Computer user interface with non-salience deemphasis

• US 6,177,938 B1
• Filed: 04/18/1997
• Issued: 01/23/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: MONKEYmedia, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Eric J. Gould
• Inventors: Gould, Eric Justin
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Application Number:
  US08/844,466
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• Field of Search: 345/134, 345/326, 345/341, 345/973, 345/974, 345/123, 345/124, 345/127, 345/128, 345/129, 345/130, 345/340, 395/934, 707/501, 707/910, 707/911
• US Class Current: 715/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/973 Scroll tool, e.g. window scroll bar

Abstract

A relativity controller is a scroll bar/window combination that provides a way to see data in relation to both the context of its wholeness and the salience of its contents. To accomplish this, the linear density or other appearance of the scroll bar (acting as a ruler or scale) varies with the density of the document salience (as indicated by different kinds of annotations or marks). It also provides a way to zoom between perspectives. This is usable on many different data types: including sound, video, graphics, calendars and word processors.

Claims

1. In a computerized system having a computer, storage means for information represented by a sequence of displayable objects, a display for displaying such objects, and a user control device for said computer, said computer having means for accessing the storage means and for causing the display to display certain of the objects under control of the control device, the improvement comprising:

a first means in the computer responsive to the user control device for selectively shrinking the display of a first segment of the objects displayed to emphasize the display of a second segment of the displayed objects,

a second means for displaying alongside the displayed objects a scroll bar as part of the control device,

a third means connecting the second means to the first means such that transformation of the object display into shrunken and non-shrunken segments causes a corresponding change in the appearance of those scroll bar portions located in proportion to the shrunken or non-shrunken object segments in the document,

a perspective scalar button associated with the scroll bar, said computer having a fourth means responsive to activation of the perspective scalar button for modifying the level of shrinkage and thus the level of magnification of the non-shrunken segments.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said fourth means is responsive to movement of the user control device in a direction perpendicular to the scroll bar.

3. In a computerized system having a computer, storage means for information represented by a sequence of displayable objects, a display for displaying such objects, and a user control device for said computer, said computer having means for accessing the storage means and for causing the display to display certain of the objects under control of the control device, the improvement comprising:

a first means in the computer responsive to the user control device for selectively shrinking the display of a first segment of the objects displayed to emphasize the display of a second segment of the displayed objects,

a second means for displaying alongside the displayed objects a scroll bar as part of the control device,

a third means connecting the second means to the first means such that transformation of the object display into shrunken and non-shrunken segments causes a corresponding change in the appearance of those scroll bar portions located in proportion to the shrunken or non-shrunken object segments in the document.

a controller button associated with the scroll bar, said computer having fourth means for producing a cursor on the display whose position is controlled by the control device, said computer further having fifth means such that when the cursor is adjacent the controller button and the user activates a switch on the control device, sixth means are activated for controlling the level of emphasis of the second segment.

4. A method of changing the display of related objects in a computerized system having a relativity controller to magnify selected ones of the objects, comprising:

(a) forming a normal display of a succession of the objects in which each object displayed occupies a part of the display in proportion to its size;

(b) forming on the display alongside the succession of objects a scrollbar having an elongated area representing the beginning to the end of the succession of objects, a scroll thumb on the elongated area and whose location therein corresponds to a selected object of the succession of objects, and wherein the scroll bar includes an activator that can be used by a user to initiate a change in perspective scaling of the objects;

(c) providing for a user an interactive cursor control device having user-activated switches;

(d) providing on the display a cursor whose location is controlled by the control device;

(e) actuating the control device to mark a first segment of successive objects and to display on the scroll bar elongated area a first indication of the marked segment;

(f) activating the control device to select a level of magnification of the marked segment thereby to cause objects not in the marked segment to occupy a smaller region of the display than they originally occupied to form additional regions adjacent the marked segment of objects and to cause the objects in the marked segment to expand to fill the additional regions.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said actuating the control device is repeated to form a second indication at a different location along the scroll bar to define a second marked segment.