A method and system for facilitating the selection of icons

Abstract: A method and system for facilitating the selection of icons. Those icons which are next likely to be used are selected and automatically moved towards a cursor thereby facilitating selection of the icons. Additionally, those icons likely to be used or other icons selected by a user may track the cursor such that those icons are always close to the cursor and capable of being easily selected. Further, in order to facilitate selection of icons, icons are provided with the capability of announcing themselves when a cursor comes close to the icon. In addition, it is possible to reduce the amount of clutter on a computer display so that icons may be easily selected. In order to clean up a computer display, icons which are least likely to be used are faded, eliminated or shrunk to a smaller size. In another embodiment, icons that are not used very often may disappear into a master icon and further, icons which have a conceptual relationship between them may be linked by a visual graphical representation.

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates in general to graphical user interfaces and, in particular, to facilitating selection of icons located on a computer display. BACKGROUND ART Very often a computer display will include a number of icons which are used in the selection of a particular command or application program running on the computer system. A typical display will include many icons, each representing a different process, program or command. As one example, a trash can icon can represent a delete command. When a user wishes to select, for instance, the delete command, the user uses a device, such as a pointer or a mouse, to move through the many icons. In particular, the user moves a cursor through the icons over to the trash can and then clicks on the icon in order to select the delete command. Typically, the icons located on the computer display are stationary. However, in one prior art instance, a selected icon may be dragged over to a desired location on a computer display. This technique is described in U.S. Patent Number 5,040,131, entitled "Graphical Processing", issued on August 13, 1991 and assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. As described therein, a copy of an icon is dragged to a desired display point by using a press and hold operation of a mouse button. The Research Disclosure, no. 333, 1 January 1992, page 92 XP000281303 'Icon Display and Signaling Method' discloses a procedure for signaling the user that an action is requested, and facilitating user response by placing one or more icons (to be used for response) in proximity to the current position of the cursor corresponding to the response device (e.g., a mouse). The procedure consists of the following steps: First, a task (denoted "task A") determines that an interrupt message is to be generated. Second, Icon(s) associated with task A are selected and assembled for display. Third, a display position is determined based upon: the size of the required icon display region (from the second step), the current position of the cursor (for the device to be used in the response) and the display boundaries and other constraints. In a preferred embodiment, the icon display region is located proximate to, or underlying, the current cursor position. Fourth, task A determines whether the set of icons is to be displayed with emphasis for attention (e.g., emboldened or flashing) and if so, whether such emphasis is to be continued until a user response turns it off, or after a specified time gas elapsed, or after a number of user action has occurred. In addition, after a specified time or number of user actions, the icon display region may be automatically moved to a default position (possibly display region may be deleted entirely. Fifth, the display is updated according to the above specification. EP-A-0 464 742 discloses a data processor which includes a graphic display screen having a user interface on said screen, said interface including metaphoric symbols including at least a dynamic pop-up menu symbol, input mouse means connected through said processor to said screen, said mouse adapted to move a cursor on the display screen in response to the motion of the mouse, the improvement wherein said processor includes control means adapted to continuously compare the coordinates of said pop-up menu and said cursor, and generate an output signal when an initial distance D between said registration coordinate positions increases, indicating that the cursor is moving away from the menu, and further including means actuable in response to said output signal to move said pop-up menu in the direction of cursor movement whereby the user is alerted that a selection must be made at said pop-up menu. The prior art techniques of moving through the many icons located on the display and selecting a particular icon are tedious for ordinary users. Further, it is quite difficult for those users with manual dexterity problems to navigate through a complex task and the many icons to select the intended function. Therefore, a need exists for a technique in which the selection of one or more icons on a computer display is facilitated. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through the provision of a method and system for facilitating selection of one or more of a plurality of icons located on a computer display as laid out in the independent claims 1 and 9. A determination is made as to which of the plurality of icons are next likely to be used. Those icons which are next likely to be used are automatically moved towards a cursor located on the computer display. Those icons next likely to be used are selected based on a predefined likeliness criteria. In another embodiment, the likeliness criteria may be updated. In another aspect of the invention, a system for facilitating selection of one or more of a plurality of icons located on a computer display is provided. The system includes means for determining which of the plurality of icons are next likely to be used and means for automatically moving the one or more next likely icons towards a cursor located on the computer display. In a further aspect of the invention, a system for tracking a cursor located on a computer display is provided. The system includes means for determining a location on the computer display of the cursor, means for selecting from a plurality of icons located on the computer display one or more icons to track the cursor, and means for positioning the one or more icons within a predetermined distance from the cursor location. