Patent Publication Number: US-2019196677-A1

Title: Managing Tab Buttons

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims foreign priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201210593320.3 filed on 31 Dec. 2012, entitled “Method and System for Managing Tab Buttons,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to the field of smart terminal device, and more specifically, to a method and a system for managing tab buttons. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With the popularity and development of mobile terminals, there are more and more applications for mobile terminals. However, designs and detail deployments of many applications at the mobile terminals still follow conventional designs for personal computers. 
     The main difference between a mobile terminal and a personal computer is that the mobile terminal is smaller in size and is easier to carry. Accordingly, a screen of the mobile terminal such as a tablet or a smart phone is relatively small as compared with that of the personal computer. Even though there is a trend to design a big screen for the mobile terminal, the screen of the mobile terminal cannot match that of the personal computer. Therefore, a space of a screen for the mobile terminal is precious such that all applications designed for the mobile terminal try to make reasonable use of the screen of the mobile terminal. However, there are still a lot of applications that follow the design patterns for personal computers and cannot make progress in using the space of the screen of a mobile terminal. 
     The above drawback is more apparent in the design of a tab button. For example, a lot of applications have multiple tab buttons at their interfaces. Such multiple tab buttons occupy one line or multiple lines in the space and form a tab button bar. A user clicks the tab button for operation. However, as the screen of the mobile terminal is small and there is less display space, in order to reserve more space for a main interface in the small screen of the mobile terminal, the tab buttons are designed in small sizes. While the current mobile terminals often use touch screens as input devices, the tab buttons which are too small in size are disadvantageous for the user to click and choose an item. Thus, by using conventional designs for the tab buttons and the tab button bar, the user often cannot accurately click the tab button or cannot click a target tab button. 
     SUMMARY 
     This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify all key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used alone as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The term “techniques,” for instance, may refer to apparatus(s), system(s), method(s) and/or computer-readable instructions as permitted by the context above and throughout the present disclosure. 
     The present disclosure provides a method and a system for managing tab buttons. The present techniques use a focusing area to obtain information of a tab button that has fallen within the focusing area and avoid clicking the tab button, thereby improving accuracy and convenience of selecting the tab button. 
     The present disclosure provides an example method for managing tab buttons. 
     A tab sliding bar including a plurality of tab buttons is established. A focusing area is set up at an area of a display screen. When the tab sliding bar is slid, information of a tab button that has fallen within the focusing area is obtained. The information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area is used as input information at a page. The page is displayed according to the input information. For example, the page may include a list of search results. The list of search results includes one or more business objects. 
     An example method for displaying the page according to the input information may include the following. The one or more business objects are re-ranked and displayed according to the input information. 
     The example method for managing the tab buttons may further include the following. A coordinate system covering the display screen is constructed. The focusing area and each tab button are assigned a coordinate respectively. An example method for obtaining information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area may include the following. When a time period that the tab buttons are not slid reaches a first time threshold, a tab button with a minimal coordinative difference from the focusing area is determined as having fallen within the focusing area. 
     The example method for managing the tab buttons may further include the following. 
     A coordinate of the tab button that has not fallen within the focusing area is modified so that the coordinate of the tab button that has not fallen within the focusing area is located outside the display screen in the coordinate system. 
     The example method for managing the tab buttons may further include the following. When a sliding operation at the page is detected, a transparent degree of the currently displayed tab button is modified. 
     The example method for managing the tab buttons may further include the following. When the page is initially displayed or refreshed, the sliding bar is displayed or popped out. An attribute of the tab sliding bar is modified such that a tab button determined as a default tab button in the tab sliding bar is displayed in the focusing area, and coordinates of tab buttons other than the default tab button in the tab sliding bar are to be located outside of the area of the screen in the coordinate system. 
     The present disclosure provides an example system for managing tab buttons. The example system may include a focusing module and a displaying module. The focusing module sets up a focusing area at a display screen and, during a process that the tab sliding bar is slid, obtains information of the tab button among multiple tab buttons that has fallen within the focusing area. The displaying module uses the information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area as input information at a page and displays the page according to the input information. 
