Patent Application
20150212662
The present invention relates generally to user interfaces, and more particularly to a method of presenting function buttons in a user interface.
Graphical user interfaces (GUI) are common ways in which a computer system presents options and information and receives commands. Before GUIs, computer systems were commanded using low-level computer language or command-line parameters and commands. Low-level computer languages and command-line commands essentially required a user to learn a new language: the language understood by the computer. GUIs have replaced command lines to make computers more user-friendly, and most computer applications include a GUI. Due to the advancement of GUIs, a typical user does not need to understand computer language or DOS commands to command a computer because the buttons and menus of GUIs have replaced command-line for commanding the computer. Also, because the menus and buttons use plain language, a user can easily ascertain what functions the buttons or menu items will perform.
Generally, GUIs receive commands from a user when a user activates a button or menu item, and the GUI transforms the activation of the button or menu item into machine-understood commands. The machine-understood commands are performed in the background. So, GUIs streamline computer commands to make computers more user-friendly and efficient.
While GUIs are extremely important to the operation of a computer, a computer screen only has so much real estate for buttons and menus. In general, computer applications have many functions and understand many commands. So, in order to present all of those functions and commands in a graphical format, many buttons may need to appear on the screen. As the number of buttons on the screen increases, the GUI may begin to feel cluttered. A cluttered interface may be annoying to a user or make the GUI feel less user-friendly. Thus, there is a need to present multiple buttons without cluttering the screen in a GUI.
The systems and methods described herein attempt to overcome the drawbacks discussed above by displaying an advanced button in a user interface that displays advanced command buttons upon the activation of the advanced button. As a result, the user interface is less cluttered with function buttons, and the user interface is more user friendly.
In one embodiment, a method for presenting a user interface comprises: presenting, by a computer, a user interface with at least one standard command button and an advanced button adjacent to the at least one standard command button; receiving, by a computer, a first selection from a user; performing, by a computer, a standard command associated with the at least one standard command button when the received first selection selects the at least one standard command button, wherein the standard command is related to power management of a computer system; displaying, by a computer, at least one advanced command button above the advanced button when the received first selection selects the advanced button; receiving, by a computer, a second selection from the user, and performing, by a computer, an advanced command associated with the at least one advanced command button when the received second selection selects the at least one advanced command button, wherein the advanced command is related to power management of the computer system.
In another embodiment, a method of presenting a user interface comprises: presenting, by a computer, a user interface with at least one standard command button and an advanced button adjacent to the at least one standard command button; receiving, by a computer, a first selection from a user; performing, by a computer, a standard command associated with the at least one standard command button when the received first selection selects the at least one standard command button, wherein the standard command is related to partition management of a computer system: displaying, by a computer, at least one advanced command button above the advanced button when the received first selection selects the advanced button; and receiving, by a computer, a second selection from the user; performing, by a computer, an advanced command associated with the at least one advanced command button when the received second selection selects the at least one advanced command button, wherein the advanced command is related to partition management of the computer system.
In another embodiment, a computer program product, comprising a computer-usable medium, having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed by a processor to implement a method for presenting a user interface, the method comprises: providing the user interface, wherein the user interface comprises distinct software modules, and wherein the distinct software modules comprise a first button module, a second button module, and an advanced button module; upon selection of a first button in the user interface, performing a first command, wherein the first command is performed by the first button module, and wherein the first command is related to partition management of a computer system; upon selection of a second button in the user interface, performing a second command, wherein the second command is performed by the second button module, and wherein the second command is related to power management of the computer system or a partition of the computer system; upon selection of an advanced button in the user interface, activating a first advanced command button module and a second advanced command button module, wherein the activation of the first and second advanced command button modules is performed by the advanced button module; upon the activation of the first and second advanced command button modules, displaying a first advanced command button and a second advanced command button in the user interface above the advanced button, wherein displaying the first and second advanced command buttons is performed by the advanced button module; upon a selection of the first advanced command button in the user interface, performing a third command, wherein the third command is performed by the first advanced command button module, and wherein the third command is related to power or partition management of the computer system; and upon a selection of the second advanced command button in the user interface, performing a fourth command, wherein the fourth command is performed by the second advanced command button module, and wherein the fourth command is related to power or partition management of the computer system.
Additional features and advantages of an embodiment will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the exemplary embodiments in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings constitute a part of this specification and illustrate an embodiment of the invention and together with the specification, explain the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The embodiments described above are intended to be exemplary. One skilled in the art recognizes that numerous alternative components and embodiments may be substituted for the particular examples described herein and still fall within the scope of the invention.
Referring to
The processor 101 may be embodied by one or more processors if the computer system 100 is a multi-processor system. If the computer system has multiple processors, each processor may perform a different task, and each processor may be differently configured to accommodate their specific tasks. Alternatively, all of the processors may be constructed in the same manner, and one or more of the processors may be a spare processor included for redundancy. Additionally, one or more of the processors may be included to provide supervisory control over the other processors.
