Abstract:
An operator interface is disclosed for a computer system having a relatively small display screen such as a PDA or pocket PC. The interface is adapted to replace the function of a menu bar to free up additional display space on the display screen normally dedicated to the menu bar. The operator interface includes a menu system that is normally hidden from view and is invoked on the display means in response to an action initiated by the operator, such as pressing a stylus, against the display screen or clicking and holding a button associated with a pointing device such as a mouse or trackball.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to menu systems for controlling and entering data into digital computer systems and in particular to a menu system for a portable computer utilizing a relatively small display screen.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    A display screen on a portable computer system such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or pocket or palm top personal computer (PC) is relatively small in area when compared to a desktop or laptop computer. As a result screen space can be very valuable. Conventional application windows on such portable systems typically display a menu bar which is often aligned with a horizontal border of the window such as along the lower border. The conventional menu bar includes a plurality of menu options such as ‘File’, ‘Edit’, and ‘Tools’ each of which may be associated with a pull-down menu. The conventional menu bar consumes up to about 10% of the available area of an application window.  
           [0003]    An object of the present invention is to provide a menu system that better utilizes the available space in computer systems having relatively small display screens.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    The present invention proposes to eliminate the conventional menu bar associated with such systems and to replace this with a pop-up menu. The pop-up menu may normally be hidden from view and may be invoked on the screen or window when it is required. The pop-up menu may be invoked, e.g., by pressing and holding a stylus against the screen or by clicking and holding a button associated with a pointer control device such as a mouse or trackball. The pop-up menu may be displayed for a predetermined time period after an operator presses the stylus against the screen or clicks the button on the pointer control device. The pop-up menu may be displayed in any desired position on the screen or window. The desired position on the window or screen may be indicated by the operator by pressing and holding the stylus or clicking and holding the button on the desired position. This may avoid the need to search for the menu because it may be invoked in any position on the screen.  
           [0005]    The pop-up menu may be any convenient shape or size. In one form the pop-up menu may be substantially square or rectangular. The pop-up menu may be at least 20×20 pixels in size. Where the pop-up menu is to contain graphics such as an icon or icons, it may be up to 60×60 pixels in size or more. The pop-up menu may be divided into plural menu spaces or cells. Each menu cell may itself be a smaller square. Each menu cell may be at least 20×20 pixels in size. Where the cell is to contain a graphic image such as an icon or icons, each graphic image within a cell may be at least 16×16 pixels in size. Each menu cell may be contiguous with another menu cell on two sides. The menu cells may be in the form of a 2×2 array, i.e., two menu cells wide and two menu cells high.  
           [0006]    In an application where there are three menu items e.g. ‘File’, ‘Edit’ and ‘Tools’, the pop-up menu may be divided into four menu cells each at least 20×20 pixels in size. One menu cell may be blank or may include a context sensitive menu item. The content of the context sensitive menu item may vary or change its function according to the position of the menu item on the window or screen where the pop-up menu is invoked. The content of the context sensitive menu item may also vary or change according to the current application or what the operator is currently doing in the application. In one form the context sensitive menu item may be placed in a top left corner of the pop-up menu array. Alternatively, it may be placed in the top right hand corner or in any position that is convenient relative to other menu items.  
           [0007]    An alternative to a blank cell is to eliminate the cell altogether by making the cell transparent to show the content area of the current application. In this case the pop-up menu ceases to be substantially square or rectangular since there may be at least one cell missing.  
           [0008]    The operator may select a function associated with a menu item by placing a stylus or cursor on the menu space associated with the menu item. The stylus or cursor need not be centred on the menu cell.  
           [0009]    If the operator does nothing for a first predetermined period of time, the context sensitive menu item may be displayed. If the operator does nothing for a second predetermined period of time, the pop-up menu itself may disappear from view.  
           [0010]    In some embodiments the pop-up menu may be invoked without the context sensitive menu item. The pop-up menu may disappear after a predetermined period of time if the operator does nothing. Alternatively, the pop-up menu may be invoked in combination with the context sensitive menu item. Both the pop-up menu and the context sensitive menu item may disappear after a predetermined time interval if the operator does nothing. Alternatively, the pop-up menu may disappear after the predetermined time interval and the context sensitive menu item may remain or the context sensitive menu item may disappear and the pop-up menu may remain. A further alternative is that the pop-up menu and the context sensitive menu item may both disappear in a staggered time interval and in any sequence or reverse sequence if the operator does nothing for the predetermined period of time. The above alternatives may be capable of being set by the operator or may be defaultly programmed into the operating system.  
           [0011]    In an application where there are two menu items on the menu bar, the pop-up menu may include two blank or transparent menu cells, or in the case where the pop-up menu includes a context sensitive menu item, one blank or transparent menu cell.  
           [0012]    In an application where there are six menu items on the menu bar, the menu cells may be in the form of a 3×3 array, i.e., three menu cells wide and three menu cells high. The pop-up menu may include three blank or transparent cells or in the case where the pop-up menu includes a context sensitive menu item, two blank or transparent cells.  
           [0013]    Since most programs do not allow a user to eliminate the menu bar, the pop-up menu feature may be adapted into an application source code before installation into a portable PC system. In most embodiments there may be essentially little or no difference in the interaction of the application with the pop-up menu feature when compared with the interaction of a conventional program with a menu bar.  