     For example, the page may include a list of search results. The list of search results includes one or more business objects. For example, the displaying module may include an information inputting unit and a ranking and displaying unit. The information inputting unit extracts the information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area as input information. The ranking and displaying unit re-ranks and displays the one or more business objects according to the input information. 
     For example, the focusing module may include a determining unit and an obtaining unit. The determining unit sets the focusing area at the area of the screen and, during the process that the tab sliding bar is slid, determines the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area. The obtaining unit obtains information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area. 
     The example system may further include a coordinate module. The coordinate module constructs a coordinate system including the area of the screen and assigns a coordinate to the focusing area and each tab button respectively. An example method for obtaining information of the tab button that has fallen in the focusing area may include the following. When a time period that the tab buttons are not slid reaches a first time threshold, a tab button with a minimal coordinative difference from the focusing area is determined as having fallen within the focusing area. 
     For example, the coordinating module may include a coordinate modifying unit that modifies a coordinate of the tab button that has not fallen within the focusing area to be outside the display screen in the coordinate system. 
     For example, the example system may further include a transparency module that, when a sliding operation at the page is detected, modifies a transparent degree of the currently displayed tab button. 
     For example, the example system may further include a tab bar module that, when the page is initially displayed or refreshed, displays or pops out the tab sliding bar, and modifies an attribute of the tab sliding bar so that a tab button determined as a default tab button in the tab sliding bar is displayed in the focusing area. The coordinate modifying unit further modifies coordinates of tab buttons other than the default tab button in the tab sliding bar to be outside the display screen in the coordinate system. 
     The present techniques use the focusing area to obtain information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area and use such information as the input information to display the page, thereby improving accuracy of selecting the tab button and avoiding clicking the wrong button or failure to click the tab button. The present techniques also save the space of the screen by hiding one or more tab buttons at a proper time without affecting the user to find all tab buttons in the tab sliding bar. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       To better illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following is a brief introduction of the FIGs to be used in the description of the embodiments. It is apparent that the following FIGs only relate to some embodiments of the present disclosure. A person of ordinary skill in the art can obtain additional embodiments of the present disclosure according to the FIGs in the present disclosure without creative efforts. The example embodiments and their specifications are used to illustrate the present disclosure and shall not constitute restrictions to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a flow chart of an example method for managing tab buttons according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of an example page displayed at a mobile terminal. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a flow chart of another example method according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  show schematic views of the example page that is displayed at the mobile client terminal of an e-commerce website. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a diagram of an example system for managing the tab buttons in accordance with the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a diagram of another example system for managing the tab buttons in accordance with the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present techniques are described in detail below by reference to the FIGS and example embodiments to illustrate purposes, technical plans, and advantages of the present disclosure. It is apparent that the embodiments described herein are only some embodiments instead of all embodiments of the present disclosure. All other embodiments that could be obtained by a person having ordinary skill in the art based on the example embodiments of the present disclosure without any creative efforts shall be regarded as falling within the protection scope of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a flow chart of an example method for managing tab buttons according to an example embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the present techniques use a focusing area to obtain information of information of a tab button that has fallen within the focusing area. 
     At  102 , a tab sliding bar including a plural of tab buttons is established. The focusing area is set at an area of a display screen. 
     These operations are basic procedures in the example embodiment of the present disclosure, in which the following operations are achieved by applying the tab sliding bar and the focusing area established herein. 
     At  104 , during a process that the tab sliding bar is slid, information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area is obtained. The information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area is used as input information at a page. 
     The present techniques described herein are portions of the example embodiment, in which the information of the tab button is obtained through the focusing area instead of directly clicking the tab buttons. The tab sliding bar built in the operations can be slid by an operation of a user, and a position of a tab button in the tab sliding bar is changed accordingly when the tab sliding bar is slid. Thus, the user may slide the tab sliding bar to control which tab buttons fall within the focusing area. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of an example page  202  displayed at a mobile terminal. Tab buttons, such as a tab button  204 ( 1 ), a tab button  204 ( 2 ), a tab button  204 ( 3 ), and a tab button  204 ( 4 ), are arranged horizontally in a tab sliding bar  206 . A focusing area  208  is illustrated as a block in form of a dotted line. In  FIG. 2 , the tab button  204 ( 4 ) has fallen within the focusing area  208  so that the information represented by the tab button  204 ( 4 ) is used as input information. 
