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:
May. 06, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 17, 1999
Marilyn Diane Smith Dawkins, Austin, TX (US);
Frank Eliot Levine, Austin, TX (US);
Newton James Smith, Jr., Austin, TX (US);
Jonathan Mark Wagner, Round Rock, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A system, method, and program of the invention enables a separating region to be displayed adjacent to at least one side of a problem menu choice within a menu list in a user interface. The problem menu choice may be any menu choice that has the potential for causing undesirable effects if it is inadvertently selected by a user, such as by overshooting a desired menu choice with a displayed pointer. The separating region creates a non-selectable area that buffers the problem menu choices from the other menu choices. The user is notified if the user moves the displayed pointer into the separating region. The notification may include any one or more of the following: i) changing the rate of movement of the displayed pointer, ii) causing the displayed pointer to change in appearance, and iii) causing an audible sound. The separating region may be partitioned into zones wherein certain characteristics of the notification is dependent upon the zone location of the displayed pointer. In addition, the displayed pointer may change in appearance or a tone may sound at various frequencies, pitches or volumes dependent upon the location of the displayed pointer in the separating region or within one of its zones. In a further embodiment, the displayed pointer decreases its rate of movement as it passes through a separating region towards a problem menu choice, and increases its rate of movement as it enters into a selectable area of the problem menu choice.