Patent Application
20120179994
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for manipulating graphical user interface elements.
Menus and toolbars are common features of software application graphical user interfaces. As is well known, a toolbar is a panel comprising a tool set, which includes one or more selectable tools (or tool buttons) represented by graphic objects such as for example text, images, icons, characters, thumbnails, etc. Each selectable tool is associated with a function that is executable upon selection of the tool. A toolbar thus provides an easy way for a user to select certain desktop or other application functions, such as saving or printing a document.
While efforts have been made to make software application graphical user interfaces more user-friendly, there still remains a number of drawbacks with graphical user interfaces. For instance, SMART Notebook™ Version 10.6 offered by SMART Technologies ULC. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the assignee of the subject application, allows customization of its graphical user interface menu, toolbar or sidebar settings, such as language, in order to cater to specific audiences. Consequently, when the language is set to “English”, the graphical user interface layout is arranged in a left-to-right reading direction, whereas when the language is set to some Semitic languages, such as Hebrew or Arabic, the graphical user interface layout is arranged in a right-to-left reading direction. SMART Notebook™ also allows a user to change the location of the toolbar from a default position at the top of the application window to the bottom thereof by selecting a toolbar relocation button, however, the arrangement of the tools of the toolbar remain unchanged. Likewise, the sidebar may be moved horizontally from one the side of the application window to the other by selecting a sidebar relocation button, however the arrangement of graphic objects (e.g., whiteboard page thumbnails, icons, text) contained therein remains unchanged. The use of the relocation buttons has been found not to be ideal for relatively large interactive displays, such as interactive whiteboards (IWBs). For example, a user standing adjacent one side of the IWB may be required to walk back and forth to actuate the relocation buttons in order to have the toolbar and/or sidebar conveniently located for easy access during a presentation. In addition, the selectable tools of the toolbar and the graphic objects of the sidebar may be ordered in only one of two ways, left to right or right to left for a horizontal toolbar or top to bottom or bottom to top for a vertical sidebar.
It is thus an object of the present invention to mitigate or obviate at least one of the above-mentioned disadvantages.
Accordingly, in one aspect there is provided a method comprising receiving input; and when said input is associated with a command to transpose a graphical user interface (GUI) element comprising a plurality of sub-elements that is positioned on a display surface, transposing at least one of said sub-elements within said GUI element.
In one embodiment, during the transposing, a plurality of the sub-elements is transposed. During transposing, the position of a plurality of the sub-elements or the position of all of the sub-elements may be shifted in a specified direction. Also, the order of the shifted sub-elements may be reversed. Further, the reading direction of text of the shifted sub-elements may be reversed.
In another embodiment, the sub-elements are arranged in groups. During transposing, the position of the sub-elements may be shifted in a specified direction. The shifted sub-elements may also be reversed ordered.
In another aspect there is provided a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, said instructions being executed by processing structure to cause the processing structure to process received input; determine whether said input is associated with a command to transpose a graphical user interface (GUI) element comprising a plurality of sub-elements on a display coupled to said processor; and when said input is associated with said command is detected, transpose at least one of said sub-elements.
In another aspect there is provided a computer program product including program code embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising program code for presenting a toolbar comprising a plurality of selectable buttons in an ordered state on a graphical user interface; program code for receiving input; and program code for arranging and displaying the buttons within the toolbar in another ordered state in response to said input.
In another aspect there is provided an interactive input system comprising computing structure; and a display coupled to said computing structure, said display presenting at least one graphical user interface (GUI) element comprising a plurality of sub-elements, said computing structure transposing at least one of said sub-elements within said GUI element in response to input received by said computing structure.
In yet another aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising processing structure receiving input data; and memory storing computer program code, which when executed by the processing structure, causes the apparatus to determine whether said input data is associated with a command to change the display order of at least one selectable icon within a graphical user interface (GUI) element comprising a plurality of icons; and when said input data is associated with said command, transpose said at least one selectable icon.
In still yet another aspect there is provided a method comprising receiving input; and when said input is associated with a command to transpose a graphical user interface (GUI) element comprising a sub-element on a display, changing at least one of the position and the reading direction of said sub-element within the GUI element.
Embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
In the following, a method and apparatus for manipulating a graphical user interface are described. When input associated with a command to transpose a displayed graphical user interface (GUI) element comprising a plurality of GUI sub-elements is received, at least one of the GUI sub-elements is transposed (i.e. its position on the GUI element is changed).
Turning now to
The IWB 42 employs machine vision to detect one or more pointers brought into a region of interest in proximity with the interactive surface 44. The IWB 42 communicates with a general purpose computing device 48 executing one or more application programs via a universal serial bus (USB) cable 50 or other suitable wired or wireless communication link. Computing device 48 processes the output of the IWB 42 and adjusts image data that is output to the projector 54, if required, so that the image presented on the interactive surface 44 reflects pointer activity. In this manner, the IWB 42, computing device 48 and projector 54 allow pointer activity proximate to the interactive surface 44 to be recorded as writing or drawing or used to control execution of one or more application programs executed by the computing device 48.
The bezel 46 is mechanically fastened to the interactive surface 44 and comprises four bezel segments that extend along the edges of the interactive surface 44. In this embodiment, the inwardly facing surface of each bezel segment comprises a single, longitudinally extending strip or band of retro-reflective material. To take best advantage of the properties of the retro-reflective material, the bezel segments are oriented so that their inwardly facing surfaces lie in a plane generally normal to the plane of the interactive surface 44.
A tool tray 56 is affixed to the IWB 42 adjacent the bottom bezel segment using suitable fasteners such as for example, screws, clips, adhesive, friction fit, etc. As can be seen, the tool tray 56 comprises a housing having an upper surface configured to define a plurality of receptacles or slots. The receptacles are sized to receive one or more pen tools 58 as well as an eraser tool 60 that can be used to interact with the interactive surface 44. Control buttons are also provided on the upper surface of the tool tray housing to enable a user to control operation of the interactive input system 40. Further specifics of the tool tray 56 are described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0169736 to Bolt et al., filed on Feb. 19, 2010, and entitled “INTERACTIVE INPUT SYSTEM AND TOOL TRAY THEREFOR”.
Imaging assemblies (not shown) are accommodated by the bezel 46, with each imaging assembly being positioned adjacent a different corner of the bezel. Each of the imaging assemblies comprises an image sensor and associated lens assembly. The lens has an IR pass/visible light blocking filter thereon and provides the image sensor with a field of view sufficiently large as to encompass the entire interactive surface 44. A digital signal processor (DSP) or other suitable processing device sends clock signals to the image sensor causing the image sensor to capture image frames at the desired frame rate. During image frame capture, the DSP also causes an infrared (IR) light source to illuminate and flood the region of interest over the interactive surface 44 with IR illumination. Thus, when no pointer exists within the field of view of the image sensor, the image sensor sees the illumination reflected by the retro-reflective bands on the bezel segments and captures image frames comprising a continuous bright band. When a pointer exists within the field of view of the image sensor, the pointer occludes reflected IR illumination and appears as a dark region interrupting the bright band in captured image frames.
The imaging assemblies are oriented so that their fields of view overlap and look generally across the entire interactive surface 44. In this manner, any pointer 58 such as for example a user's finger, a cylinder or other suitable object, or a pen or eraser tool lifted from a receptacle of the tool tray 56, that is brought into proximity of the interactive surface 44 appears in the fields of view of the imaging assemblies and thus, is captured in image frames acquired by multiple imaging assemblies. When the imaging assemblies acquire image frames in which a pointer exists, the imaging assemblies convey pointer data to the computing device 48.
The general purpose computing device 48 in this embodiment is a personal computer or other suitable processing device comprising, for example, a processing unit, system memory (volatile and/or non-volatile memory), other non-removable or removable memory (e.g., a hard disk drive, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, DVD, flash memory, etc.) and a system bus coupling the various computer components to the processing unit. The computing device 48 may also comprise networking capabilities using Ethernet, WiFi, and/or other suitable network format, to enable connection to shared or remote drives, one or more networked computers, or other networked devices. The computing device 48 processes the pointer data received from the imaging assemblies and computes the location of the pointer proximate the interactive surface 44 using well known triangulation methods. The computed pointer location is then recorded as writing or drawing or used an input command to control execution of an application program as described above.