     At  106 , the page is displayed according to the input information. 
     In an example embodiment, when a specific tab button has fallen within the focusing area, the tab button is regarded as being chosen. An achieved technical effect is the same as that of actually clicking the tab button in the conventional techniques. That is, corresponding display is presented according to the information of the chosen tab button. In the example embodiment, after the tab button is chosen by means of the focusing area, the information of the chosen tab button is used as input information, and the page is displayed according to the input information. The related effect of choosing the tab button is thus achieved. 
     The information of the tab button is obtained through the focusing area, and the obtained information of the tab button is used as the input information to display the page. Thus, the present techniques replace the conventional manner of clicking the tab button, thereby improving the accuracy for choosing the tab button and avoiding a situation of mistakenly clicking another tab button or of failing to click the tab button. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a basic embodiment of the present disclosure, based on which many other extension and modification may be conducted.  FIG. 3  shows a flow chart of another example method according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the application scenario is a mobile application program at a mobile terminal for an e-commerce application such as Taobao.com. The tab sliding bar may include four tab buttons such as a tab button of popularity, a tab button of price, a tab button of sale volume, and a tab button of credit. The user may click any one of the tab buttons to list products according to attribute represented by a particular tab button. 
     The method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure comprises: 
     At  302 , the tab sliding bar including multiple tab buttons is established. The focusing area is set at the display area. 
     At  304 , a coordinate system covering the display screen is constructed. The focusing area and each tab button are assigned a coordinate respectively. 
     After the coordinate system for the display of the mobile terminal is constructed, the coordinate system may be used to accurately assign positions of various display contents at the display. After the coordinate system is established, the focusing area and every tab button are allocated with a coordinate respectively. For example, the focusing area may be represented as a specific range of coordinates. A tab button can be positioned by its coordinate so that the management for its position can be achieved. 
     It should be noted that the coordinate of the tab button can be located either inside or outside of the display screen. If the coordinate of the tab button is located inside of the display screen, it indicates that the tab button is displayed corresponding to its coordinate at the display screen. If the coordinate of the tab button is null or located outside of the display screen, the tab button is not displayed on the display screen. However, the tab button should not be regarded as having disappeared from the display screen in a viewpoint from a program processing. After the coordinate of the tab button is adjusted within the display screen, the tab button is displayed at the display screen. The above principle applies for hiding the tab button in the present disclosure. 
     At  306 , the tab sliding bar is slid and a respective coordinate of a respective tab button changes according to a sliding movement of the tab sliding bar. 
     In this embodiment, the user may slide the tab sliding bar to change the position of the tab button that is displayed on the display screen. In essence, the coordinate of the tab button is changed. By sliding the tab sliding bar, the user may actively select a desired tab button to be fallen within the focusing area. 
     At  308 , when a time period that the tab buttons have not been slid is more than a first time threshold period, a tab button with a minimum coordinative difference from the focusing area is determined as the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area. 
     When the time period that the tab buttons have not been slid is more than the first time threshold period, it would be deemed that the user has completed the sliding movement for the tab sliding bar, and the selected tab button has been placed to be within the focusing area. 
     For example, in a practical implementation, during the process of sliding the tab sliding bar, it is not necessary that the tab button completely falls within the focusing area. As referring to  FIG. 2 , it is not necessary for the user to completely and precisely locate the tab button to have fallen within a block of dotted lines which represent the focusing area. It only requires one of the tab buttons to be roughly overlapped with the block of dotted lines, and then a back-end computing device may automatically find the tab button with a minimum coordinate difference from the focusing area by comparing a coordinate difference between each tab button and the focusing area, i.e., the tab button that is roughly overlapped with the focusing area. Accordingly, the coordinate of such tab button is modified automatically to be precisely overlapping with the focusing area and thus to enable the tab button to have fallen within the focusing area. 
