Patent Document ID: 8013837
Application ID: 11248944
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A process that provides a computer user wanting to perform standard point-and-click activities usually requiring the use of a mouse or other pointing device to first identify the location of the activity on a computer's two-dimensional display and then perform a standard clicking activity, an alternative method of identifying the location of a desired target visible display element from a plurality of possible such visible display elements visible on the said display comprising the steps of: a) providing the user a visible two-dimensional visual display; b) providing on said two-dimensional visual display a matrix of visible display elements comprising two or more horizontal rows with each row containing two or more visible display elements, and two or more vertical columns with each column containing two or more visual display elements; c) providing a mechanism that displays a visible current horizontal location indicator on said two-dimensional visual display which indicates the horizontal location of the column of display elements currently being offered to the user for selection, and helping the user discriminate those visible display elements currently being offered for selection from those display elements not currently being offered for selection; d) providing the user an input or control device sensing variations in direction and speed along one selected measurable dimension of the user's behavior while actively performing a voluntary continuously variable response; e) providing a mechanism which transduces the sensed variations in direction and speed into control-device output values which are monotonically related to said variations in direction and speed; f) providing a mechanism that ignores decreasing values in the control-device output values from said input or control device and transduces increasing values in the control-device output values from said input or control device into corresponding and monotonically related rightward changes in the column value and corresponding horizontal location associated with the said current horizontal location indicator displayed on the two-dimensional visual display so that behavioral changes in the user's response are only capable of moving the current horizontal location indicator from left to right when moving among the plurality of columns, eventually in the direction of the column containing the target visible display element; g) providing a mechanism which allows the relationship among changes in the said control-device output increasing values and the corresponding transduced changes in the location of the said current horizontal location indicator to be adjusted; h) providing a mechanism wherein said current horizontal location indicator is allowed to wrap or be repositioned from the rightmost column to the leftmost column when the current horizontal location indicator reaches the extreme right side of the display and the user's behavioral response continues to generate increasing values; i) providing a mechanism that allows the user to select the column currently being offered for selection as indicated by the current horizontal location indicator; j) providing a mechanism which, following selection of the desired column, automatically prevents further horizontal movement in the current horizontal location indicator, displays a current vertical location indicator which indicates a row currently being offered for selection, and alters the use of the control-device output increasing values corresponding to the same selected measurable dimension of the user's behavior so that the control-device output increasing values now are transduced to corresponding and monotonically related upward changes in the row being offered for selection as indicated by the current vertical location indicator, providing the user feedback when moving upward among the plurality of rows, eventually in the direction of the row containing the target visible display element; k) providing a mechanism which allows the relationship among changes in the control-device output increasing values and the corresponding transduced changes in the location of the said current vertical location indicator to be adjusted; l) providing a mechanism wherein said current vertical location indicator is allowed to wrap or be repositioned from the topmost row to the bottommost row when the current vertical location indicator reaches the extreme top row of the display and the user's behavioral response continues to generate increasing values; m) providing a mechanism that allows the user to select the row currently being offered for selection as indicated by the current vertical location indicator, thereby identifying a single visible display element and thereby distinguishing that element from the plurality of visible display elements presented on the visual display; and n) providing a mechanism that allows the user to select from among different standard clicking activities which are able to be performed at the identified visible display element.