The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 18, 1994
Filed:
Jan. 24, 1992
Craig A Kaplan, Santa Cruz, CA (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for allowing users of computers having a graphical user interface to efficiently convey scalar control information (such as Likert scale data) are described. A graphical control button is displayed on the screen combined with a graphical scale (which may be implicit) to enable users to convey the command to execute the function associated with the control button while conveying additional scalar information by controlling the particular region of the control button on which the cursor is positioned. The cursor position is preferably controlled by a pointing device such as a mouse. The scale of values assigned to the control button may be displayed continuously on the button or the scale may be displayed only after the cursor has been placed on the button and the mouse key depressed, but not released. A scale pointer showing the precise scale position corresponding to the cursor position may be displayed in addition to or in place of the cursor. One use of the invention is to have a user browsing tutorial text indicate the degree of usefulness of sections of the text by using control buttons of the invention for the page forward and backward functions. The system could then dynamically adjust the tutorial based on user ratings.