     At  310 , for example, the coordinate of the tab button that has not fallen within the focusing area is modified to be outside of the display screen. 
     This example operation in the example embodiment saves space of the display screen at the mobile terminal and increases a utilizing efficiency for the space of the display screen. In this example embodiment, it assumes that the tab button that is located outside of the focusing area is the button that the user will temporarily not operate. Thus, this operation hides the tab button that is temporarily not used to prevent the tab button from occupying too much space of the display screen. 
     At  312 , for example, the page including a list of search results is displayed. The list of the search results includes one or more business objects. The information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area is used as input information at the page. The one or more business objects are re-ranked according to the input information and then displayed. 
       FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  show schematic views of the example page  402  that is displayed at the mobile client terminal for an e-commerce website such as Taobao™. The user uses the mobile client terminal to search business objects such as correlated products and the correlated products (not shown) are displayed at a main area of the page.  FIG. 4  illustrates a diagram of an example tab sliding bar in full display status. The example tab sliding bar  404 , for example, may include four tab buttons. A tab button  406 ( 1 ) represents popularity. A tab button  406 ( 2 ) represents price. A tab button  406 ( 3 ) represents sale volume. A tab button  406 ( 4 ) represents credit. The tab button  406 ( 4 ) representing credit falls within the focusing area  408 .  FIG. 5  illustrates a schematic view of the page  402  after the tab buttons that have not fallen within the focusing area  408  are hidden. In  FIG. 5 , among the tab buttons, only the tab button  406 ( 4 ) representing credit is displayed. 
     In this example embodiment, the information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area represents credit. Thus, credit is used as input information. The products obtained from a search may be sorted in an ascending or descending sequence according to the credit attribute and re-displayed at the page. As a result, the present techniques achieve the same result as clicking the tab button  406 ( 4 ) credit. 
     The present techniques enhance the technical implementation by applying the coordinate system to allocate and modify coordinates of the tab buttons. Moreover, the present techniques may optionally hide the tab buttons that have not fallen in the focusing area to further save the space of the display screen at the mobile terminal and improve the utilizing efficiency of the display screen. 
     Based on the example embodiment as shown in  FIG. 3 , the present disclosure may have two optional and extensible technical characteristics. 
     Between the operations at  304  and the operations at  306  of the example method as shown in  FIG. 3 , the operations may further include the following. 
     When the page is initially displayed or refreshed, the tab sliding bar is displayed or popped out. An attribute of the tab sliding bar is modified so that a tab button set as a default tab button is displayed in the focusing area, and the coordinates of the tab buttons of the tab sliding bar other than the default tab button of the tab sliding bar are located outside of the display screen. 
     In order to enable the user to clearly and intuitively find the tab buttons that are included in the webpage, the tab buttons are not hidden when the initial display changes. Instead, the tab sliding bar is popped out so that the user may see the tab sliding bar in full. Then the default tab button fallen within the focusing area is reserved while the other tab buttons are hidden. 
     Through the extended operations at  304 , the present techniques do not prevent the user from knowing the detailed tab buttons included in the tab sliding bar and hide some tab buttons when appropriate, thereby saving the display screen. 
     For another example, the example embodiment of the present disclosure as shown in  FIG. 3  may include the following optional operations. 
     When the sliding operation at the page is detected, a transparent degree of the currently displayed tab button at the page is modified. 
     For instance, according to a usual operational habit of the user, when the user pulls down a browser interface, the user often wants to browse a product or other contents below the current display screen. The operations of the tab buttons may not be necessary at this time. Therefore, when the user instructs to conduct a pull down operation at the browser interface, the tab buttons remaining in the focusing area have no use. When the transparent degree of the tab button remaining in the display screen is modified to 100%, it is equivalent to hide and not to display the tab button, thereby saving the utilizing efficiency of the display screen. In contrast, when the user instructs to conduct a pull up operation at the browser interface, it is probably that the user needs to operate the tab buttons. Thus, the transparent degree of the tab button is modified to 0% so that the user may easily find the tab button to conduct further operations. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a diagram of an example system  600  for managing the tab buttons in accordance with the present disclosure. The example system  600  may implement the example method as shown in  FIG. 1 . The techniques in both example embodiments have no substantial differences and may be referenced to each other. 