The memory 110 may include any computer storage medium, either volatile or non-volatile, removable or non-removable, such as FLASH, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, or any other storage medium that is configured to store information in any method or technology for information storage. The memory 110 is configured to store computer readable information, such as computer readable instructions and data. The memory 110 may be implemented to store program code to direct the processor 101 to process information and requests to or from other computing systems connected to the computer system 100 in any manner, such as through the network interface 130. The memory 110 may also be implemented to store program code to direct the processor 101 and the I/O interface 120 to present a user interface to a user.
The network interface 130 provides a network connection means and network protocols useful for sending and receiving information from and to other computer systems connected to the computer system 100. The network interface 130 may be connected to a network of any type, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or a wireless local area network (WLAN). The network interface 130 may communicate with other computer systems, such as a client computer 160, on the network through network protocols, such as TCP/IP, FTP, SSH, or any other network protocol. In addition, the network interface 130 may be connected to a network through any means including wireless means, such as Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, and infrared, or wired means, such as Ethernet, firewire, and coaxial.
Peripheral devices 122 and 124 are connected to the I/O interface 120, and the peripheral devices 122 and 124 allow the computer system 100 to receive inputs from a user and output data and information to the user. The computer system 100 may include more or less than two peripheral devices. The peripheral devices 122 and 124 may include a mouse, a keyboard, a monitor, a printer, a scanner, a touch screen, buttons, or any other peripheral device useful for receiving data from a user and outputting data to a user. In the following example, the first peripheral device 122 is a display, and the second peripheral device 124 is a mouse. An operator of the computer system 100 may configure the computer system 100 using the peripheral devices 122, 124. Alternatively, the client computer 160 that is connected to the computer system 100 may configure the computer system 100. The client computer 160 may connect to the computer system 100 over a communications network through the network interface 130.
An operator may manage settings, configurations, or applications of the computer system 100 through a user interface. An exemplary computer system user interface is illustrated in
Rather than always displaying the standard options and the advanced options on the user interface, the user interface of the exemplary embodiments, gathers all of the advanced options into an expandable advanced button. Upon activation of the advanced button, the five advanced options expand from the advanced button, and the user interface displays five more buttons. This functionality is illustrated in
As shown in
Clicking on either of the standard buttons 204, 206 results in the computer system performing the function or command assigned to the activated standard button 204 or 206. In one example, clicking the soft shutdown 204 executes a command to perform a normal shut down operation of the entire computer system.
When a user activates the Advanced button 208, additional buttons appear, as shown in
As discussed above, the advanced button may be applied to computer system functions other than power management.
As illustrated by the contrast between
According to the exemplary embodiments described herein, the advanced button produces advanced command buttons upon the activation of the advanced button. The user interface displays the advanced command buttons after activation of the advanced button, and so, the user interface is less cluttered with function buttons, and the user interface is more user friendly.
The exemplary embodiments can include one or more computer programs that embody the functions described herein and illustrated in the appended flow charts. However, it should be apparent that there could be many different ways of implementing aspects of the exemplary embodiments in computer programming, and these aspects should not be construed as limited to one set of computer instructions. Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more acts described herein may be performed by hardware, software, or a combination thereof, as may be embodied in one or more computing systems.
The functionality described herein can be implemented by numerous modules or components that can perform one or multiple functions. Each module or component can be executed by a computer, such as a server, having a non-transitory computer-readable medium and processor. In one alternative, multiple computers may be necessary to implement the functionality of one module or component.
Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “displaying” or “receiving” or “referencing” or “changing” or “refreshing” or the like, can refer to the action and processes of a data processing system, or similar electronic device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the system's memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
The exemplary embodiments can relate to an apparatus for performing one or more of the functions described herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a machine (e.g. computer) readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs and magnetic-optical disks, read only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs) erasable programmable ROMs (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable ROMs (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a bus.
The exemplary embodiments described herein are described as software executed on at least one server, though it is understood that embodiments can be configured in other ways and retain functionality. The embodiments can be implemented on known devices such as a personal computer, a special purpose computer, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (“PDA”), a digital camera, a digital tablet, an electronic gaming system, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit element(s), and ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, or the like. In general, any device capable of implementing the processes described herein can be used to implement the systems and techniques according to this invention.
It is to be appreciated that the various components of the technology can be located at distant portions of a distributed network and/or the Internet, or within a dedicated secure, unsecured and/or encrypted system. Thus, it should be appreciated that the components of the system can be combined into one or more devices or co-located on a particular node of a distributed network, such as a telecommunications network. As will be appreciated from the description, and for reasons of computational efficiency, the components of the system can be arranged at any location within a distributed network without affecting the operation of the system. Moreover, the components could be embedded in a dedicated machine.
Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links connecting the elements can be wired or wireless links, or any combination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s) that is capable of supplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements. The term module as used herein can refer to any known or later developed hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof that is capable of performing the functionality associated with that element. The terms determine, calculate and compute, and variations thereof, as used herein are used interchangeably and include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.
The embodiments described above are intended to be exemplary. One skilled in the art recognizes that numerous alternative components and embodiments that may be substituted for the particular examples described herein and still fall within the scope of the invention.
