System and method for navigating applications using a graphical user interface

#This invention relates generally to mobile devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mobile device having a graphical interface for navigating computer programs.

#Systems for navigating the features, options and controls of computer programs that make use of graphical user interfaces (GUls) are well known for computing devices. For example, typical navigation systems for these devices permit a user to navigate within a computer program by selecting options located on control bars, drop-down menus, or links within the current view. With these navigation systems, only one page of a computer program is usually shown at a particular time. As a user navigates through multiple levels of a computer program, it is easy for the user to become lost within the computer program. Unless a user remembers what choices he has made in navigating to his present location, he often forgets how deep he is into the computer program. Thus, time is lost as the user navigates back through different views and through different levels to become re-oriented and to change locations within the computer program.

#Some navigation systems have addressed this issue by providing text dialogs on top of one another that indicate the user's location as he proceeds deeper into a computer program. Other systems have addressed this issue by stacking each succeeding view on top of the proceeding view as the user progresses into the computer program and allowing the user to select a previous view layer by selecting the frame for a previous view. Yet other systems display a hierarchy of options along one side of the primary view showing levels and sublevels for options that have been selected. Although these alternatives are helpful, they do not provide the user with a single map or an overall view that shows the user's location within the computer program at a given time. Further, these options may be difficult to implement on small displays, such as may be found on handheld computers or mobile terminal devices.

#The invention will be described in detail in the following description of preferred embodiments with reference to the following figures wherein:

#FIG. 1 shows an exemplary layout of a system for using the present invention that includes a navigation system according to the present invention in operation on a mobile device;

#FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the mobile device of FIG. 1;

#The invention may be embodied in various forms. One embodiment includes a mobile device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile terminal, or the like, having a navigation display of an organizational model. The organizational model graphically represents features of a computer program for the device. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mobile device 10 generally includes a display 12, a memory 14, a processor 16, and a keypad 18. The keypad may include a clockwise rotate button 20, a counterclockwise rotate button 22, an up arrow button 24, a down arrow button 26, an input wheel 28, and other input keys 30. The input wheel 28 can rotate for providing rotary inputs to the device and can be depressed as a whole, like a button, for providing selector inputs. In another embodiment, the input wheel is located on the keypad as a rotatable button that can be rotated clockwise and counterclockwise, as well as depressed as a whole.

#The display 12 shows an organizational model 32 of a computer program 33 stored in the memory 14. The memory 14 also contains instructions for displaying the organizational model 32 and for navigating within the computer program 33 using the organizational model. A computer program as used herein may refer to any computer program within which an operator may navigate features of the program, such as operating systems, word processors, spreadsheets, email, telephone computer programs, games, etc. In operation, the processor 16 processes the instructions in the memory 14 in accordance with the computer program 33 and receives inputs from the keypad 18 for modifying the view shown on the display 12 as is known in the art for graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The keypad 18, display 12 and processor 16 may be referred to collectively as a graphical user interface through which the user can interact with the device 10. The user navigates through the computer program and its features using the model 32 and the GUI.

#Referring now to FIG. 3, an organizational model 32 is shown as part of the display 12. The model provides an intuitive representation of a home remote control computer program 33 stored in the memory 14. The home remote control computer program 33 is a program that permits the user to control lights, appliances, and other devices (not shown) within and around his home using the mobile device 10. The mobile device 10 may control these devices via radio communications with the individual devices, via communications with a network to which the devices are connected, or through other known methods. The computer program 33 includes features through which individual devices may be controlled in a manner specific to the device and to the computer program. For example, the computer program 33 includes a feature for adjusting the volume on a television (not shown) located in a living room of the user's house. The features could also include controls, handles, settings, files, data, databases, and other aspects of the computer program that are selectable, executable or modifiable by the user. As a further example, the features could include other controls for the user's television, such as channel controls or programming preferences for turning the television on at a particular time to a pre-selected channel. They could also include software settings for the computer program 33, such as a feature for adding or deleting the television as a controllable device, or settings for requiring a password before permitting access to features for the television.