Predictive contextual toolbar for productivity applications

• US 9,652,109 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2013
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kelly, Kathleen R., Borzello, Eric M., Reid, III, Charles Marcus
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOI, DAVID E
• Application Number:
  US13/738,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20140201672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: 715779, 715711, 715708
• 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 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence

Abstract

A predictive contextual toolbar is presented that provides an identifiable region on which predicted commands can be surfaced. This user interface can be presented in cases where an indication of a request for a command (such as a formatting tool) is received, for example, while a user is interacting with a canvas of a productivity application. When conditions for surfacing a predictive command are met, the system can display an identifiable region on which predicted commands are surfaced according to context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command. The identifiable region may be an extension of a mini toolbar. One or more dynamic predicted commands can be surfaced on the identifiable region to provide easily accessible, user specific, context related commands.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor;

a display;

memory; and

a productivity application stored on the memory that when executed by the processor direct the processor to provide, to the display, a graphical user interface comprising;

a canvas; and

an identifiable region, the identifiable region being one of a designated region of the canvas or a designated region of a tool bar, wherein;

in response to detection of an active selection on a portion of content, dynamic predicted commands are surfaced on the identifiable region;

in response to detection of a period of inactivity in relation to a portion of content for a predefined period of time, or detection of a series of interactions with a portion of the canvas that does not result in selection of a command, dynamic predicted commands are surface on the identifiable region; and

in response to one of the active selection on the portion of content or the period of inactivity in relation to the portion of content, a context associated with the portion of content is determined while the user is interacting with the content, wherein the context includes an application type, an application state, a file, and a user history;

and

wherein the dynamic predicted commands are one or more commands that are identified as having a probability of being used next, before receiving an indication from a user for a particular command associated with the condition for surfacing the predictive command, that is above a certain threshold based on the context, wherein the dynamic predicted commands change based on the context, wherein the dynamic predicted commands include at least one command the user may not be aware of.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the interaction comprises a selection of content, a right click, or a gesture.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the context comprises a selected content.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the context further comprises at least one preceding command.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic predicted commands comprise formatting commands.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the identifiable region is configured to surface 1-5 commands at a same time.

7. A method comprising:

detecting an interaction with a portion of content displayed on a user interface by a user;

determining a context associated with the portion of content while the user is interacting with the content, wherein the context includes an application type, an application state, a file, and a user history;

in response to detecting an active selection on the portion of content displayed on the user interface, determining that conditions for surfacing a predictive command are met;

in response to detecting a period of inactivity in relation to the portion of content for a predefined period of time or detecting a series of interactions with the portion of content that does not result in selection of a command, determining that conditions for surfacing the predictive command are met;

identifying one or more predicted commands that have a probability of being used next, before receiving an indication from the user for a particular command associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command, that is above a certain threshold based on the context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command, wherein the one or more predicted commands change based on the context, wherein the dynamic predicted commands include at least one command the user may not be aware of; and

displaying an identifiable region on which the one or more predicted commands are surfaced, wherein displaying the identifiable region comprises displaying a mini toolbar having an extension region for surfacing the predicted commands.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

surfacing one or more predicted commands on the identifiable region; and

dismissing a surfaced command in response to receiving a selection of the surfaced command.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprise a selection of content.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprise a right click or a gesture over content or repeated selection of a menu or tabs.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprises information related to the selection of the content and at least one preceding command.

12. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising:

detecting an interaction with a portion of content by a user;

determining a context associated with the portion of content while the user is interacting with the content, wherein the context includes an application type, an application state, a file, and a user history;

in response to detecting an active selection on the portion of content displayed on the user interface, determining that conditions for surfacing a predictive command are met;

in response to detecting a period of inactivity in relation to the portion of content for a predefined period of time or detecting a series of interactions with the portion of content that does not result in selection of a command, determining that conditions for surfacing the predictive command are met;

displaying an identifiable region on which predicted commands are surfaced when the conditions for surfacing the predictive command are met, wherein displaying the identifiable region comprises displaying a mini toolbar having an extension region for surfacing the predicted commands;

identifying one or more predicted commands that have a probability of being used next, before receiving an indication from a user for a particular command associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command, that is above a certain threshold based on the context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command, wherein the one or more predicted commands change based on the context, wherein the dynamic predicted commands include at least one command the user may not be aware of;

surfacing the one or more predicted commands on the identifiable region; and

dismissing a surfaced command in response to receiving a selection of the surfaced command.

13. The medium of claim 12, further comprising dismissing the identifiable region when it is determined that a dismissal interaction with the canvas is received.

14. The medium of claim 12, wherein the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprise a selection of content or a right click or gesture over content or repeated selection of a menu or tabs.

15. The medium of claim 12, wherein the context associated with the conditions for surfacing the predictive command comprises information related to the selection of the content and at least one preceding command.

16. The medium of claim 12, wherein displaying the identifiable region comprises displaying the identifiable region at a location in proximity to a cursor.