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, several techniques are provided for facilitating selection of one or more of a plurality of icons located on a computer display. One or more of these techniques help navigate through complex tasks and enable the selection of a particular icon more quickly. One or more of the techniques can serve as a manual dexterity prosthesis for people with manual dexterity problems. Further, one or more embodiments may help those having impaired hearing or vision. Further, one or more techniques may be used to reduce processing time of the computer system by closing out those icons which are very unlikely to be used. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 depicts one example of a typical computer having a plurality of icons located on a computer display; FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment of the hardware components associated with the computer of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 depicts one embodiment of the logic associated with a technique for automatically moving icons towards a cursor, in accordance with the principles of the present invention; FIG. 4 depicts one embodiment of the logic associated with tracking a cursor by one or more icons, in accordance with the principles of the present invention; BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In accordance with the principles of the present invention, techniques are provided for facilitating the selection of one or more icons located on a computer display. In one example, a user of a typical computer 10 (FIG. 1) has the opportunity to select from many icons 12 located on a computer display 14. Computer 10 is, for instance, an IBM PS/2 or an IBM RISC/6000. In one example, computer 10 includes a disk drive 16 for receiving and storing information on disks, which are input, for example, at one or more of slots 18. Additionally, computer 10 includes a mouse 20 for controlling the positioning of a cursor 22 on computer display 14. It is well understood in the art that cursor 22 may also be controlled by keys on a keyboard, a pointer, a touch of the display or in any other manner. As used herein, computer display includes a two-dimensional screen, a three-dimensional screen or any other medium that is capable of displaying icons. An icon is, for instance, a graphical representation or picture that represents a particular object or command, a menu item, a window in a window environment, written text or any entity that can be selected. It may be two or three-dimensional. Referring to FIG. 2, computer 10 also includes, for example, a memory 24, one or more central processing units 26 and one or more input/output devices 28. Each of these components is discussed below. In general, central processing units 26 contain the sequencing and processing facilities associated with the techniques of the present invention and for instruction execution, interruption action, timing functions, initial program loading and other machine related functions. Central processing units 26 are coupled to memory 24, which is directly addressable and provides for high speed processing of data by the CPUs. In one embodiment, memory 24 may include either real and/or virtual memory and may be either physically integrated with the CPUs or constructed in stand-alone units. Memory 24 is further coupled to input/output devices 28. Data is transferred from memory 24 to input/output devices 28 and from the input/output devices back to memory. In one embodiment, the data transferring operation associated with input/output devices 28 is synchronous to the execution of instructions on the CPU. In one embodiment, a technique of the present invention allows for one or more icons 12 to move towards cursor 22 in an effort to help users of computer 10 navigate through complex tasks or to serve as a manual dexterity prosthesis for people with manual dexterity problems. As described in detail below, in one example, one or more icons located on the display automatically move towards the current location of the cursor. Thus, a visual suggestion of the icons next likely to be selected is provided, thereby facilitating the selection of a particular icon. One embodiment of a technique for facilitating selection of an icon is described in detail with reference to FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 3, initially, a determination is made as to the location of cursor 22, STEP 30 "DETERMINE (X,Y) LOCATION OF CURSOR". In one instance, computer 10 is running a copy of Windows offered by Microsoft, Inc., and the X and Y coordinates of the cursor are determined by a standard query offered in the Windows environment. After the location of the cursor is determined, a further determination is made as to which of the icons located on computer display 14 are next likely to be used, STEP 32 "DETERMINE ICONS LIKELY TO BE NEXT USED". The icons next likely to be used may be determined in a number of ways. For instance, likeliness criteria for each icon can be stored on disk or within memory 24. In particular, a user profile is set up, which includes the icons on the display and the likeliness criteria, which can be periodically updated. As examples, the likeliness criteria may indicate the probability that a specific icon will be used after a specific event or it can include an overall probability of use or a probability of use based on past usage. For example, a user can set up a profile which includes each icon and a probability that the icon will be used. In one instance, the user has a profile in which ICON A has a use probability of 80%, ICON B 15% and ICON C 5%, etc. In another example, the profile includes a list of all the icons and the probability of usage for each icon, which is dependent on a particular event. For instance, the profile may include ICON A and ICON B and an indication that ICON A has a 90% use probability after using ICON B and ICON B has a 20% use probability after using ICON A. In yet another example, the user does not set up a profile but uses a program to monitor and determine the probability that one icon will be used or the probability that one icon will be used after a particular icon or a particular event. In this example, as icons are used, the program automatically updates the likeliness criteria. After selecting which icon or icons are likely to be used next, those likely icons are positioned close to the (X,Y) cursor location determined in STEP 30, STEP 34 "POSITION LIKELY ICONS CLOSE TO (X,Y) CURSOR LOCATION". In particular, the likely icons are moved within a predetermined distance, D, from the current cursor location (X,Y). In one example, the predetermined distance may be, for instance, 100 pixels. For example, assuming that a screen has 1000 x 1000 pixels and the cursor is currently located at 500,500, a likely icon may be moved to position 600,500. If there is more than one icon to be moved, the additional likely icons can be spaced a certain distance apart from each other. For