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User interface for all-in-one integrated office system

  • US 5,877,746 A
  • Filed: 11/16/1995
  • Issued: 03/02/1999
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/16/1995
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A user interface system in an integrated office system the integrated office system including a general-purpose computer, a display unit, a printer, an optical input device, a communication device, telephone logic, voice mail logic, and a housing containing the computer the printer, the optical input device, the communication device, the telephone logic, and the voice mail logic, the computer having a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, the user interface system comprising a grid system, the grid comprising possible user functions for the integrated office system, the grid comprising a plurality of rows along a first axis and a plurality of columns along a second axis, the first axis being orthogonal to the second axis, for each of said plurality of rows, each column within said row having a plurality of subrows, wherein each of the plurality of rows corresponds to a major feature of the integrated office system, wherein each of the columns within each row corresponds to an option for the corresponding major feature of said integrated office system, wherein each of said subrows within a column corresponds to a suboption for the corresponding option of the corresponding major feature of the integrated office system, and wherein an active cell of the user interface system being displayed on said display unit, the active cell being defined as the intersection of a selected row and a selected column, wherein each of the plurality of major features of the integrated office system corresponds to one of a plurality of hardbuttons, each of the plurality of hardbuttons coupled to the processor, and wherein selecting a first one of the hardbuttons causes the processor to execute instructions stored in the memory thereby activating the major feature of the integrated office system corresponding to the selected hardbutton, wherein once a major feature of the integrated office system has been activated by selection of a corresponding first one of the plurality of hardbuttons, options within said major feature can be accessed by a user according to the grid system wherein each of the options of the selected major feature of the integrated office system are accessed using a four-way navigation button, the four-way navigation button being coupled to the processor, and wherein the four-way navigation button permits horizontal movement between the columns of a row within the grid system thereby allowing a user to select from among the plurality of options for the selected major feature of the integrated office system, and wherein the four-way navigation button permits vertical movement between the subrows of a column within the grid system thereby allowing a user to select from among the plurality of suboptions for each option of the selected major feature, and wherein the four-way navigation button does not permit movement between rows of the grid system of the user interface system.

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