Creation, editing and navigation of diagrams

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9436437-B2
Application number	US-97206010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2010
Priority date	Dec 17, 2010
Publication date	Sep 6, 2016
Grant date	Sep 6, 2016

Abstract

Organizing data where the data has spatial significance. A method includes, at a user interface, displaying to a user a representation of spatially structured data. User input is received at a computer implemented user interface through one or more hardware user interface devices. The user input is domain agnostic, but has a spatial connotation. Based on pre-existing structured data displayed at the user interface, a domain is determined for the user input. Based on the determined domain, the user input is interpreted into a domain specific response. The domain specific response is consistent with the spatial connotation across a plurality of domains.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, implemented at a computer system that includes one or more processors, of organizing data wherein the data has spatial significance, the method comprising:
at a user interface, displaying to a user a representation of spatially structured data which includes one or more displayed objects; at the user interface, indicating that a particular object included in the spatially structured data has been selected, including displaying a plurality of directional user interface controls, including (i) a first user interface control above the particular object indicating that an up directional user input associated with the particular object can be received, (ii) a second user interface control below the particular object indicating that a down directional user input associated with the particular object can be received, (iii) a third user interface control to the left of the particular object indicating that a left directional user input associated with the particular object can be received, and (iv) a fourth user interface control to the right of the particular object indicating that a right directional user input associated with the particular object can be received;
receiving a directional user input through one or more hardware input devices that is associated with the particular object, the directional user input being selected from among an up direction, a down direction, a left direction, and a right direction;
based on receiving the directional user input, determining a domain type of the particular object; and
based on the determined domain type of the particular object, interpreting the directional user input to add a new object to the spatially structured data in association with the particular object, wherein:
if the domain type is a first domain type, the type of the new object is selected from within a first plurality of object types that are associated with the first domain type, and the type of the new object is further selected from among the first plurality of object types based on the particular direction of the directional user input, at least two different directions being associated with different object types in the first plurality of object types; and
if the domain type is a second domain type, the type of the new object is selected from within a second plurality of object types that are different from the first plurality of object types that are associated with the second domain type, and the type of the new object is further selected from among the second plurality of object types based on the particular direction of the directional user input, at least two different directions being associated with different object types in the second plurality of object types.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising additional receiving user input generated with the assistance of a hinting module that provides one or more constrained hints.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the hints are constrained based on the type of the particular object.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the hints are constrained based on context.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving additional user input generated with the assistance of a mnemonics module that provides one or more constrained hints.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising changing a default type of data within the new object to a new type using a mouse scroll mechanism, wherein activation of the mouse scroll mechanism causes a filtered list of types to be displayed and receiving a user selection of the new type from the displayed types in the filtered list.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising changing a default type of data within the new object to a new type using user input generated with the assistance of a mnemonics module that causes the new type to be selected from a filtered list of types in response to detecting a typed character.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising changing a default type of data within the new object to a new type using user input generated with the assistance of a hinting module that causes a filtered list of types to be displayed in response to detecting a typed character and receiving a user selection of the new type from the filtered list of types.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating one or more links between the particular object and the new object using user input generated with the assistance of a hinting module that provides one or more constrained hints.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatially structured data comprises data having a visually observable spatial layout.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving additional user input for navigating links between data objects in the representation of spatially structured data.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising displaying a constrained list of possible navigation destinations based on the domain type the particular object in response to detecting a plurality of different navigation destinations in a particular direction identified by received navigation input.

13. A computer system, comprising:
one or more hardware processors;
a display device;
one or more hardware input devices; and
one or more computer readable hardware storage devices comprising computer executable instructions that are executable by the one or more hardware processors to configure the computer system to organize data wherein the data has spatial significance, including computer executable instructions that are executable to configure the computer system to perform at least the following:
display, at a user interface on the display device, a representation of spatially structured data which includes one or more displayed objects;
at the user interface, indicate that a particular object included in the spatially structured data has been selected, including displaying a plurality of directional user interface controls, including (i) a first user interface control above the particular object indicating that an up directional user input associated with the particular object can be received, (ii) a second user interface control below the particular object indicating that a down directional user input associated with the particular object can be received, (iii) a third user interface control to the left of the particular object indicating that a left directional user input associated with the particular object can be received, and (iv) a fourth user interface control to the right of the particular object indicating that a right directional user input associated with the particular object can be received;
receive a directional user input through the one or more hardware input devices that is associated with the particular object, the directional user input being selected from among an up direction, a down direction, a left direction, and a right direction;
based on receiving the directional user input, determine a domain type of the particular object; and
based on the determined domain type of the particular object, interpret the directional user input to add a new object to the spatially structured data in association with the particular object, wherein:
if the domain type is a first domain type, the type of the new object is selected from within a first plurality of object types that are associated with the first domain type, and the type of the new object is further selected by the one or more hardware processors from among the first plurality of object types based on the particular direction of the directional user input, at least two different directions being associated with different object types in the first plurality of obje

Assignees

• Jacobsen Jens K
• Khan Sadi
• Jones Gareth Alun
• Gibson Tyler Edward
• De Mar Steven Douglas
• Byrne Andrew Jude
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Jacobsen Jens K
• Khan Sadi
• Jones Gareth Alun
• Gibson Tyler Edward
• De Mar Steven Douglas
• Byrne Andrew Jude

Classifications

• G06F9/453

  Help systems · CPC title

• G06F8/10 Primary

  Requirements analysis; Specification techniques · CPC title

• G06F9/4446

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/048

  Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• G06F3/00 Primary

  Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements · CPC title