Patent ID: 7458038

Claim:
A method for displaying selection indication fields comprising the steps of: displaying a graphical interface on a display, the graphical interface comprising one or more selectable items; receiving user input via a pointing device; determining that the user input corresponds to a region of the graphical interface proximate to a first selectable item; displaying on the display in the region of the graphical interface a selection indication field corresponding to the first selectable item, wherein selecting the first selectable item performs a different function than selecting the selection indication field corresponding to the first selectable item, such that a separate display state is displayed when the pointing device is hovering over the first selectable item and a different separate display state is displayed when the pointing device is hovering over the selection indication field; receiving additional user input via the pointing device; determining that the additional user input corresponds to a region outside of the region of the graphical interface; determining whether the first selectable item is currently selected; and continuing to display the selection indication field in the region of the graphical interface only if the first selectable item is currently selected.