     The system  600  may include one or more processor(s)  602  and memory  604 . The memory  604  is an example of computer-readable media. As used herein, “computer-readable media” includes computer storage media and communication media. 
     Computer storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-executed instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. In contrast, communication media may embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave. As defined herein, computer storage media does not include communication media. The memory  604  may store therein program units or modules and program data. 
     In the example of  FIG. 6 , the memory  604  may store therein a focusing module  606  and a displaying module  608 . The focusing module  606  sets up a focusing area at a display screen and, during a process that the tab sliding bar is slid, obtains information of the tab button among multiple tab buttons that has fallen in the focusing area. The displaying module  608  uses the information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area as input information at a page and displays the page according to the input information. 
     The present techniques use the focusing area to obtain information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area and use such information as the input information to display the page, thereby replacing manually clicking the tab button in the conventional techniques, improving accuracy of selecting the tab button, and avoiding clicking the wrong button or failure to click the tab button. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a diagram of an example system  700  for managing the tab buttons in accordance with the present disclosure. The system  700  may include one or more processor(s)  702  and memory  704 . The memory  704  may store therein a focusing module  706 , a displaying module  708 , and a coordinate module  710 . The focusing module  706  sets up a focusing area at a display screen and, during a process that the tab sliding bar is slid, obtains information of the tab button among multiple tab buttons that has fallen within the focusing area. 
     For example, the focusing module  706  may include a determining unit  712  and an obtaining unit  714 . 
     The determining unit  712  sets the focusing area at the area of the display screen and, during the process that the tab sliding bar is slid, determines the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area. For instance, when a time period that the tab buttons have not been slid is more than a first time threshold period, a tab button with a minimum coordinative difference from the focusing area is determined as the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area. 
     The obtaining unit  714  obtains information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area. 
     The displaying module  708  uses the information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area as input information at a page and displays the page according to the input information. 
     For example, the page may include a list of search results. The list of search results includes one or more business objects. For example, the displaying module  708  may include an information inputting unit  716  and a ranking and displaying unit  718 . The information inputting unit  716  extracts the information of the tab button that has fallen within the focusing area as the input information. The ranking and displaying unit  718  re-ranks the one or more business objects according to the input information and displays them. 
     The coordinate module  710  constructs a coordinate system including the area of the display screen and assigns a coordinate to the focusing area and each tab button respectively. For example, the coordinate module  710  may include a coordinate modifying unit (not shown in  FIG. 7 ) that modifies a coordinate of a tab button that has not fallen within the focusing area to be outside the area of the display screen in the coordinate system. In addition, the coordinate modifying unit may modify coordinates of tab buttons that are not the default tab button in the tab sliding bar to be outside the area of the display screen in the coordinate system. 
     For example, the system  700  may further include a transparency module (not shown in  FIG. 7 ) that, when a sliding operation at the page is detected, modified a transparent degree of the currently displayed tab button at the page. 
     For example, the system  700  may further include a tab bar module (not shown in  FIG. 7 ) that, when the page is initially displayed or refreshed, displays or pops out the tab sliding bar, and modifies an attribute of the tab sliding bar so that a tab button determined as the default tab button in the tab sliding bar is displayed in the focusing area. 
     It is noted that some functional modules or units are not shown in  FIG. 7 . 
     For example, the above example system may correspond to the example method as shown in  FIG. 3 . Some detailed techniques have been described in the example embodiment of  FIG. 3  and are not described herein. 
     The present techniques enhance the technical implementation by applying the coordinate system to allocate and modify coordinates of the tab buttons. Moreover, the present techniques may hide the tab buttons that have not fallen in the focusing area, opt out the tab sliding bar, and modify the transparent degree of the tab button. Thus, the present techniques do not prevent the user from finding the detailed tab buttons included in the tab sliding bar and do hide some tab buttons when appropriate, thereby saving the space of the display screen. 
     It should be noted that the above descriptions merely describe some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Modification and variations may be made by a person having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure, and all such modifications and variations should be considered as falling within the scope of the present disclosure.