Method and apparatus for providing recent categories on a hand-held device

• US 6,901,559 B1
• Filed: 04/27/2000
• Issued: 05/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ben-Shachar, Ido, Blum, Jeffrey R., Bastiaanse, Elizabeth A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Application Number:
  US09/559,695
• Time in Patent Office: 1,860 Days
• Field of Search: 345/810, 345/811, 345/812, 345/813, 345/815, 345/821, 345/828, 345/825, 715/841, 715/864, 715/739, 455/460, 455/459, 455/412, 455/413, 455/414, 455/415, 455/416, 455/461
• US Class Current: 715/811
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

The present invention adds a new category of contacts and tasks to hand-held devices. This new category provides a list of the most recent contacts or tasks that the user has accessed. Under most embodiments, the contacts and tasks shown in the RECENT list may be manipulated by the user in the same manner in which contacts and tasks are manipulated in other lists on the hand-held device. Thus, the user is shown the actual contacts or tasks entries and not just a link to those entries. Under most embodiments, the user is able to display a list of recent contacts and tasks by accessing a “RECENT” entry in a categories list provided on many hand-held devices.

Claims

1. A method of generating a user interface in a hand-held computing device, the method comprising:

displaying a list of category labels, each label representing a collection of database entries, at least one of the category labels being a recently accessed label that represents a list of recently accessed entries, and at least one other category label being an all categories label that represents a full list of all entries in the database;

receiving an indication that a user has selected the recently accessed label;

displaying the list of recently accessed entries such that the entries are capable of being manipulated by the user in the same manner as entries that are displayed when the user selects the all categories label.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising before displaying a list of category labels displaying at least a portion of the full list of entries, the list of recently accessed entries representing a subset of the full list of entries.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a category-list label;

receiving an indication that a user has selected the category-list label; and

wherein the step of displaying a list of category labels is performed in response to the user selecting the category-list label.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying a list of category labels comprising displaying the list of category labels in a drop-down list.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the list of recently accessed entries comprises accessing an array to obtain a list of recently accessed entries.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising inserting an entry into the list of recently accessed entries when a user first adds the entry to the database.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising inserting an entry into the list of recently accessed entries when a user opens an entry.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising inserting an entry into the list of recently accessed entries when a user receives an entry from a remote source.

9. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps on a hand-held device having a display, the steps comprising:

storing a full set of database records in a database;

designating a subset of the full set of database records as recently accessed records based on the records in the subset being the most recently accessed records in the database;

displaying a first set of entries, each entry comprising the contents of at least one field for each record in the subset of recently accessed records;

receiving an indication that the user has selected one of the displayed entries;

receiving a command to modify the selected entry;

modifying the selected entry'"'"'s corresponding record in the database based on the command to modify the selected entry; and

displaying a second set of entries such that each command used to modify an entry in the second set of entries produces a change in the entry'"'"'s corresponding record that is the same as a change produced in a corresponding record for an entry from the first set of entries when that command is used to modify an entry in the first set of entries, each entry in the second set comprising the contents of at least one field for each record in a set of database records that is different from the subset of recently accessed records, the second set of entries indicating the change to the selected entry.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 having computer-executable instructions for performing the further steps of:

displaying a list of categories before displaying the set of entries, the list of categories comprising a recent category label;

receiving an indication that the user has selected the recent category label; and

wherein the step of displaying the set of entries is performed in response to the user selecting the recent category label.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein displaying the list of categories comprises displaying the list of categories in a pull-down menu in response to a user selecting a displayed categories label.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein receiving a command to modify the selected entry comprises receiving a command to delete the entry.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 wherein modifying the selected entry'"'"'s corresponding record in the database comprises deleting the entry'"'"'s corresponding record from the database.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein designating a subset of the full set of database records as recently accessed records comprises storing record ID'"'"'s for the most recently accessed records in a most recently used list.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein designating a subset of the full set of database records as recently accessed records further comprises adding a record ID to the most recently used list when the record associated with the record ID is first added to the database.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein designating a subset of the full set of database records as recently accessed records further comprises adding a record ID to the most recently used list when the record associated with the record ID is viewed by the user.