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A data input technique for a computer that provides the user with a historical list of potential choices for the data input is described. A historical list is displayed to the user so that the user can input data by selecting an item from the historical list being displayed. The historical list contains the most recently and/or frequently used data values for the data field that the user is inputting data. Preferably, the historical list is displayed over a form also being displayed that requires the data input into its one or more of its fields. By using the historical lists a user is able to enter data with a greater ease of use than previously obtainable. The historical can also be shared between different applications that execute on the computer system concurrently or at different times. By sharing the data between applications, the historical list becomes more useful and valuable to the user and thereby further improves the ease of use of the computer system. The data input technique can be implemented numerous ways, including as a system, an apparatus, a graphical user interface, or a method, or as a computer readable medium.

The classifications are assigned by a computer and are not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the classifications listed.

G06
COMPUTING; CALCULATING; COUNTING

G06F
ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING

G06F3/00
Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements

G06F3/01
Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer

G06F3/048
Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]

G06F3/0487
Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser

G06F3/0489
Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof

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The present invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly to data input techniques for computer systems.
Computers are becoming increasingly powerful, lightweight, and portable. The computing power of computers that once filled entire rooms is now residing on a desktop. Laptop, notebook, and sub-notebook computers are virtually as powerful as their desktop counterparts. Even smaller hand-held computers are now capable of computing tasks that required much larger machines a few short years ago.
As a part of this trend, computerized personal organizers are becoming increasingly popular with a large segment of the population. Computerized personal organizers tend to be small, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive, and can perform such functions as keeping a calendar, an address book, a to-do list, etc. While many of these functions can also be provided in conventional computer systems, personal organizers are very well suited to the personal organization task due to their small size and portability. Personal organizers are available from many companies including Sharp and Casio of Japan.
A relatively new form of computer, the pen-based computer system, holds forth the promise of a marriage of the power of a general purpose computer with the functionality and small size of a personal organizer. An example of a pen-based computer system is the Newton® 120 pen-based computer made and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.
A pen-based computer system is typically a small, hand-held computer where the primary method for inputting data includes a "pen" or stylus. A pen-based computer system is commonly housed in a generally rectangular enclosure, and is provided with a dual-function display assembly that can serve as both an input device and an output device. When operating as an input device or "tablet", the display assembly senses the position of the tip of a stylus on the viewing screen and provides this positional information to the computer's central processing unit (CPU). Some display assemblies can also sense the pressure of the stylus on the screen to provide further information to the CPU. When operating as an output device, the display assembly presents computer-generated images on the screen.
The dual-function display assemblies of pen-based computer systems permit users to operate the computer as a computerized notepad, among other functions. For example, graphical images can be input into the pen-based computer by merely moving the stylus on the surface of the screen. As the CPU senses the position and movement of the stylus, it generates a corresponding image on the screen to create the illusion that the stylus is drawing the image directly upon the screen, i.e. that the stylus is "inking" an image on the screen. By "ink" it is meant that pixels on the screen are activated in such a manner that it appears that the stylus is leaving a trail of ink on the display assembly. With suitable recognition software, the "ink" can be recognized to input text, numerics, graphics, and other recognized information into the pen-based system.
Computer systems require user input for one reason or another. The typical input sources are a keyboard, a mouse and a track ball, and in the case of pen-based computers, a stylus. One conventional way of reducing the burden on the user to individually enter or "ink" each character is to provide a list to the user whereby the user need only select one of the list items to thereby cause the data to be entered. These lists are generally arranged in a alphabetical order. Although such lists alleviate the user from having to type in or otherwise enter the data, the data entry process is still burdensome on the user. Namely, if there is a list available, which in many cases there is not, the list is generally too long and requires a substantial amount of time for the user to identify the item to be selected. Also, if the user has waded through the list and not found the desired data, the user becomes frustrated due to the wasted time and effort. Therefore, there is a need for an improved user interface that allows a user to enter data with a greater ease of use.
Broadly speaking, the present invention is a data input technique for a computer that provides the user with a historical list of potential choices for the data input.
According to the data input technique of the invention, a historical list is displayed to the user so that the user can input data by selecting an item from the historical list being displayed. Preferably, the historical list is displayed over a form also being displayed. The form is an electronic image, typically of some sort of document, to which data needs to be entered into its one or more fields. The user inputs data for a field of the form by selecting an item from the displayed historical list which corresponds to the particular field.
The invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art by providing the historical list of the most recently and/or frequently used data values for the data field that the user is entering data. The historical list is kept relatively small and the items therein have a reasonable probability of being the data the user desires. In addition to providing a greater ease of use to users, the invention also facilitates the sharing of the historical input data between different applications. By sharing the data between applications, the historical list becomes more useful and valuable to the user and thereby further improves the ease of use of the computer system. The invention can be implemented numerous ways, including as a system, an apparatus, a graphical user interface, or a method, or as a computer readable medium.
As a pen-based computer system, the invention includes an I/O display system including at least an input tablet and a display screen, a memory system for storing program code and data, a CPU for processing the program code in accordance with the data, and a plurality of history tables maintained within the memory system, each of the history tables corresponding to a different field class. When inputting data via the input tablet into a field of a form being displayed on the display screen, a list of choices is produced from the history table for the field class corresponding to the field and displayed on the display screen. Each of the history tables stores historical information concerning usage of data values with respect to a different one of the field classes. Preferably, the list of choices produced from the history table is a menu list of most recently and frequently used data values for the field class.
