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US 7,925,994 B2Granted
Task navigator including a user based navigation interface
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsJesper Kenneth Birk Olsen, Lisa M. Lane
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A task navigator or system generates a navigation interface display. In illustrated embodiments, the navigation interface display includes multiple task segments and a find segment. Tasks are segmented in the navigation interface based upon whether they are primary or secondary tasks.
Claims19
A navigation system for navigating through computer implementable tasks comprising:
- a navigator component stored on one or more computer storage devices and configured to implement computer executable instructions to provide a plurality of different interface displays for a plurality of different navigation categories comprising one or more of customer, company, vendor, employee, banking, and report categories, and wherein each navigation category includes a category specific set of tasks or functions for the navigation category, a list order for the category specific set of tasks or functions, and a hierarchical order for the category specific set of tasks or functions stored on the one or more computer storage devices;
- and
- wherein the navigator component is configured to provide, for a computer display device, the plurality of different interface displays for the plurality of navigation categories using the category specific set of tasks or functions, the list order for the category specific set of tasks or functions, and the hierarchical order for the category specific set of tasks or functions for the plurality of navigation categories, wherein the navigator component is configured to provide:
- a first display segment including a plurality of user selectable navigation category icons to select one navigation category of the plurality of different navigation categories;
- a second display segment including one of a plurality of different flow chart views corresponding to the selected navigation category, wherein the plurality of different flow chart views each include a plurality of actuable task icons corresponding to the category specific set of tasks or functions for a particular one of the plurality of navigation categories, the plurality of actuable task icons including an associated picture or symbol to denote a corresponding task or function, and wherein in each of the plurality of different flow chart views the plurality of actuable task icons are arranged in the hierarchical order for the category specific set of tasks or functions corresponding to the particular navigation category;
- and
- a switch view function including an actuable switch view icon to toggle between one of the plurality of different flow charts views corresponding to the selected navigation category and one of a plurality of different list views corresponding to the selected navigation category, wherein the plurality of different list views include the plurality of actuable task icons corresponding to the category specific set of tasks or functions for the plurality of navigation categories arranged in the list order for the category specific set of tasks or functions and having the same picture or symbol as the corresponding task or function in the plurality of different flow chart views.
4 more elements
A navigation system for performing computer implementable tasks comprising:
- a navigation interface display providing a first display area on a computer display device having a plurality of navigation icons corresponding to a plurality of different navigation categories comprising one or more of customer, company, vendor, employee, banking, and report categories, and the navigation interface display providing a second display area for a category specific group of two or more computer implementable tasks for a selected one of the plurality of different navigation categories, the computer implementable tasks being configured to invoke different accounting applications or functions, the navigation interface display having a first display format for a group of two or more graphical icons to select one or more tasks from the category specific group of two or more computer implementable tasks and a second display format different from the first display format for the same computer implementable tasks of the category specific group of two or more computer implementable tasks displayed in the first display format and the second display format including the same group of two or more graphical icons arranged in the second different display format;
- a switch view function to toggle between the first display format and the second display format for the same category specific group of two or more computer implementable tasks and the same group of two or more graphical icons and the switch view function including a user selectable switch view icon to implement the switch view function;
- and
- a navigator component stored on the one or more computer storage devices and configured to implement computer executable instructions to receive input from the switch view icon and toggle between the first or second display formats in response to the input from the switch view function where one of the first or second display formats is displayed in the display area and upon selection of the switch view icon the other of the first or second display formats is displayed in the display area instead of the one display format previously displayed in the display area.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- displaying a plurality of navigation icons corresponding to a plurality of different navigation categories comprising one or more of customer, company, vendor, employee, banking, and report categories, wherein each navigation category includes a category specific set of tasks or functions, a list order for the category specific set of tasks or functions, and a hierarchical order for the category specific set of tasks or functions;
- receiving a selection of one of the plurality of navigation categories via selection of one of the plurality of navigation icons and a selection of one of a plurality of display formats for a plurality of user selectable task icons through a graphical user interface on a computer display device;
- retrieving the category specific set of tasks or functions corresponding to the selected navigation category and at least one of the list order or the hierarchical order for the category specific set of tasks or functions corresponding to the selected navigation category;
- and
- displaying the plurality of user selectable task icons corresponding to the category specific set of tasks or functions for the selected navigation category in a display area of a display window of a navigation interface display, wherein each of the user selectable task icons includes a graphical symbol associated with one of the tasks or functions of the category specific set of functions or tasks, and wherein the plurality of display formats for the plurality of user selectable task icons includes a flow chart view, showing the plurality of the user selectable task icons for the category specific set of tasks or functions corresponding to the selected navigation category in order of performance of the tasks, and a list view displaying one or more of the same user selectable task icons as the flow chart view corresponding to the selected navigation category in a list order, wherein the flow chart view and the list view are alternately displayed in the same display area depending upon the selected display format.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.