elements on a display.

2. The product of claim 1, wherein the first array of information elements and the other array of information elements have a parent-child relationship.

3. The product of claim 2, wherein the parent-child relationship is adapted to provide a plurality of parent-child levels.

4. The product of claim 3, wherein at least some of the plurality of parent-child levels are adapted to be independently expandable.

5. The product of claim 1, wherein the first array of information elements is adapted to be expandable on a basis of an action performed in association with the first displayed array of information elements.

6. The product of claim 1, wherein the array of information elements is an axis of documents adapted to dispose documents along a substantially rectilinear layout on the display and wherein the expanded at least one other array of information elements is adapted to be displayed parallel with the first array of information elements.

7. The product of claim 1, wherein the first array of information elements and the at least one other array of information elements are adapted to share a timeline.

8. The product of claim 1, wherein the first array of information elements is adapted provide information elements selected on a basis of a first query and wherein the at least one other array of information elements is adapted to provide information elements selected on a basis of a second query, the first and the second queries being adapted to refine or complement one another.

9. The product of claim 1, wherein the first array of information element is associated with at least one visual distinctive feature, the at least one visual distinctive feature being adapted to be transposed to the at least one other array of information elements.

10. The product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the arrays of information elements is adapted to be longitudinally collapsible.

11. A method of displaying information elements on a display of a computer system with arrays of information elements, the method comprising:

displaying a first array of information elements;

expanding the first array of information elements into at least one other array of information elements, wherein the first array of information elements and the at least one other array of information elements have a commonality.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the array of information elements is an axis of documents providing document along a substantially rectilinear arrangement of document.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein documents are provided along the axis of documents in a chronological order.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the chronological order includes time separators adapted to distinguish units of time on the axis.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first axis of documents and the second axis of documents share one timeline.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one other axis of documents is a subset of the first axis of documents.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the first axis of documents is associated with predefined at least one other axis of documents, the first axis of document being adapted to be expanded into the at least one other axis of documents on a basis of instructions received by the computer system.

18. A computer implemented method of managing display area on a display of a computer system, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of axes of information elements;

displaying at least one of the plurality of axes; and

providing instructions to expand the displayed at least one of the plurality of axes into at least one other axis of information elements.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 18, comprising providing instructions to collapse the at least one child axis of information elements.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 19, wherein the information elements is one selected from a group of consisting of a menu item and a document.