Turning now to
After the application has been launched (step 142), and the application receives an input event from the input interface 104 (step 144), the application processes the input event to determine the command conveyed therein (step 146). When it is determined that the input event comprises a command for transposing a GUI element, the application transposes the GUI element according to predefined rules (step 150), as will be described later. The process then proceeds to step 148 to further process the input event, when the input event includes other commands, and then proceeds to step 144 to await receipt of the next input event. At step 146, if the input event is not a command for transposing a GUI element, the application processes the input event in a conventional manner (step 148), and then proceeds to step 144 to await receipt of the next input event.
Various input events may be interpreted as a GUI transposing command at step 146, depending on interactive input system design. For example, as shown in
In yet another embodiment, the interactive input system 40 comprises an IWB 242 that enables a displayed GUI element to be transposed based on the location of a user with respect to the IWB 242, as shown in
Similarly, when the user again moves to the left side of the IWB 242, and the user's change in location is determined following processing of the proximity sensor output, a dialogue box 260 is displayed at the left side of the application window 254 prompting the user to touch the dialogue box 260 to transpose the sidebar 256 and the toolbar 258. After the user touches the dialogue box 260, the application moves the sidebar 256 to the left side of the application window 254, and reverses the order of the tool buttons 259 in the toolbar 258.
Alternatively, the toolbar 258 may be automatically rearranged when a change in location of the user is determined following processing of the proximity sensor, thus obviating the need for user intervention via the dialogue box 260, or otherwise. The interactive input system 240 may employ any number of proximity sensors to detect a user's presence and location near the IWB 242. In some related embodiments, the proximity sensors may be installed at various locations on the IWB 242. In other embodiments, some of the proximity sensors may be installed on the IWB 242, and some of the proximity sensors may be installed on supportive structure (e.g., wall) near the IWB 242.
It should be noted that other GUI elements, such as, the menu bar, tool box, control interface of graphic objects (e.g., as shown in
Now turning to
In one embodiment, in response to the GUI transposing command, the tool bar 302a of the application window 300 is transposed according a first predefined rule resulting in a transposed toolbar 302b as shown in
In another embodiment, in response to the GUI transposing command, the tool bar 302a of the application window 300 is transposed according a second predefined rule resulting in a transposed toolbar 302c, as shown in
In another embodiment, in response to the GUI transposing command, the tool bar 302a of the application window 300 is transposed according a third predefined rule resulting in a transposed toolbar 302d, as shown in
In another embodiment, in response to the GUI transposing command, the tool bar 302a of the application window 300 is transposed according a fourth predefined rule resulting in a transposed toolbar 302e, as shown in
In yet another embodiment, some of the tool groups 326 to 330 may comprise important or frequently used tool buttons. For example, referring to
In yet another related embodiment, tool group 326 also comprises frequently used tool buttons 304 to 308. In this case, the toolbar 302a in response to the GUI transposing command is transposed according to a sixth predefined rule resulting in transposed toolbar 302g, as shown in
In yet another related embodiment, tool group 326 also comprises frequently used tool buttons 304 to 308. In this case, the toolbar 302a in response to the GUI transposing command is transposed according to a seventh predefined rule resulting in transposed toolbar 302h, as shown in
Although the above embodiments have been described with reference to a single user, in other embodiments, the interactive input system 240 allows two or more users to interact with the IWB simultaneously. For example, when it has been detected that two or more users are simultaneously interacting with the IWB 242 (based on the output of the proximity sensors, or based on the detection of two simultaneous touches), the application is configured to present two toolbars within the application window. Each of the toolbars comprises the same tool set but in a different tool button arrangement (e.g., one toolbar is “mirrored” from the other). The two toolbars 402 and 404 may be arranged in the same row (or same column, depending on interactive input system design), with some tool groups 406, 408, 410 or tool buttons being hidden, as shown in
If desired, proximity sensors may be mounted on the projector 54 that look generally towards the IWB 42 to detect the user's presence and location. Alternatively, one or more cameras may be installed on the projector 54 that look generally towards the IWB 42. In this case, the cameras capture images of the interactive surface as well as any user in front thereof, allowing the user's location from the captured images to be determined and the GUI elements transposed accordingly. Specifics of detecting the user's location from captured images is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,686,460 to Holmgren, et al., assigned to SMART Technologies ULC, the assignee of the subject application, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In another embodiment, the imaging assemblies of the IWB 42 are used to detect both pointer contacts on the interactive surface and to detect the presence and location of the user. In this case, the imaging assemblies accommodated by the bezel look generally across and slightly forward of the interactive surface to detect both pointer contacts on the interactive surface and the presence and location of the user. This allows the toolbar to be transposed based on the user's location as described above.
