User interface for displaying selectable software functionality controls that are contextually relevant to a selected object

• US 8,117,542 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2004
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Radtke, Roland, Butcher, Aaron M., Harris, Jensen M., Morrow, Catherine R., Satterfield, Jesse Clay
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): ORR, HENRY W
• Application Number:
  US10/955,940
• Publication Number:
  US 20060036945A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,693 Days
• Field of Search: 715/810, 715/821, 715/708, 715/777
• US Class Current: 715/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

An improved user interface is provided for displaying selectable functionality controls that identifies the context of the object to which the user interface is relevant, which contains rich functionality controls for applying contextually relevant functionality to a selected object, and which may be efficiently switched to a different context for applying a different set of functionalities to a different or neighboring editable object. A context menu of functionalities is displayed adjacent to a selected object where the menu of functionalities includes functionalities associated with editing the selected object. The context menu includes an identification of the object context and a control for selectively changing the context and associated functionalities of the menu to a different object context for displaying a different set of functionalities associated with the different context.

Claims

1. A method for providing a contextually relevant user interface, the method comprising:

upon receiving a selection of a first object for editing within a document, displaying the contextually relevant user interface adjacent to the selected first object;

displaying, in the user interface, a first context identification control for identifying a first context of the user interface based on at least one first attribute of the selected first object;

displaying, in the user interface, a second context changing control for changing the first context of the user interface to a second context of the user interface based on at least one second attribute of a second object within the document, the second control being operative to provide a plurality of available contexts simultaneously, each of the plurality of available contexts being associated with an attribute of an unselected object within the document; and

displaying, in the user interface, at least one selectable control representing a first subset of a plurality of functionalities, wherein the first subset of the plurality of functionalities comprises at least a first functionality that is at least substantially used in editing objects of a same type as the selected first object.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the at least one selectable control in the user interface hierarchically based on frequency of previous use.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, displaying, in response to a selection of the second control, the second context associated with the selection of the second control, the second context comprising a second subset of the plurality of functionalities, the second subset of the plurality of functionalities comprising functionalities that are at least substantially used in editing objects of a same type as the second object.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying in the user interface a third control for causing a display, adjacent to the user interface, of a plurality of additional selectable controls operative to edit the selected first object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the at least one selectable control comprises displaying the at least one selectable control further representing functionality of the software operative to edit the selected first object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying, in the user interface, the at least one selectable control representing the subset of a plurality of functionalities comprises displaying, in the user interface the at least one selectable control representing the subset of the plurality of functionalities associated with a picture object.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the subset of the plurality of functionalities associated with the picture object comprises functionalities associated with at least one of the following:

a paste control, a copy control, a position control, and a reset control.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a gallery of formatting images in response to a selection of the at least one selectable control, the gallery of formatting comprising at least one formatting image associated with at least one corresponding formatting attribute to be applied to the selected first object, wherein the at least one formatting image provides a visual representation of how the selected object would appear if the at least one formatting image is selected and the at least one corresponding formatting attribute is applied to the selected first object, the at least one formatting image comprising a textual identification of the at least one corresponding formatting attribute.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising applying the at least one corresponding formatting attribute associated with the at least one formatting image to the selected first object in response to a selection of the at least one formatting image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein providing the gallery of formatting images includes providing the gallery of formatting images within a second user interface deployed adjacent to the contextually relevant user interface.

11. A system for providing an improved contextually relevant user interface, the system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

upon receiving a selection of a first object for editing within a document, display the contextually relevant user interface adjacent to the selected first object;

display, in the user interface, a context identification tab having a first context identifying control for identifying a first context of the user interface based on at least one first attribute of the selected first object and changing the first context to a second context of the user interface based on at least one second attribute of a second object within the document, the context identification tab being operative to provide a plurality of available contexts simultaneously which, upon selection of one of the plurality of available contexts, causes a replacement of the first context populating the user interface with the second context, each of the available contexts being associated with an attribute of an unselected object in the document; and

display, in the user interface, at least one selectable control representing a subset of a plurality of functionalities, wherein the subset of the plurality of functionalities comprises at least one functionality that is at least substantially used in editing objects of a same type as the selected first object.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising the processing unit being operative to provide a gallery of formatting images in response to a selection of the at least one selectable control, the gallery of formatting comprising at least one formatting image associated with at least one corresponding formatting attribute to be applied to the selected first object, wherein the at least one formatting image provides a visual representation of how the selected object would appear if the at least one formatting image is selected and the at least one corresponding formatting attribute is applied to the selected first object, the at least one formatting image comprising a textual identification of the at least one corresponding formatting attribute.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising the processing unit being operative to display a third control for selectively causing a display, adjacent to the user interface, of additional selectable controls operative to edit the selected first object.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the subset of the plurality of functionalities is associated with a picture object.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the subset of the plurality of functionalities associated with the picture object comprises functionalities associated with at least one of the following:

a paste control, a copy control, a position control, and a reset control.

