ACCESSING AN OUT-SPACE USER INTERFACE FOR A DOCUMENT EDITOR PROGRAM

• US 20120221945A1
• Filed: 05/04/2012
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dukhon, Marina, Harris, Jensen M., Satterfield, Jesse Clay, Law, Elaine Y., Mandic, Mirko, Guntaur, Paula
• Granted Patent: US 9,098,473 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• 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 3/0482 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: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

An out-space actuator is selected to access an out-space user interface for a document editor program. An out-space actuator is associated with an in-space user interface having a displayed document. When the out-space actuator is selected, an out-space user interface is displayed that includes an expanded feature selection surface.

Claims

1. A method for accessing an out-space user interface associated with an in-space user interface, comprising:

displaying the in-space user interface that comprises a document display area that is used in creating and editing a document and an in-space user interface area that comprises a display of in-space user interface elements;

displaying an out-space actuator with a display of the in-space user interface; and

in response to receiving a selection of the out-space actuator, removing the display of the document from the document display area and displaying an out-space user interface within the document display area that comprises a display of out-space user interface elements that when selected do not affect content of the document and removing at least a portion of the in-space user interface elements that are displayed in the in-space user interface area.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the display of in-space user interface elements comprises displaying features that when applied affect the content of the document that is displayed in the document display area.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the display of in-space user interface elements comprise displaying features comprising one or more:

home features, insert features, page layout features, reference features, mailing features, review features and view features, formatting features, writing tools, text features, picture features, tables, shapes, chat features, bold features, font features, layout features, arranging features, style features, find tools, spelling tools, a paste tool, a word count, and a synonym finder.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the in-space user interface area comprises displaying a ribbon that displays authoring features for authoring the content of the document including editing.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein in response to receiving the selection of the out-space actuator comprises expanding a display area of the ribbon, removing the authoring features from the ribbon and displaying non-authoring features within the ribbon.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to receiving the selection of the out-space actuator comprises displaying non-authoring features within an area previously occupied by authoring features.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein displaying the non-authoring features comprises displaying at least two or more of:

document details, document task list, print features, getting started features, application information features, a send for review feature, a permissions feature, a template feature, an encryption feature, an online feature, an assign document tasks feature, a publish to server feature, access to sharing features, a people and groups feature, and a file search feature.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the out-space user interface comprises converting the document to a document image and displaying the document image within the out-space user interface.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the out-space actuator is actuated in response to a single click.

10. A computer-readable storage medium device having computer-executable instructions for accessing an out-space user interface for a document editor program, the instructions comprising:

displaying the in-space user interface that comprises a document display area that is used in displaying an editable document and an in-space user interface area that comprises a display of in-space user interface elements;

displaying an out-space actuator with a display of the in-space user interface; and

in response to receiving a selection of the out-space actuator, removing the display of the editable document from the document display area and displaying an out-space user interface that replaces a display of the document display area that comprises a display of out-space user interface elements that when selected do not affect content of the document and removing at least a portion of the in-space user interface elements that are displayed in the in-space user interface area.

11. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 10, wherein the display of in-space user interface elements comprises displaying features that when applied affect the content of the document that is displayed in the document display area.

12. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 10, wherein the in-space user interface area comprises displaying a ribbon comprising tabs that when selected display authoring features for authoring the content of the document.

13. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 12, wherein displaying the ribbon comprising tabs, comprises displaying a home tab, an insert tab, and layout tab.

14. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 12, wherein in response to receiving the selection of the out-space actuator comprises expanding a display area of the ribbon, removing the authoring features from the ribbon and displaying non-authoring features within the tabs of the ribbon.

15. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 10, wherein displaying the out-space user interface comprises converting the document to a document image and displaying the document image within the out-space user interface.

16. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 10, wherein the out-space actuator is displayed near a corner of the in-space user interface and wherein the in the out-space actuator is actuated in response to a single click.

17. A system for accessing an out-space user interface for a program, the instructions comprising:

a processor;

a display; and

a memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the computer-executable instructions are configured to;

displaying the in-space user interface that comprises a document display area that is used in displaying a document that can be edited and an in-space user interface area that comprises a display of in-space user interface elements;

displaying an out-space actuator with a display of the in-space user interface; and

in response to receiving a selection of the out-space actuator, removing the display of the document from the document display area and displaying an out-space user interface that replaces a display of the document display area that comprises a display of out-space user interface elements that when selected do not affect content of the document and removing at least a portion of the in-space user interface elements that are displayed in the in-space user interface area.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the in-space user interface area comprises displaying a ribbon comprising tabs that when selected display authoring features for authoring the content of the document.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein in response to receiving the selection of the out-space actuator comprises expanding a display area of the ribbon, and replacing the authoring features within non-authoring features within the tabs of the ribbon.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the out-space actuator is actuated in response to a single click and when actuated an image of the document is presented with the display of the out-space user interface elements that when selected do not affect content of the document.