example, the next icon could be spaced at 500,600 and etc. The manner in which a plurality of icons is positioned could, for example, be stored in memory or on disk as a canned arrangement, or it can be set each time by an application or user. In one embodiment, the likely icons are moved by, for example, redrawing them at the new location using standard techniques. Alternatively, an animated effect can be achieved by redrawing the icons several times, each time closer to their final position. This would give an appearance of gradual movement. Subsequent to positioning the likely icons close to the cursor, the user makes a selection of a particular icon or a specific event occurs, STEP 36 "WAIT FOR USER SELECTION, EVENTS". In one embodiment, the icon selection is made by using mouse 20. Mouse 20 positions the cursor on a particular icon and then by clicking a button on the mouse, a selection is made. Thereafter, the likeliness criteria is updated, STEP 38 "UPDATE LIKELINESS CRITERIA". In one embodiment, in order to update the likeliness criteria, the stored data is updated in a conventional manner by the user or a program. Subsequently, flow passes back to STEP 30 "DETERMINE (X,Y) LOCATION OF CURSOR", and the technique described above is repeated. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the technique described above is just one example of how icons can be moved close to a cursor. This technique may be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, selection of an icon is also facilitated by the fact that one or more icons track or follow the cursor. The icons to track may be, for example, the icons determined above to be the next likely icons to be used or they may be other icons, as described below. One technique for tracking a cursor is described below with reference to FIG. 4. Initially, a determination is made as to the location of the cursor, STEP 40 "DETERMINE (X,Y) CURSOR LOCATION". This may be accomplished as described above with reference to STEP 30. Thereafter, a further determination is made as to which icons will track the cursor, STEP 42 "DETERMINE WHICH ICONS WILL TRACK CURSOR". In order to make this determination, a number of techniques may be used. For example, tracking criteria may be stored in memory or on disk, which indicates which icons should track the cursor. In another example, those icons to track the cursor are those icons which are next likely to be used, as described above. Additionally, icons may be trained for a particular use or application. For example, if after performing a certain action (e.g., selecting from a menu, pointing to an object or running a particular program), user A selects ICON B 90% of the time, then ICON B will be drawn to the cursor when that specific action is being performed. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, low probability icons are positioned furthest from the cursor. Once it is determined which icons will track the cursor, those icons are moved or positioned within a predetermined distance from the cursor, STEP 44 "MOVE TRACKING ICONS TO NEW (X,Y) LOCATION WITHIN THRESHOLD DISTANCE OF CURSOR". In particular, a predetermined distance is computed, retrieved from storage or provided by the user or an application program and the icons are moved within the predetermined distance, as described above. As used herein, move may refer to a continuous movement or to a jump to a particular location. Subsequent to moving the tracking icons close to the cursor, the user makes a selection or a particular event occurs, STEP 46 "WAIT FOR USER SELECTION, EVENTS". Thereafter, the tracking criteria is updated by the user or a program, STEP 48 "UPDATE TRACKING CRITERIA", and flow returns to STEP 40 "DETERMINE (X,Y) CURSOR LOCATION". In order to track the cursor, the above procedure would be performed each time the cursor moved. Thus, as the cursor moves, so do the tracking icons. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the techniques described herein could be applied to many types of computer systems using graphical user interfaces including, for instance, IBM PS/1 and PS/2 systems and PC compatibles running Windows or DOS, and RISC/6000 and other AIX work stations using graphical AIX interfaces.

Claims: A method for facilitating a selection of one or more of a plurality of icons (12) located on a computer display (14), said method comprising the steps of: determining the location of a cursor (22) on a computer display (14), and displaying one or more icons (12) positioned close to the determined cursor (22) location, characterized by the steps of: determining which of said plurality of icons (12) located on said computer display (14) are likely to be used next, selecting one or more icons (12) of the determined icons (12), and automatically moving the one or more selected icons (12) towards said location of said cursor (22). The method according to claim 1, wherein said determining step comprises selecting from predefined likeliness criteria stored on a disk drive (16) or within a memory (24). The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said determining step utilizes a user profile set up, which includes the icons (12) on the computer display (14) and the likeliness criteria. The method according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising the step of periodically updating said likeliness criteria. The method according to one of the claims 2 to 4, wherein said likeliness criteria includes a probability of use based on past usage. The method according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising the step of setting up a profile which includes each icon (12) and a probability that the icon (12) will be used. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said automatically moving step comprises redrawing the icons (12) several times, each time closer to the final position for giving an appearance of gradual movement. The method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the steps determining which of said plurality of icons are next likely to be used, selecting one or more icons and automatically moving the selected icons are repeated each time said cursor (22) moves to a new location. A system for facilitating a selection of one or more of a plurality of icons (12) located on a computer display (14), said system comprising means specially adapted to implement the method as recited in one of the claims 1 to 8.

Inventors: GROSSMAN BERTRAND M, MCLEAN JAMES GORDON, PICKOVER CLIFFORD A, SCHWARTZ MICHAEL STEPHEN, WINARSKI DANIEL JAMES, GROSSMAN, BERTRAND M., MCLEAN, JAMES GORDON, PICKOVER, CLIFFORD A., SCHWARTZ, MICHAEL STEPHEN, WINARSKI, DANIEL JAMES
Applicants: IBM, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
Application year: 1995
Main classification: G06F3
IPC codes: G06F17, G06F3, G06T11