# US 11,029,811 B2 · Adjusting appearance of icons in an electronic device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,029,811 B2 - Document ID: US11029811B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/409,859 - Filed: 2019-05-12 - Published: 2019-08-29 - Granted: 2021-06-08 - Earliest claimed: 2015-06-16 - Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation - Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation - Inventors: Wendell J. Bouknight, Jr.; Erik W. Hochstedt; Thai T. La; Dana L. Price - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11029811B2 ## CPC - G06F 3/04817: using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) - G06F 3/0482: Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus - G06F 3/04842: Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) - G06T 11/10: Texturing; Colouring; Generation of textures or colours (retouching, inpainting or scratch removal G06T5/77) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL ## Abstract A method for adjusting a display of an electronic device includes performing, in iterations, a current execution of icon processing for icons on the display. Each iteration includes selecting, as a candidate for appearance adjustment, one of the icons, where the selected icon has not been previously selected as a candidate in the current execution and selecting an appearance for the candidate based on at least one of the icons neighboring the candidate. The selecting the appearance includes selecting between changing and not changing the appearance in response to comparing an average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons and changing the appearance of the candidate responsive to selecting to change the appearance. Changing the appearance includes changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate. The method includes repeating the iterations until all the icons have been selected as candidates for appearance adjustment. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for adjusting a display of an electronic device, the method comprising: performing, by the electronic device in iterations, a current execution of icon processing for icons on the display, wherein each iteration includes: selecting, as a candidate for appearance adjustment, one of the icons, where the selected icon has not been previously selected as a candidate in the current execution; and selecting an appearance for the candidate based on at least one of the icons neighboring the candidate, the at least one of the icons neighboring the candidate being adjacent on the display to the candidate, where selecting the appearance includes: selecting between changing and not changing the appearance in response to comparing an average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons; and changing the appearance of the candidate responsive to selecting to change the appearance, wherein changing the appearance includes changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to an average quantitative hue that is more visually distinct from the at least one of the neighboring icons; and repeating the iterations until all the icons have been selected as candidates for appearance adjustment, wherein the icon processing iterations are initiated in response to at least one action from a group of actions including: adding one of the icons, deleting one of the icons, and moving one of the icons; and wherein in a first one of the iterations a first appearance adjustment is performed on a first one of the icons to provide a changed appearance of the first one of the icons and wherein for a second one of the icons neighboring the first one of the icons, an appearance adjustment is performed in a second one of the iterations following the first iteration and includes adjusting the appearance of the second one of the icons in response to the changed appearance of the first one of the icons. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to an average of the average quantitative hues of all the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: selecting an average quantitative hue that is more than a predetermined threshold different than the average of the average quantitative hues of all the neighboring icons; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the average quantitative hues of each of the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: determining candidate ranges of average quantitative hues for the candidate based on the average quantitative hues of each of the neighboring icons; selecting an average quantitative hue from one of the candidate ranges; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the average quantitative hues of one of the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: selecting an average quantitative hue that is more than a predetermined threshold different than the average of the average quantitative hue of the one the neighboring icons; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the icons neighboring the candidate consist of icons adjacent to the candidate in a same row as the candidate. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the icons neighboring the candidate consist of icons adjacent to the candidate in a same row as the candidate and icons adjacent to the candidate in a same column as the candidate. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the icons neighboring the candidate include icons adjacent to the candidate in a same row as the candidate, icons adjacent to the candidate in a same column as the candidate and icons diagonally adjacent to the candidate. ### Claim 8 A system for adjusting appearance of icons in an electronic device comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium connected to the processor, wherein the computer readable storage medium has stored thereon a program for controlling the processor, and wherein the processor is operative with the program to execute the program for: performing, by the electronic device in iterations, a current execution of icon processing for icons on the display, wherein the icon processing is in response to a change in at least one of the icons and each iteration includes: selecting, as a candidate for appearance adjustment, one of the icons, where the selected icon has not been previously selected as a candidate in the current execution; and selecting an appearance for the candidate based on at least one of the icons neighboring the candidate, the at least one of the icons neighboring the candidate being adjacent on the display to the candidate, where selecting the appearance includes: selecting between changing and not changing the appearance in response to comparing an