As a graphical user interface, the invention includes a history list for each of a plurality of field classes, a form having at least one field requiring data input, the field being associated with one of the field classes, and a history list selector for selecting the history list for the field based on the field class associated with the field. Preferably, the history list for each of the field classes is a menu list of most recently and frequently used data values for the field classes. The graphical user interface is useful for any computer system, but is particularly useful for a pen-based computer system because data entry via a stylus is generally more time consuming and burdensome to the user.
As a method for inputting data into a computer system having a display screen associated therewith, the invention includes the operations of: displaying a form on the display screen of the computer system, the form having at least one field requiring data entry by a user; displaying a history list associated with the field on the display screen of the computer system; determining whether the user has selected an item from the displayed history list; assigning a data value for the field to that of a data value associated with the selected item when it is determined that the user has selected an item; and updating the history list in accordance with the selected item when it is determined that the user has selected an item.
As a computer readable medium containing program instructions for inputting data into a computer system having a display screen associated therewith, the invention includes: computer readable code devices for displaying a form on the display screen of the computer system; the form having at least one field requiring data entry by a user; computer readable code devices for displaying a history list associated with the field on the display screen of the computer system; computer readable code devices for determining whether the user has selected an item from the displayed history list; computer readable code devices for assigning a data value for the field to that of a data value associated with the selected item when it is determined that the user has selected an item; and computer readable code devices for updating the history list in accordance with the selected item when it is determined that the user has selected an item.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed descriptions and studying the various figures of the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the electronics of a pen-based computer system in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a complete pen-based computer system including a housing, display assembly, and stylus, where the electronics of FIG. 1 are enclosed within the housing;
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the housing and display assembly of pen-based computer system of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a basic block diagram of list processing associated with a basic embodiment of the invention;
FIGS. 5A and 5B are illustrations of features of the invention which are displayed on a display screen of a computer system;
FIGS. 6A and 6B are exemplary history tables from which history lists can be produced;
FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating history list processing associated with a detailed embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating history list generation processing;
FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating data retrieval processing;
FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating history table management processing,
FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating processing associated with adding a string to a history table;
FIG. 12 is a flow chart illustrating processing associated with adding a data record pointer to a history table;
FIGS. 13A and 13B are illustrations of usage of the invention across different programming applications; and
FIGS. 14A, 14B and 14C are illustrations of another example of the usage of the invention across different applications.
The present invention is a data input technique for a computer that provides the user with a historical list of potential choices for the data input. A historical list is displayed to the user so that the user can input data by selecting an item from the historical list being displayed. The historical list contains the most recently and/or frequently used data values for the data field that the user is inputting data. By using the historical lists a user is able to enter data with a greater ease of use than previously obtainable. The historical list can also be shared between different applications that execute on the computer system concurrently or at different times. By sharing the data between applications, the historical list becomes more useful and valuable to the user and thereby further improves the ease of use of the computer system.
The processing associated with the data input technique according to the invention is discussed in detail below. However, before describing the details of the processing, a computer system for carrying out the processing is described.
The present invention is well suited for pointer based computer systems such as the pen-based, pen-aware, mouse, track ball, and track pad controlled systems that are currently popular. For the purposes of illustration, the invention will be described in connection with a pen-based system; however, the invention is equally applicable to other computer systems.
As shown in FIG. 1, a block diagram 10 of the electronics of a pen-based computer in accordance with the present invention includes a central processing unit (CPU) 12, a memory system 14, an input/output (I/O) dual function display system 16, a clock system 18, a power system 20, a sound system 22, a PCMCIA connector 24, and a serial I/O system 26. The various, components and systems of the computer 10 are coupled together by an I/O controller 28 which serves as an interface between the CPU 12 and other components of the computer 10. More specifically, the I/O controller 28 is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed to handle memory, peripherals, and I/O tasks, as well as housekeeping functions such as providing system clocks, controlling power usage, etc. The design, manufacture, and use of ASICs is well known to those skilled in the art. The pen-based computer 10 as illustrated is currently being manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. as a Newton® 120 Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
CPU 12 is preferably a commercially available, single chip microprocessor. While CPU 12 can be a complex instruction set computer (CISC) chip, it is preferable that CPU 12 be one of the commercially available, reduced instruction set computer (RISC) chips which are known to be of generally higher performance than CISC chips. In the present embodiment, the CPU 12 is preferably an ARM® 610 RISC chip operating at 20 megahertz and is available from a variety of sources including VLSI Technology, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. and Plessey Semiconductor of England. The present CPU 12 includes a 32 bit data (D) bus 30, a 32 bit address (A) bus 32, and an 8 bit control (C) bus 34.
The memory system 14 includes static random access memory (SRAM) 36, non-volatile read/write "flash" memory 38, and read-only memory (ROM) 40. The SRAM 36 serves as volatile "scratch pad" memory for the computer system 10 and, in the current system, includes 512 kilobytes of memory. The flash memory 38 is where user data is stored, preferably includes about 2 megabytes of memory, and is available as a standard product from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. The ROM 40 stores the operating system and embedded application programs, and currently comprises approximately 8 megabytes of memory. Of course, there are many equivalents for the SRAM 36, flash memory 38, and ROM 40. For example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) can be substituted for SRAM 36, battery-backed random accessed memory (RAM) can be substituted for flash memory 38, and a programmable read-only memory (PROM) can be substituted for the ROM 40.
The memory system 14 is coupled directly to the data (D) bus 30 and the address (A) bus 32. The memory system 14 is also coupled to a memory control bus 42 of controller 28. The CPU 12 and controller 28 cooperate to read and write data to the memory system 14 via the busses 30,
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