           [0014]    According to the present invention there is provided an operator interface for a computer system having a display means, said interface being adapted to replace the function of a conventional menu bar to free up additional display space on said display means normally dedicated to the menu bar, said interface including a menu system that is normally hidden from view and is invoked on said display means in response to an action initiated by said operator. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]    A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 shows a conventional menu bar associated with a PDA screen;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIGS. 2A and 2B show a PDA screen incorporating a pop-up menu according to the present invention;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 shows an array of menu cells including four menu items;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIGS. 4A and 4B show sub menus displayed when an operator selects a menu item;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 5 shows an array of menu cells including three menu items;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIGS. 6A and 6B show examples of arrays of menu cells including seven menu items;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 7 shows an array of menu cells in which menu items are represented by graphics icons; and  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 8 shows examples of arrays of menu cells as the number of menu items is varied. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0024]    [0024]FIG. 1 shows PDA screen  10  displaying a conventional application menu bar  11 . Menu bar  11  includes three menu items (File, Edit, Tools) and consumes approximately 10% of the available display area of PDA screen  10 . Since menu bar  11  cannot be eliminated in most programs, the available screen area is effectively reduced by 10%. This is a substantial loss on a PDA screen which may be no more than approximately 240×300 pixels in size.  
         [0025]    Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the present invention proposes a pop-up menu which is hidden from view until it is invoked by an operator. FIG. 2A shows the appearance of screen  10  prior to invoking the pop-up menu. The pop-up menu  12  shown in FIG. 2B is invoked by pressing a stylus (not shown) against screen  10 . The location of pop-up menu  12  is preferably not fixed but may be determined by the position of the stylus when it is pressed against screen  10 . Preferably the stylus is held against screen  10  for a predetermined period of time (e.g. 1-3 seconds) before pop-up menu  12  is invoked and appears on screen  10 .  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 shows pop-up menu  12  in greater detail. Pop-up menu  12  is 40×40 pixels in size and includes contiguous menu cells  13 ,  14 ,  15 ,  16  each 20×20 pixels in size. Menu cells  14 - 16  are occupied by menu items ‘E’ (Edit), ‘F’ (File) and ‘T’ (Tools). Menu cell  13  is occupied by menu item “*”. “*” is a context sensitive menu item, the contents of which vary according to its position on screen  10 .  
         [0027]    The operator can select a function associated with a menu item by pressing the stylus against the corresponding menu cell. The stylus does not have to be centred on the menu cell. For example, if the operator wishes to select the menu item ‘Tool’ he/she presses the stylus against menu cell  16  marked ‘T’. Referring to FIG. 4A this causes a sub-menu box  17  to be displayed adjacent menu-cell  16 . The stylus may then be used to select a function associated with one of sub-menus  18 - 20  in sub-menu box  17 .  
         [0028]    If the operator wishes to select the menu item ‘Edit’, he/she presses the stylus against menu-cell  14  marked ‘E’. Referring to FIG. 4B this causes a sub-menu box  21  to be displayed adjacent menu-cell  14 . The stylus may then be used to select a function associated with one of sub-menus  22 - 24  in sub-menu box  21 .  
         [0029]    Context sensitive menu item “*” may be displayed continuously or it may be displayed for a predetermined period of time after pop-up menu  12  is invoked on screen  10 . As noted above the function associated with menu item “*” may be fixed or it may vary according to the position on screen  10  that pop-up menu  12  is invoked. If the operator does nothing, pop-up menu  12  may disappear from view of a predetermined period of time after it is invoked (e.g. 10-15 seconds).  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 5 shows an alternative pop-up menu  25  including three menu items, namely: *, E, F and blank menu-cell  26 .  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 6A shows pop-up menu  27  including nine contiguous menu-cells  28 - 36  each 20×20 pixels in size. Menu cells  28 - 30 ,  31 - 32  and  34 - 35  are occupied by seven menu items: “*”, “E”, “N”, “F”, “T”, “O” and “I”. Menu cells  33  and  36  are left blank intentionally. As described with reference to FIG. 3, the operator can select a function associated with a menu item by pressing the stylus against the corresponding menu cell. “*” again represents a context sensitive menu item.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 6B shows an alternative pop-up menu  37  including seven menu items occupying menu cells  38 - 40 ,  41 - 42  and  44 - 45 . Menu cells  43  and  46  are left blank intentionally. Alternatively, menu cells  43  and  46  may be transparent to show the content area of the current application.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 7 shows an example of a calendar menu  47  including eight menu items occupying menu cells  48 - 50 ,  51 - 53  and  54 - 55 . Menu cell  56  is left blank or may be transparent to show the content area of the current application. The menu items occupying cells  48 - 50  denote context menu, New and Tool respectively. The menu items occupying cells  51 - 55  are represented by icons and denote agenda, day, weekly (current view), monthly and yearly respectively. The current status of a menu item is represented in cell  53  by a darkened background. The background can be any colour to indicate its current state.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 8 shows one example of an arrangement rule for presenting arrays of menu cells as the number of menu items is increased from two in the top left corner to eight in the bottom right corner. According to the preferred arrangement rule cells may be filled from left to right before moving to the next row. Adoption of the rule may allow an operator to anticipate where the menu items will appear. However, alternative rules for presenting arrays with differing numbers of menu items may be adopted and are within the scope of the present invention.  
         [0035]    The pop-up menu feature typically may be programmed into the application source code before installation into the PDA. The reason for this is that most programs do not allow the user to eliminate the menu bar. As noted above in most embodiments there may be little or no difference in the interaction of the application with the pop-up menu feature when compared with the interaction of a conventional program with a menu bar.  
         [0036]    Because the menu system of the present invention replaces the conventional application menu bar and invokes a menu system only when it is needed, the present invention may provide approximately 10% more usable screen area without a need to increase the size of the display screen. The present invention may also avoid the need to search the location of a menu item because the menu system may be invoked by the user anywhere on the display screen and at any time.  
         [0037]    Finally, it is to be understood that various alterations, modifications and/or additions may be introduced into the constructions and arrangements of parts previously described without departing from the spirit or ambit of the invention.