average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons; and changing the appearance of the candidate responsive to selecting to change the appearance, wherein changing the appearance includes changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to an average quantitative hue that is more visually distinct from the at least one of the neighboring icons; and repeating the iterations until all the icons have been selected as candidates for appearance adjustment, wherein the icon processing iterations are initiated in response to at least one action from a group of actions including: adding one of the icons, deleting one of the icons, and moving one of the icons; and wherein in a first one of the iterations a first appearance adjustment is performed on a first one of the icons to provide a changed appearance of the first one of the icons and wherein for a second one of the icons neighboring the first one of the icons, an appearance adjustment is performed in a second one of the iterations following the first iteration and includes adjusting the appearance of the second one of the icons in response to the changed appearance of the first one of the icons. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to an average of the average quantitative hues of all the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: selecting an average quantitative hue that is more than a predetermined threshold different than the average of the average quantitative hues of all the neighboring icons; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the average quantitative hues of each of the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: determining candidate ranges of average quantitative hues for the candidate based on the average quantitative hues of each of the neighboring icons; selecting an average quantitative hue from one of the candidate ranges; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the average quantitative hues of one of the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: selecting an average quantitative hue that is more than a predetermined threshold different than the average of the average quantitative hue of the one the neighboring icons; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the icons neighboring the candidate consist of icons adjacent to the candidate in a same row as the candidate. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein the icons neighboring the candidate consist of icons adjacent to the candidate in a same row as the candidate and icons adjacent to the candidate in a same column as the candidate. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the icons neighboring the candidate include icons adjacent to the candidate in a same row as the candidate, icons adjacent to the candidate in a same column as the candidate and icons diagonally adjacent to the candidate. ### Claim 15 A computer program product for adjusting appearance of icons in an electronic device including a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for execution by a computer system, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to implement a method comprising: performing, by the electronic device in iterations, a current execution of icon processing for icons on the display, wherein the icon processing is in response to a change in at least one of the icons and each iteration includes: selecting, as a candidate for appearance adjustment, one of the icons, where the selected icon has not been previously selected as a candidate in the current execution; and selecting an appearance for the candidate based on at least one of the icons neighboring the candidate, the at least one of the icons neighboring the candidate being adjacent on the display to the candidate, where selecting the appearance includes: selecting between changing and not changing the appearance in response to comparing an average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons; and changing the appearance of the candidate responsive to selecting to change the appearance, wherein changing the appearance includes changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to an average quantitative hue that is more visually distinct from the at least one of the neighboring icons; and repeating the iterations until all the icons have been selected as candidates for appearance adjustment, wherein the icon processing iterations are initiated in response to at least one action from a group of actions including: adding one of the icons, deleting one of the icons, and moving one of the icons; and wherein in a first one of the iterations a first appearance adjustment is performed on a first one of the icons to provide a changed appearance of the first one of the icons and wherein for a second one of the icons neighboring the first one of the icons, an appearance adjustment is performed in a second one of the iterations following the first iteration and includes adjusting the appearance of the second one of the icons in response to the changed appearance of the first one of the icons. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to an average of the average quantitative hues of all the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: selecting an average quantitative hue that is more than a predetermined threshold different than the average of the average quantitative hues of all the neighboring icons; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the average quantitative hues of each of the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: determining candidate ranges of average quantitative hues for the candidate based on the average quantitative hues of each of the neighboring icons; selecting an average quantitative hue from one of the candidate ranges; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the at least one of the neighboring icons includes comparing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the average quantitative hues of one of the neighboring icons, and wherein the changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate includes: selecting an average quantitative hue that is more than a predetermined threshold different than the average of the average quantitative hue of the one the neighboring icons; and changing the average quantitative hue of the candidate to the selected average quantitative hue. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the icons neighboring the candidate consist of icons adjacent to the candidate in a same row as the candidate. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the icons neighboring the candidate consist of icons adjacent to the candidate in a same row as the candidate and icons adjacent to the candidate in a same column as the candidate.