16. A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method for providing a contextually relevant user interface, the method executed by the computer executable instructions comprising:

upon receiving a selection of a first object for editing within a document, displaying the contextually relevant user interface adjacent to the selected first object;

displaying, in the user interface, a first context identification control for identifying a first context of the user interface based on at least one first attribute of the selected first object;

displaying, in the user interface, a second context changing control for changing the first context of the user interface to a second context of the user interface based on at least one second attribute of a second object within the document, the second control being operative to provide a plurality of available contexts simultaneously which, upon selection of one of the plurality of available contexts, causes a replacement of the first context populating the user interface with the second context, each of the plurality of available contexts being associated with an attribute of an unselected object within the document; and

displaying, in the user interface, at least one selectable control representing a subset of a plurality of functionalities, wherein the subset of the plurality of functionalities comprises at least a first functionality of the plurality of functionalities that is at least substantially the most used in editing objects of a same type as the selected first object.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising displaying the at least one selectable control in the user interface hierarchically based on frequency of previous use.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising, displaying, in response to a selection of the second control, the second context associated with the selection of the second control, the second context comprising a second subset of the plurality of functionalities, the second subset of the plurality of functionalities comprising functionalities that are at least substantially used in editing objects of a same type as the second object.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising displaying in the user interface a third control for causing a display, adjacent to the user interface, of a plurality of additional selectable controls operative to edit the selected first object.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein displaying the at least one selectable control comprises displaying the at least one selectable control further representing functionality of the software operative to edit the selected first object.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein displaying, in the user interface, the at least one selectable control representing the subset of a plurality of functionalities comprises displaying, in the user interface the at least one selectable control representing the subset of the plurality of functionalities associated with a picture object.

22. The computer readable storage medium claim 21, wherein the subset of the plurality of functionalities associated with the picture object comprises functionalities associated with at least one of the following:

a paste control, a copy control, a position control, and a reset control.

23. The computer readable storage of claim 16, further comprising providing a gallery of formatting images in response to a selection of the at least one selectable control, the gallery of formatting comprising at least one formatting image associated with at least one corresponding formatting attribute to be applied to the selected first object, wherein the at least one formatting image provides a visual representation of how the selected object would appear if the at least one formatting image is selected and the at least one corresponding formatting attribute is applied to the selected first object, the at least one formatting image comprising a textual identification of the at least one corresponding formatting attribute.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising applying the at least one corresponding formatting attribute associated with the at least one formatting image to the selected first object in response to a selection of the at least one formatting image.

25. The computer readable storage medium of claim 24, wherein providing the gallery of formatting images includes providing the gallery of formatting images within a second user interface deployed adjacent to the contextually relevant user interface.

26. A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method for providing a contextually relevant user interface, the method executed by the computer executable instructions comprising:

upon receiving a selection of first object for editing within a document, displaying a first user interface near the selected first object in a software application workspace, wherein receiving the selection comprises one of the following;

detecting that a cursor is focused on the first object, receiving a cursor selection of the first object, and receiving a keyboard shortcut;

persisting a display of the contextually relevant user interface without preventing the software application workspace from executing further operations on the selected first object;

displaying in the first user interface a first context identification control for identifying a context of the user interface based on at least one first attribute of the selected first object;

displaying in the first user interface a first set of selectable controls representing a first subset of a plurality of functionalities, the first subset of the plurality of functionalities comprising at least one first functionality that is at least used in editing objects of a same type as the selected first object, wherein displaying the first set of selectable controls representing the first subset of the plurality of functionalities comprises displaying the first set of selectable controls hierarchically based on frequency of previous use;

displaying in the first user interface a second context changing control for changing the context of the user interface for editing a second object within the document, the second control being operative to, upon selection, provide a drop-down listing of a plurality of available contexts simultaneously which, upon selection of one of the plurality of available contexts, causes a replacement of a current context populating the user interface with the selected available context, each of the plurality of available contexts being associated with an attribute of an unselected object in the document;

displaying in the first user interface a second set of selectable controls representing a second subset of the plurality of functionalities in response to a selection of an available context provided by the second control for changing the context of the first user interface, the second subset of the plurality of functionalities comprising at least one second functionality that is at least substantially used in editing objects of a same type as the available object associated with the selected available context;

displaying in the first user interface a third control for causing a display in a second user interface of a third set of selectable controls operative to edit the selected first object;

displaying in the second user interface, in response to a selection of the third control, the third set of selectable controls;

providing a gallery of formatting images in response to a selection of at least one selectable control of the third set of selectable controls, the gallery of formatting images comprising at least one formatting image associated with at least one corresponding formatting attribute to be applied to an applicable one of the first object and the second object upon selection of the at least one formatting image, wherein providing the gallery of formatting images includes providing the gallery of formatting images within the second user interface, and wherein the at least one formatting image provides a visual representation of how the applicable object would appear if the formatting image is selected and the at least one corresponding formatting attribute is applied to the applicable object, the at least one formatting image comprising a textual identification of the at least one corresponding formatting attribute; and

applying the at least one corresponding formatting attribute associated with the at least one formatting image to the applicable object in response to a selection of the at least one formatting image.

27. The computer readable storage medium of claim 26, wherein displaying, in the first user interface, the first set of selectable controls representing the first subset of a plurality of functionalities comprises displaying, in the user interface the first set of selectable controls representing the first subset of the plurality of functionalities associated with a picture object.

28. The computer readable storage medium claim 27, wherein the first subset of the plurality of functionalities associated with the picture object comprises functionalities associated with at least one of the following:

a paste control, a copy control, a position control, and a reset control.