On January 31, the US Patent & Trademark Office published eleven of Apple’s patent applications in total. This particular report centers on Apple’s patent application titled User interface elements for hierarchical selection of items while listing several continuation patents. Apple’s current patent generally relates to user interface elements.

Patent: User Interface Elements for Hierarchical Selection of Items

Apple’s Patent Background

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.

Apple’s Summary

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.

Apple’s patent FIG. 6, noted above, illustrates an exemplary system (600) for selecting items from a hierarchy of items using a collapsible user interface element. The system is generally equipped to present items from a hierarchy of items and receive input selecting items from each level in the hierarchy.
Apple lists engineers Jeffrey H. Michaud (San Mateo, CA), Michael Paul Thole (San Mateo, CA, Mark Joseph Williams (San Francisco, CA) and Jason Allen Townsend (Cupertino, CA) as the inventors of this patent. For more details of this patent, see application 20080028337

Other Apple Patents Published Today

A number of Apple’s continuation patents were published today, including:

Invisible, light-transmissive Display System, Method and System for Allowing a Media Player to Transfer Digital Audio to an Accessory, Conversion of output device color values to minimize image quality artifacts and Method and Apparatus for Uploading Mass-Distributed Content to a Server.

NOTICE: MacNN presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.

Written and researched by Neo.