Apple patent is for user interface elements for hierarchical selection of items
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jan 31, 2008 at 11:48am
An Apple patent (number 20080028337) for user interface elements for hierarchical selection of items has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It involves user interface elements.
According to Apple it’s for an user interface element for selecting items from a hierarchy of items that can present a cell for each level in the hierarchy of items. Each cell can be associated with a level in the hierarchy and is operable to receive user input. In response to receiving user input directed to a cell, a collection of items can be presented where each presented item is from the level in the hierarchy associated with the cell. Each presented item can also be a child of a selected item in a cell associated with a higher level in the hierarchy.
Here’s Apple’s background on the invention: “Some conventional user interface elements allow users to select an item from among several listed items. Such user interface elements can include a list box, combo box and/or drop down menu. Other user interface elements allow users to select an item from an ordered hierarchy of items.
“A tree view user interface element contains an item at a first level of the hierarchy that is expandable to display the items at a second level of the hierarchy, where the displayed items are children of the first item. Items in the second level, and subsequent levels, of the hierarchy may be expandable as well. The tree view user interface element can require significant vertical screen space to concurrently display multiple items at each level of the hierarchy.
“An expandable menu (e.g., a popup menu or a drop down menu from a menu bar) can also allow selection of items in a hierarchy of items. On selecting a first level item from a menu of items (e.g., by positing an on-screen cursor), a second sub-menu appears (e.g., a cascading menu or fly-out) with child items of the next level of the hierarchy. Expandable menus require both significant vertical and horizontal screen space as each sub-menu level cascades from the previous selection.”
And here’s Apple’s summary of the invention: “A user interface element for selecting items from a hierarchy of items can present a cell for each level in the hierarchy of items. Each cell can be associated with a level in the hierarchy and is operable to receive user input. In response to receiving user input directed to a cell, a collection of items can be presented where each presented item is from the level in the hierarchy associated with the cell. Each presented item can also be a child of a selected item in a cell associated with a higher level in the hierarchy.
“In some implementations, a method includes representing a hierarchy of items in a user interface element that has cells and each cell is associated with a level in the hierarchy and is operable to receive user input.
“These and other embodiments can include one or more of the following features. Each cell can display a selected item, where the selected item is one of the items from the hierarchy of items. The method can include presenting an expanded visual representation of the user interface element, in response to user input directed to the user interface element. The method can include presenting a first collection of items in response to user input directed to a cell, where each item in the first collection of items is one of the items from a first level of the hierarchy, the first level associated with the cell. The method can include presenting a second collection of items in response to user input selecting an item from the first collection of items, where each item in the second collection of items is one of the items in a next level of the hierarchy, the next level being a level lower than the first level. The items in the second collection of items can be children of the selected item.
“In some implementations, a method includes: presenting a first visual representation of a user interface element operable to select items from among a hierarchy of items; presenting an expanded visual representation providing a first collection of items in response to receiving user input; and presenting a second collection of items in response to receiving user input selecting a first item from the first collection of items.”
“These and other embodiments can include one or more of the following features. Presenting the first visual representation can include providing an indication of the currently selected items at each level of the hierarchy of items. The height of the first visual representation can be greater than the height of the visual representation of a single item, but less than the height of the visual representation of two items. Presenting the second collection of items can include identifying items for presentation in the second collection of items based on the selected first item. The method can include identifying items for presentation in the second collection of items, where each identified item is a child of the first selected item in the hierarchy of items.
“The first visual representation can include a plurality of cells, where each cell is associated with a level of the hierarchy of items. Each cell can be a combo box. The expanded visual representation can display more than one item in at least one of the collections of items. The expanded visual representation can be a browser user interface element. The method can include presenting a second collection of items in response to receiving user input selecting a plurality of items from the first collection of items; and receiving user input selecting a second item from the second collection of items. Presenting the second collection of items can include identifying items for presentation in the second collection of items based on the selected plurality of items, where each identified item is a child of the selected plurality of items.
“In some implementations, a method includes: providing a user interface element for presentation on a display device; receiving input specifying display of an item in the user interface, where the item is included in a hierarchy of items; and, responsive to the input, displaying a non-hierarchical visual representation of the item.
“Other implementations are disclosed which are directed to methods, systems, apparatuses, computer-readable mediums and user interfaces.
“The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.”
The inventors are Jeffrey H. Michaud, Michael Paul Thole, Mark Joseph Willliams and Jason Allen Townsend. The graphic below shows screenshots of exemplary user interface elements for selecting items from a hierarchy of items.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