In another embodiment, the toolbar may be rearranged based on the position of pointer contact made on the interactive surface. In this example, the number of pointer contacts on the interactive surface is counted. If the number of pointer contacts consecutively occurring adjacent one side of the IWB 42 exceeds a threshold, the user is determined to be at the same side of the pointer contacts, and the toolbar is rearranged accordingly.
Although in embodiments described above the IWB 42 uses imaging assemblies to detect pointer contact on the interactive surface 44, in other embodiments, the interactive input system may comprise an IWB employing other pointer input registering technologies, such as for example, analog resistive, electromagnetic, projected capacitive, infrared grid, ultrasonic, or other suitable technologies. For example, an analog resistive interactive whiteboard such as the model SMART Board 600i or SMART Board 685ix offered by SMART Technologies ULC of Calgary, Alberta, Canada may be used.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various alternative embodiments are readily available. For example, in some embodiments, an application may use a different toolbar transposing indication, e.g., a toolbar transposing gesture, to determine whether the toolbar needs to be transposed or not. In some other embodiments where an application comprises multiple toolbars, a toolbar transposing command may cause all toolbars to be transposed, while in other embodiments, each toolbar has its own transposing command.
Although in embodiments described above the toolbar is arranged and transposed horizontally, in other embodiments, an application window may comprise a vertical toolbar and the toolbar which may be transposed vertically.
Although in embodiments described above an IWB is used in the interactive input systems, in other embodiments, the interactive input system does not comprise an IWB. Instead, it uses a monitor or projection screen to display computer-generated images. Also, in other embodiments, the interactive input system may comprise an interactive input device having a horizontal interactive surface, such as for example, a touch sensitive table.
Although in embodiments described above the icons are not mirrored when the toolbar is transposed, in other embodiments, the icons are mirrored when the toolbar is transposed.
Although in embodiments described above the tool buttons are arranged in the toolbar in a row, in other embodiments, tool buttons may be arranged in the toolbar in multiple rows, or in a way so that some tool buttons are arranged in multiple rows and other tool buttons are arranged in one row.
Although in embodiments described above, the tool buttons comprise an icon and a text, in other embodiments, the tool buttons may comprise only an icon or only text.
Although in embodiments described above, all tool buttons are rearranged when a toolbar transposing command is received, in other embodiments, when a toolbar is rearranged, some tool buttons (e.g., some tool buttons or tool groups in the center of the toolbar) may not be rearranged, and thus their locations may not be changed.
Although multiple tool buttons are used in embodiments described above, in other embodiments, a toolbar may comprise only one tool button.
Although in embodiments described above a toolbar transposing button displayed on a display is used to rearrange the toolbar, in other embodiments, a physical button may be used to rearrange the toolbar. Such a physical button may be located on the bezel, the pen tray or other suitable position, depending on interactive input system design.
Although in embodiments described above the toolbar is located in a application window, in other embodiments, the toolbar may be directly positioned on the desktop of the operating system such as Windows®, OSX, Unix, Linux, etc.
Although embodiments have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those of skill in the art will appreciate that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/431,849 entitled “METHOD FOR MANIPULATION TOOLBAR ON AN INTERACTIVE INPUT SYSTEM AND INTERACTIVE INPUT SYSTEM EXECUTING THE METHOD”, filed on Jan. 12, 2011, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This application is also related to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0298722 to Tse et al. entitled “INTERACTIVE INPUT SYSTEM AND METHOD” filed on Jun. 4, 2010, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61431849 | Jan 2011 | US |
