Patent ID: 7509348

Claim:
A method in a computing system for displaying menus via navigation dials that represent concentric circles of menu items, the method comprising: receiving a menu structure having a menu hierarchy of menu items with menu sub-items, the menu hierarchy having levels of menu items; receiving a location on a display; retrieving menu items of a first level of the menu hierarchy from the received menu structure; populating a first navigation dial with the retrieved menu items; displaying the populated first navigation dial near the received location; and when a user selects a menu item of the displayed first navigation dial, retrieving menu sub-items of the selected menu item from the received menu structure; populating a second navigation dial with the retrieved menu sub-items; and displaying the populated second navigation dial as a radially expanding navigation dial, wherein the first navigation dial and the second navigation dial share a common center point, and wherein the populated second navigation dial is displayed outside the perimeter of the populated first navigation dial near the selected menu item.