Systems and methods for scaling a graphical user interface according to display dimensions and using a tiered sizing schema to define display objects

• US 7,257,776 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2002
• Issued: 08/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Falcon, Stephen Russell, Banay, Dan, Bailey, Richard St. Clair
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadesse
• Assistant Examiner(s): Roswell; Michael
• Application Number:
  US10/072,393
• Publication Number:
  US 20030146934A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,016 Days
• Field of Search: 715/521, 715/517, 715/788, 715/800, 715/801, 715/815
• US Class Current: 715/788
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for scaling a graphical user interface (GUI) to fit proportionally in displays of different sizes. Bounds of display objects to be displayed in the graphical user interface are defined in terms of position relative to horizontal and vertical dimensions of a display on which the GUI is rendered. An application defines the GUI in relative terms, but an end user may alter the look and feel of controls in the GUI. A tiered sizing schema is described that provides size constraints for display objects. The end user is limited as to how much a size of a display object can be altered in order to preserve the integrity of the original specifications of the GUI when the GUI is displayed on displays of various dimensions.

Claims

1. A method of adapting graphic output of generic applications to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) hardware display, comprising:

establishing a tiered sizing schema that defines multiple size tiers for display objects to be displayed on different OEM hardware displays;

establishing readability constraints for sizes of text objects to be displayed on the different OEM hardware displays;

specifying a minimum number of character spaces to be maintained in a text box associated with an individual text object;

embedding the tiered sizing schema the readability constraints and the minimum number of character spaces in an OEM software that receives the graphic output from the generic application;

receiving display object instances, text object instances, and a placement of the display object instances and the text object instances from a generic application;

adapting sizes of the display object instances via the OEM software according to the tiered sizing schema to fit a size of one of the OEM hardware displays; and

adapting sizes of the text object instances via the OEM software according to the readability constraints to fit a size of the OEM hardware display while maintaining the minimum number of character spaces in the text box.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising providing one or more interfaces that enable visual aspects of the display object instances to be externally defined prior to the adapting sizes of the display object instances and prior to the adapting the placement.

3. A tiered sizing schema for adapting output of generic applications to an OEM hardware display, comprising:

a first definition for a size of a first-sized display object, the first-sized display object being defined according to first tiered fractions of a height and a width of a display;

a second definition for a size of a second-sized display object, the second-sized display object being defined according to second tiered fractions of the height and width of the display;

wherein display objects received from an application programs are adapted such that the display objects are resized for compatibility with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) hardware display via OEM software implementing the tiered sizing schema including resizing for compatibility with an aspect ratio of a the hardware display, the display objects being resized according to the first definition and the second definition, and further in an instance where an individual display object is a text object, maintaining a pre-established minimum number of text characters for the text object.

4. The tiered sizing schema as recited in claim 3, wherein the fraction of a height and a width of a display further comprises a tiered percentage of the height of the display measured from a top edge of the display, and a percentage of the width of the display measured from a left edge of the display, respectively.

5. One or more computer-readable media containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform the following steps:

defining multiple upper left bounds of a display object to be displayed on a display according to a tiered fraction of a height of the display and a tiered fraction of a width of the display;

defining multiple lower right bounds of the display object according to a tiered fraction of the height and the width of the display;

defining multiple sizes for the display object according to a tiered sizing schema for display object sizes;

receiving a GUI configuration from an application program, wherein the GUI configuration specifies the display object, an upper left bound, a lower right bound, and a size of the display object;

adapting the upper left bound, the lower right bound, and the size to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) hardware display via OEM software implementing the tiered sizing schema including resizing for compatibility with an aspect ratio of a the hardware display, the display objects being resized to an aspect ratio of the hardware display by selecting one of the defined multiple upper left bounds, one of the defined lower right bounds, and one of the defined sizes, while in an instance where the display object is a text object, maintaining a pre-established number of character spaces for the text object.

6. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 5, wherein the fraction of the height of the display further comprises a tiered percentage of the height of the display from a top edge of the display.

7. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 5, wherein the tiered fraction of the width of the display further comprises a percentage of the width of the display from a left edge of the display.

8. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 5, further comprising one or more interfaces that enable visual aspects of the display object to be externally defined prior to the adapting.

9. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 5, further comprising rendering the display object on the display.

10. A system, comprising:

a display rendering module to receive a configuration for a graphical user interface (GUI) from an application program and to adapt the configuration for a display hardware; and

a display hardware to display the GUI;

wherein the GUI configuration includes display objects, and in instances where the display objects are text objects, a number of character spaces that are to be maintained for an individual text object, and wherein the GUI is potentially usable on different display hardwares having different height, width, resolution, and operating system platform characteristics;

wherein the display rendering module defines a tiered sizing schema for the display objects in the graphical user interface;

wherein the display rendering module selects tiered sizes for the display objects in order to transform the GUI configuration from the application program into a modified GUI configuration suitable for an aspect ratio of the display hardware.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein:

the application program also defines display objects according to the tiered sizing schema;

the visual aspects of the graphical user interface conform to the tiered sizing schema; and

the tiered sizing schema defines one or more display object sizes to which the display objects contained in the graphical user interface must conform.

12. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the tiered sizing schema further comprises definitions for a small-sized display object, a medium-sized display object and a large-sized display object.

13. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the tiered sizing schema defines the sizes according to a tiered fraction of the height and width of the display.

14. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the tiered sizing schema defines the sizes according to a tiered percentage of the display that each display object may occupy.