U.S. patent application number 11/877164 was filed with the patent office on 2008-02-14 for computing device with user interface for navigating a contacts list.
This patent application is currently assigned to SYMBIAN SOFTWARE LTD.. Invention is credited to Stephen Randall.
Application Number | 20080040687 11/877164 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 9905213 |
Filed Date | 2008-02-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080040687 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Randall; Stephen |
February 14, 2008 |
Computing Device with User Interface for Navigating a Contacts
List
Abstract
A computing device comprises a display screen, the computing
device is able to display on the screen a contact list of several
names or words, in which the step of scrolling through the contact
list automatically causes the relative prominence of one or more
letters in one or more names to alter. For example, only the first
letter of each name may be displayed; this facilitates fast
scrolling through the contact list to the desired target.
Inventors: |
Randall; Stephen; (London,
GB) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SYNNESTVEDT LECHNER & WOODBRIDGE LLP
P O BOX 592
112 NASSAU STREET
PRINCETON
NJ
08542-0592
US
|
Assignee: |
SYMBIAN SOFTWARE LTD.
\
London
GB
|
Family ID: |
9905213 |
Appl. No.: |
11/877164 |
Filed: |
October 23, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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10451708 |
Nov 19, 2003 |
7293244 |
|
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PCT/GB01/05601 |
Dec 18, 2001 |
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11877164 |
Oct 23, 2007 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/830 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G09G 5/34 20130101; H04M
1/2747 20200101; G06F 3/0485 20130101; G09G 5/30 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/830 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/048 20060101
G06F003/048 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 18, 2000 |
GB |
GB0030699.3 |
Claims
1. A computing device comprising a display screen, and a memory
storing a list of several names or words, the computing device
displaying on the screen a list including some of these names or
words, in which the device is operable to scroll through the list
at a speed that automatically increases as a scrolling action
continues, and automatically decreases as a predetermined parameter
within the list is approached.
2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein said predetermined
parameter comprises a name or word that begins with a letter
different from the beginning letter of am immediately preceding
name or word.
3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein said predetermined
parameter comprises a specified target name or target word.
4. A computer program product for displaying, on a display screen,
a list of several names or words stored in a memory, the computer
program product displaying on the screen a list including some of
these names or words, the computer program product comprising a
computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program
code embodied in the medium, the computer-readable program code
comprising: computer-readable program code that scrolls through the
list at a speed that automatically increases as a scrolling action
continues, and automatically decreases as a predetermined parameter
within the list is approached.
5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said
predetermined parameter comprises a name or word that begins with a
letter different from the beginning letter of am immediately
preceding name or word.
6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said
predetermined parameter comprises a specified target name or target
word.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 10/451,708, filed Nov. 19, 2003, which claims the priority of
PCT Application No. PCT/GB01/05601 filed on Dec. 18, 2001 and
British application GB 0030699.3 filed on Dec. 18, 2000, the
contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to a computing device with a user
interface for navigating a contacts list and in particular to
interfaces that aid the speed and accuracy of navigating lists on
small screen devices.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
[0003] Computing devices, particularly mobile computing devices,
are becoming the primary tool of interpersonal communication. The
contact list stored in such devices is therefore a critical
component: it is not unusual for people to use their mobile phones
simply because their contacts are readily accessible in them.
However, as mobile computing devices typically have display screens
of limited size, navigating to a single contact name or number (or
indeed any specific piece of information, such as a street name in
a map or a word from a dictionary etc) within a long choice list,
is often tedious. For example, contact lists are often a single A-Z
list, which can become very long. This leads to time consuming
scrolling to the required entry, often in a situation in which a
delay is very frustrating. Contact lists can also be sub-divided
into groupings, such as A-F and G-L etc. A user then has to
navigate to the top group and then scroll within a list which can
still be quite long. Hence, selecting one phone contact out of a
list of 100 contacts typically requires either more than 10 key
presses or a long wait as the list is scrolled to the required
entry.
