Spin control user interface for selecting options

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9367198-B2
Application number	US-77142210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2010
Priority date	Apr 30, 2010
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

A spin control graphical user interface is used to display a currently applied option and to receive options from a user. The spin control is a circular graphical user interface that is positioned near a displayed document to which it applies. For example, the spin control may be positioned on or near a corner of the displayed document. The spin control comprises options that are presented to a user upon rotation of the spin control. An option may be manually selected or automatically selected and applied to the displayed document upon rotating the spin control clockwise or counterclockwise. More than one spin control may be associated with the displayed document. The spin control may be automatically shown and removed from a display in response to whether the document to which the spin control is attached is currently being displayed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for temporarily formatting and charting data using a spin control, comprising:
receiving a user selection of data that are currently displayed on a display;
determining values within the selected data;
automatically displaying first information in a chart representing the values from the selected data wherein the chart is automatically created and displayed in response to receiving the user selection of data; and
displaying a spin control that rotates around a center point and includes options arranged in pie regions around the center point, in response to selection of an option in the spin control, displaying other information in the chart that represents values from the selected data that are sorted based on the selected option, wherein the center point is located adjacent to the chart and wherein a portion of the spin control is partially hidden by a display of the chart that the spin control is operable to affect.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spin control rotates clockwise and counterclockwise, wherein movement of the spin control exposes different options to apply to the chart.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising rotating the spin control to expose the different options in response to determining a pointing device selecting a pie region within the spin control that is outside of the pie region that represents a currently applied option.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein a rotation of the spin control automatically selects another option and applies the another option to the displayed chart.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the center point of the spin control is located at a corner of the displayed chart.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising displaying a second spin control at a second corner of the displayed chart, wherein the second spin control comprises options to perform a second set of options on the displayed chart.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the spin control includes options for sorting the displayed chart or changing a type of the displayed chart.

8. The method of claim 2 , further comprising displaying only a name of the currently applied option to the chart within the spin control and exposing a different name for an option after the spin control is rotated.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, not including a signal, having computer-executable instructions for interacting with a spin control graphical user interface, the instructions executing on a processor of a computer, comprising:
automatically displaying a document having first information in response to receiving a user selection of data and that is created from values within the user selection of data;
determining options to present within a spin control; wherein the options when selected are applied to the displayed document;
displaying the spin control near the displayed document and partially obscured by the displayed document; wherein the spin control is divided into pie regions based on the determined options to present within the spin control; wherein each of the pie regions represents one of the determined options;
monitoring user input to determine when the spin control is interacted with;
updating a display of the spin control in response to the spin control being manipulated by user input that results in a different portion of the spin control being partially obscured by the displayed document; wherein the spin control rotates around a center point; and
applying an option that is selected in response to the rotation of the spin control such that the document displays other information representing the values within the user selection of data that are sorted based on the selected option.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the spin control rotates clockwise and counterclockwise, wherein the rotation of the spin control exposes different options to apply to the displayed document.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the option that is presented within a pie region of the spin control that is displayed diagonally to the displayed document is automatically applied when the spin control is rotated.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , further comprising rotating the spin control to expose the different options in response to determining a pointing device selecting a region within the spin control that is outside of the pie region that represents a currently applied option.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein a rotation of the spin control provides a display of a name of an option before a user manually selects the option for application to the displayed document.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the spin control is located at a corner of the displayed document.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , further comprising displaying only a name of the currently applied option to the displayed document within the spin control and exposing a different name for an option after the spin control is rotated.

16. A system for displaying and interacting with a spin control graphical user interface element, comprising:
a processor and a computer-readable medium;
an operating environment stored on the computer-readable medium and executing on the processor;
a display for displaying a document and a spin control;
a visual manager operating on the processor; and configured to perform tasks, comprising:
automatically displaying a document having first information in response to receiving a user selection of data and that is created from values within the user selection of data;
determining options to present within the spin control; wherein the options when selected are applied to the displayed document;
displaying the spin control on the display near a display of the document and partially obscured by the displayed document; wherein the spin control is divided into pie regions based on the determined options to present within the spin control; wherein each of the pie regions represents one of the determined options;
monitoring user input to determine when the spin control is activated;
updating a display of the spin control in response to the spin control being activated that results in a different portion of the spin control being partially obscured by the displayed document; wherein the spin control rotates around a center point;
automatically applying an option that is selected in response to the rotation of the spin control such that the document displays other information representing the values within the user selection of data that are sorted based on the selected option; and
removing the spin control from the display in response to the displayed document being removed from the display.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the spin control rotates clockwise and counterclockwise, wherein the rotation of the spin control exposes different options to apply to the document; wherein the currently applied option is presented within a pie region of the spin control that is displayed diagonally to the document.

18. The system of claim 17 , further comprising rotating the spin control to expose the different options in response to determining a pointing device selecting a pie region within the spin control that is outside of the pie region that represents a currently applied option.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the spin control is located at a corner of the document.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 ,

Assignees

• Radakovitz Samuel Chow
• Ruble Brian Scott
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Radakovitz Samuel Chow
• Ruble Brian Scott

Classifications

• G06F40/18

  of spreadsheets (form-filling G06F40/174) · CPC title

• G06F3/04847 Primary

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• G06F3/0481 Primary

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/14

  Digital output to display device {; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units} · CPC title