Patent Application
20110202865
This invention relates to graphical user interfaces, and more particularly to a method of displaying multiple pieces of information.
Management of customer information in telecommunication networks often requires the presentation of many pieces of information. For example, information related to billing rates and expected levels of service must be presented to an administrator so that the administrator can obtain current information or can edit information stored in a database. The information may be presented as lines of text, but a graphical user interface allows an administrator to select various items, to more easily view the current state of the selected items, and to more easily change the information related to the selected items.
The flexibility given to the administrator may come at a cost, however. As the administrator selects different views of the information, different aspects of the information presented to the administrator in different windows may become difficult to manage, especially when the administrator starts moving the windows around. For example, the administrator may wish to view information concerning a particular subscriber in a telecommunication network. A Listing window is used to find existing subscribers or to create new ones. Individual subscribers are created or edited in forms specific to the subscriber data. These forms contain many fields, such as category, user identifier, description, a list of subscription identifiers, custom data, and a list of called station identifiers. Each of these called station identifiers contains a large amount of information dealing with Quality of Service (QoS) parameters: defaults, aggregate maximum bit rates, guaranteed bit rates, maximum bit rates for QoS classes, associated AF applications, and custom data. Many of these are lists which open up configuration forms of their own. In addition, there is a separate search facility to find a subscriber by a specific subscription identifier. This is a search window which opens on top of the subscriber list.
A method of displaying information in an organized way which does not involve overlaying or overlapping of windows would avoid the clutter associated with multiple windows, and in particular make it easier for an administrator to manage customer information in a telecommunication network.
According to one aspect, the invention provides a method of displaying a graphical user interface. A perspective is displayed. Within the perspective at least two areas are displayed. Within each area, at least one portlet tab is displayed, each portlet tab being associated with one portlet. Within each area, the portlet associated with a selected portlet tab is displayed.
More than one perspective may be available for viewing, in which case the perspective displayed is the one associated with a selected perspective tab.
The methods of the invention may be stored as processing instructions on computer-readable storage media, the instructions being executable by a computer processor.
The invention allows information to be presented to a user in a way which is easy for the user to manage. By using areas defined in a perspective, information is presented in an organized way to the user. The presentation of pieces of information using portlets within each area, the portlets within each area being selectable using tabs, allows the user to easily switch between pieces of information. The invention is useful for managing customer information for customers using a telecommunications network, such as customers using an Evolved Packet Core network, but may be useful for presenting other types of information to a user.
The features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment(s) with reference to the attached figures, wherein:
It is noted that in the attached figures, like features bear similar labels.
Broadly, a graphical user interface is displayed, the graphical user interface having one perspective, which has at least two areas, each of which has at least one portlet. These levels of the display are described below with reference to the figures.
Referring to
Each perspective contains at least two panes, termed “areas”. In the example shown in
A diagram of another example perspective according to one embodiment of the invention is shown in
Referring to
Each portlet presents information of a type specific to that portlet. A portlet can be a list of information or a form presenting current information and allowing the current information to be changed. Portlets can be destroyed in an area and can be added to an area. A portlet can also be moved between areas by clicking and dragging the portlet to a destination area, as long as the type of portlet is allowed in the destination area.
The logic of the methods is preferably in the form of software, and may be stored as instructions on computer-readable storage media which can cause a computer processor to display the graphical user interface on a display device. The information presented in the portlets may be information about customers in a telecommunication network, which may be obtained from a database, or may be any other sort of information.
The embodiments presented are exemplary only and persons skilled in the art would appreciate that variations to the embodiments described above may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, the various menus, title bars, and icons described above and shown in the figures are examples only, and other text and/or icons can be used. The scope of the invention is solely defined by the appended claims.