[0004] Various attempts at improving menu accessibility by making
more efficient use of the available screen `real estate` have been
proposed. For example, EP 0844553 to Philips Electronics NV
proposes auto-removing items from a menu when they are either
unavailable (because the user has locked them against use) or
because the user does not use them with adequate frequency. U.S.
Pat. No. 5,673,405 to Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd. discloses a computer
screen which can show only a single row of icons; because there are
many more functions than can be accommodated in the single row, the
icons associated with different functions are ordered into several
rows. If a particular function is used very frequently, then it can
be promoted to the row which is displayed as a default, so saving
the user time in navigating down to it. The displayed menu row in
effect becomes a list of functions which are the most commonly
used. A similar approach of placing the most used functions into a
particular menu list of the most commonly used functions is shown
also in EP 891066 to Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. Reference may also be
made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,591 to Hitachi, Ltd., which shows a
scrolling method in which scrolling over a map causing certain
features of the map to be omitted for clarity. In common with the
other cited art, this document does not however disclose any
application to the problem of effectively scrolling through the
long lists of names or words found in a contacts list.
[0005] On a more theoretical basis, an effective user interface
enables the user to comprehend the changing internal status of the
computing device as navigation proceeds. For example, to select or
initiate a function (e.g. to open an address book function, enter a
PIN security number or to alter the ring melody) a user has to
understand (a) how to navigate to that function in order to select
that function and (b) that the status of the telephone is such that
the function can be selected or initiated. The technical problems
of effectively (i) enabling the internal state to facilitate
navigating through long contact lists and (ii) enabling the user to
understand this changing internal state have to date been
inadequately addressed. Directly correlated with the latter factor,
effective understanding, is the ease and speed of navigation. The
object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of
user interface which addresses these technical problems.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
[0006] According to the invention there is provided a computing
device comprising a display screen, the computing device being able
to display on the screen a contact list of several names or words,
in which the step of scrolling through the contact list
automatically causes the relative prominence of one or more letters
in one or more names or words to alter, wherein scrolling through
the list of names automatically causes the relative prominence of
one or more letters in one or more names in the contacts list to
alter only where the scrolling speed exceeds a pre-defined
threshold.
[0007] By altering the relative prominence in this way, fast
scrolling to the target entry in the contacts list is facilitated.
The relative prominence may alter by one or more of the following
occurring: [0008] (i) the colour or grey scale level changing, with
letters or numerals at or towards the front of a name or word being
displayed in a more prominent colour or grey scale; [0009] (ii) the
relative size changing, with letters or numerals at or towards the
front of a name or word being displayed in a more prominent size;
[0010] (iii) letters or numerals, excluding at least the first
letter or numeral of a name or word, not being displayed in full;
[0011] (iv) names or words, excluding at least the whole or part of
the first name or word in a functional grouping of names or words,
not being displayed in full.
[0012] In one implementation, the scrolling speed and/or scrolling
duration determines which of options (i) to (iv), or combinations
of these options, occur. Typically also, scrolling through the list
of names automatically causes the relative prominence of one or
more letters in one or more names in the contacts list to alter
only where the contacts list is greater than a predefined
length.
[0013] In addition, scrolling through the list of names may
automatically cause the relative prominence of one or more letters
in one or more names in the contacts list to alter only where the
scrolling speed exceeds a pre-defined threshold. Hence, only as the
scrolling velocity is increased by a user beyond a set level is the
feature invoked; conversely, as the scrolling velocity drops below
this level (e.g. as the target is approached), the contact list
reverts to a normal representation of its names and words.
[0014] In another aspect, there is a computer program which, when
running on a computing device, causes the computing device to
operate as a computing device as defined above.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] The invention will be described with reference to the
accompanying drawings in which:
[0016] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a mobile computing device,
showing a conventional contact list;
[0017] FIGS. 2 and 3 are views of the screen of a mobile computing
device which implements the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] As mobile phones become more functionally rich, they are
frequently the main devices by which users store and access
information. This is particularly true with contact information. It
is not unusual for people to use their mobile phones simply because
their contacts are readily accessible in them.
