System and method for automatically creating new pages in a touch screen based telephony product having a hierarchical repertory

• US 5,638,438 A
• Filed: 05/16/1996
• Issued: 06/10/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Keen, Donald M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PRESSON, THOMAS
• Application Number:
  US08/648,850
• Time in Patent Office: 390 Days
• Field of Search: 379/354, 379/355, 379/396, 379/210, 379/216
• US Class Current: 379/354
• 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 3/0489 using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27475 using interactive graphical means or pictorial representations

Abstract

Automatic expansion of a hierarchical repertory that is maintained by a touch screen based product to accommodate a user request to add an entry to a touch screen display page that has reached its capacity of entries is discussed. Such automatic expansion operates by selecting a button from the display page, wherein the selected button is linked to a first node of the repertory. A second node is added to the repertory, and the repertory is modified to establish the first node as a child node of the second node. Then, a new menu button is associated with the second node, and the selected button is deleted from the display page. The new menu button is positioned in the display page at the position previously occupied by the selected button.

Claims

1. A method of automatically expanding a hierarchical repertory that is maintained by a touch screen based product to accommodate a user request to add an entry to a selected one of at least one touch screen display page, the selected touch screen display having reached its capacity of entries, comprising the steps of:

(1) automatically selecting a button from the selected display page based on a predetermined selection scheme, said selected button being linked to a first node of the repertory;

(2) automatically adding a second node to the repertory;

(3) automatically modifying said repertory to establish said first node as a child node of said second node;

(4) automatically associating a first new menu button with said second node;

(5) automatically deleting from the selected display page said selected button; and

(6) automatically positioning said first new menu button in the selected display page at a position previously occupied by said selected button.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

automatically creating a new display page;

automatically associating one of a second new menu button with said first node if said first node has at least one child node, and a new data button with said first node if said first node does not have at least one child node; and

automatically positioning said one of said second new menu button and said new data button in said new display page.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

automatically creating a third node;

automatically associating user-provided data with said third node;

automatically modifying said repertory to establish said third node as a child node of said second node;

automatically associating a new data button with said third node; and

automatically positioning said new data button in said new display page.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined selection scheme comprises the steps of:

automatically determining whether any buttons associated with a node with no child node exist in the selected display page;

automatically selecting a button associated with a node with no child node from the selected display page if one is determined to exist as the selected button; and

automatically selecting a menu button from the display page if a button associated with a node with no child node is determined not to exist in the display page as the selected button.

5. A touch screen based system, comprising:

a memory device;

a database stored in said memory device, said database comprising user data that is hierarchically organized;

a processor coupled to said memory device; and

control logic to enable said processor to automatically expand said database in response to a user request to add an entry to a selected touch screen display page that includes at least one menu button and that has reached its capacity of entries, said control logic comprising;

button selecting means for enabling said processor to automatically select a button based on a predetermined selection scheme, from the selected display page, said selected button being linked to a first node of the database;

means for enabling said processor to automatically add a second node to the database;

means for enabling said processor to automatically modify said database to establish said first node as a child node of said second node;

means for enabling said processor to automatically associate a first new menu button with said second node;

means for enabling said processor to automatically delete from the selected display page said selected button; and

means for enabling said processor to automatically position said first new menu button in the selected display page at a position previously occupied by said selected button.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said control logic further comprises:

means for enabling said processor to automatically create a new display page;

means for enabling said processor to automatically associate one of a second new menu button with said first node if said first node has at least one child node, and a new data button with said first node if said first node does not have at least one child node; and

means for enabling said processor to automatically position said one of said second new menu button and said new data button in said new display page.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said control logic further comprises:

means for enabling said processor to automatically create a third node;

means for enabling said processor to automatically associate user-provided data with said third node;

means for enabling said processor to automatically modify said repertory to establish said third node as a child node of said second node;

means for enabling said processor to automatically associate a new data button with said third node; and

means for enabling said processor to automatically position said new data button in said new display page.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein said button selecting means comprises:

means for enabling said processor to automatically determine whether any data buttons exist in the display page;

means for enabling said processor to automatically select a data button from the display page if one is determined to exist; and

means for enabling said processor to automatically select a menu button from the display page if a data button is determined to not exist in the display page.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein said touch screen based system is a touch screen based telephone, and wherein said database is a repertory of user-provided telephone numbers.

10. A system of automatically expanding a hierarchical repertory that is maintained by a touch screen based product to accommodate a user request to add an entry to a selected touch screen display page that has reached its capacity of entries, comprising:

button selecting means for automatically selecting a button based on a predetermined selection scheme from the selected display page, said selected button being linked to a first node of the repertory;

means for automatically adding a second node to the repertory;

means for automatically modifying said repertory to establish said first node as a child node of said second node;

means for automatically associating a new menu button with said second node;

means for automatically deleting from the selected display page said selected button; and

means for automatically positioning said new menu button in the selected display page at a position previously occupied by said selected button.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

means for automatically creating a new display page;

means for automatically associating one of a second new menu button with said first node if said first node has at least one child node, and a new data button with said first node if said first node does not have at least one child node; and

means for automatically positioning said one of said second new menu button and said new data button in said new display page.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

means for automatically creating a third node;

means for automatically associating user-provided data with said third node;

means for automatically modifying said repertory to establish said third node as a child node of said second node;

means for automatically associating a new data button with said third node; and

means for automatically positioning said new data button in said new display page.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said button selecting means comprises:

means for automatically determining whether any buttons associated with nodes with no child nodes exist in the display page;

means for automatically selecting a button associated with a node with no child node from the display page if one is determined to exist; and

means for automatically selecting a menu button associated with a node with no child node from the display page if one is determined to exist; and

means for automatically selecting a menu button from the display page if a button associated with a node with no child node is determined to not exist in the display page.