Lucent Technologies Inc.

William F Dudley, Jr

Susan L Tuttle

Michael L Moroze

Elizabeth Bauer-Nilsen Sanders

David M Gresham

Joanne W Davidson

Alessandro A Subrizi

David A Fishman

Kenneth Kasiske

A menu level indicator facilitates ease of use of a telephone terminal by a user by providing easily understandable information about selectable menu options available in an interactive display on the telephone terminal. The menu level indicator provides a visual indication for permitting the user to directly determine the number of menu options available while at one of multiple selectable menu levels in the menu. The menu level indicator also provides a visual indication for the user as to the relative position of a displayed, selectable menu option with respect to other selectable menu options commonly located at one of the multiple selectable menu levels. As a user maneuvers through the menu levels, such user is able to quickly develop a mental model of the feature menus and easily navigate through these menu selections.

Menu level indicator for a telephone terminal

A user of a telephone terminal with an interactive display is provided complete access to all feature choices in a hierarchical menu through a minimum number of menu keys. These menu keys include a 'Next' key, a 'Back' key, a 'Select' key and a 'Home' key. These menu keys occupy minimal space on the housing of the telephone terminal, yet enable the user of the terminal to easily scroll to and select every feature in the interactive display. The user is able to quickly develop a mental model of the feature choices and easily navigate through these menu selections. Context-sensitive functionality also is provided for using the interactive display. As a user completes a command function, the feature choice presented to the user for this function is the one most likely to be accessed by the user, thus advantageously avoiding the necessity of having a dedicated key for allowing the user to select this feature choice.

Hierarchical menu screen interface for displaying and accessing

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Jackson, NJ, United States of America

William F Dudley, Jr