[0019] However, as mobile phones 10 typically have display screens
12 of limited size, navigating to a single contact name or number
within a long choice list, is often tedious. As noted earlier,
selecting one phone contact out of a list of 100 contacts often
requires more than 10 key presses of for instance scroll up key 14
or scroll down key 16, or a long wait as the list is scrolled to
the required entry.
[0020] An implementation of the present invention, referred to as
ZoomScroll, proposes user interface improvements that can be made
to small screen devices that dramatically aid the speed and
accuracy by which users can navigate to a single piece of
information that would typically be displayed within a long
contacts list.
[0021] The maximum speed by which a user can assimilate scrolling
data on a small screen is not limited by technology, but by the
users' reaction time.
[0022] In choosing a single contact from a list of 100 or more, a
user would typically be faced with the start of the list 18
(Aardvark in FIG. 1 below) and, say, the next 5-6 entries,
depending on the screen 12's size and resolution. If their required
contact were somewhere in the middle of their list, they would have
to scroll the equivalent of up to 10 screens to get near their
entry.
[0023] System designers aid the user by speeding the scroll time
whilst a scroll button 14, 16 or scroll icon 22, 24 remains
selected. When the user nears their destination, they typically
slow the speed down by letting go of the selected scroll
button/key. They might then have to nudge the displayed list 20 up
or down a few places before landing on their desired entry.
[0024] In conventional systems, speeding the scroll time beyond the
capability of the user to absorb the information would only result
in the user overshooting or undershooting their target contact. In
other words, users of conventional systems are unable to easily
navigate information within a fast moving list. However, the user's
ability to assimilate information within such a fast moving list
can be improved by emphasising "Signal" information and removing or
de-emphasising "Noise" information from that list.
[0025] Signal in the context of scrolling, is any information that
aids the users' navigation. For example, the user typically
requires only the first few characters of a name to navigate up or
down the list alphabetically. Those first few characters can be
regarded as Signal characters and can be enhanced by making them
bold.
[0026] Conversely, Noise, in the context of scrolling is any
information that adds little or nothing to the users' navigation.
All characters to the right of the Signal characters (assuming
Western alphabets) are Noise and can be de-emphasised to aid
navigation.
[0027] FIG. 2 shows one implementation of the invention, where the
first character 28 has been made bold, the second character 30 a
lesser grey scale, whilst the Noise characters 32 have been greyed
out.
[0028] In addition, the font in FIG. 2 has been increased to help
legibility. FIG. 3 shows an enhancement, whereby the font size of
the first character 28 continues to be increased (i.e. the font
increases as the user scrolls from FIG. 1, through FIG. 2 to FIG.
3).
[0029] FIG. 3 also illustrates the absence of further noise
characters 32, leaving only the emboldened first letter 28 of every
entry.
[0030] The implementation could be tuned such that at maximum
ZoomScroll, the zoom displays a single screen-sized character at a
time. However, in terms of deciding how many zoom levels the system
supports, it should be noted that it might not be desirable to
store or display too large a font or too many fonts. The design
decision will be weighed up along side memory requirements,
software and processor capability as well as screen size.
Furthermore, where lists are not long enough to justify ZoomScroll,
(e.g. less than 2-3 screens in length) it could be automatically
disabled or minimised.
[0031] ZoomScroll is not limited in application to contacts lists
but can be applied to any ordered choice list, such as a street
name in a map index or a word from a dictionary. Hence, the term
`contacts list` used in this specification can be thought of as
covering not only contact names which can provide contact data for
a telephone dialler or e-mail etc. application, but in fact any
ordered list of names or words presented to the user in a format
through a user can scroll.
[0032] ZoomScroll can be optimised when used in conjunction with
hardware controls that are able to detect harder or software
pressure, but the system works perfectly well with standard
membrane type keys.
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