FR2971069A1 - Method for displaying icons representing e.g. applications on screen of terminal, involves displaying icon forming assembly according to display mode different from another display mode of set of icons - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves displaying a set of icons (O1-O36) associated with programs and grouped by assemblies (ENS1-1-ENS1-3) according to a display mode, where the display mode includes a successive display of the assemblies on a screen (ECR) of a terminal (MOB). Other icon (O37) forming other assembly (ENS2) is displayed according to another display mode different from the former display mode, where the latter icon is associated with respective visual information during execution of a concerned program. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a terminal comprising a screen for displaying a set of icons associated with respective programs (2) a computer program comprising instructions for performing a method for displaying icons on screen of a terminal.

Description

Graphical interface for access to applications. Technical Field The invention relates to access to applications through a graphical interface displayed on a screen of a terminal. The graphical interface in question includes icons associated with respective applications. Recall that an application is a written computer program for a specific use (calculation, management, game, etc.). The invention is particularly applicable to applications whose respective icons are grouped into sets, each set being able to be displayed successively on the screen. The terminal in question comprises physical and software resources able to display the icons, and to require access to these applications by manipulating the icon concerned; the manipulation in question is for example a selection by means of a computer mouse, or a manual selection when the screen is a touch screen, or more generally any other means of manipulation able to require the execution of the selected application. State of the art The vast majority of terminals have computer resources allowing access to many applications. The applications in question are for example a media player, an e-mail reader, a mapping or GPS assisted navigation tool (Global Positioning System), etc. In general, an application is associated with an icon displayed on the screen of the terminal. The execution of the application is done by selecting the associated icon. Current graphical interfaces include several icons grouped into icons. The set in question is generally limited in number (for example twelve icons). When accessing an application, the sets are displayed successively one after the other by means of a scrolling set command. This command is for example initiated tactilely on the screen if the latter has a touch screen.

When the terminal has many applications, the user, when searching for an application, must successively review the sets of icons until it finds the icon associated with the desired application. Nowadays, the number of sets can reach ten or even twelve; and this number is constantly increasing; to the point where the search will become laborious or impossible given the number of available sets. An application search therefore implies a cost of time not acceptable to the user especially when the number of applications, and therefore the number of sets, is important. Moreover, very often, the user of the terminal on which the applications are stored uses only a few applications among the many applications made available. A long and laborious search of an often used application will inevitably result in a demotivation to use this type of graphical interface. The invention offers a solution that does not have the drawbacks of the state of the art. The invention For this purpose, according to a functional aspect, the invention relates to a method of displaying a plurality of icons on a screen of a terminal (MOB), an icon being associated with a program able to to be executed, icons, said first icons, being grouped into sets, called first sets, able to be displayed according to a first display mode, characterized in that at least one icon, said second icon, forms a second suitable set to be displayed in a second display mode different from the first set.

A user can thus collect icons representative of privileged applications, for example applications that the user often uses, and form one or more second sets of icons associated with these privileged applications. At these second sets corresponds a different display mode of the first sets. Preferably, the second display mode will naturally be chosen judiciously to allow quick access to a second icon representative of a preferred application. According to a particular mode of implementation of the invention, the first display mode comprises a successive display of first sets on the screen. In this configuration, at least one same second icon is displayed during successive displays of the first sets. In this way, one or more icons of the second set is (or are) displayed during the successive displays of the first sets on the screen. Access to a second icon is simplified because a second icon is visible on the screen regardless of the first set displayed. Access to a second icon is therefore limited to the selection of the second icon regardless of the first set that is displayed on the screen. Access to a second icon does not require scrolling sets. According to another particular motte implementation of the invention, which can be implemented alternately or cumulatively with the previous, when displaying on the screen of a first set, an icon of the second set displayed is transparent in whole or in part. In this way, the second icon, and more generally the second set of icons, does not alter or not the visibility of the first set of icons.

According to a particular mode of implementation of the invention, which can be implemented alternatively or cumulatively with the previous ones, when the display of a first set is displayed on the screen, the visibility of a second icon varies in the weather. In this way, the variation in visibility provides information related to the execution of the application concerned. A user has the information quickly because the second icon is visible on the screen regardless of the first set displayed on the screen.

The variation in visibility may for example consist of an alternation between transparent icon and visible icon (for example opaque). As a second icon is accessible independently of the first displayed set, the variation of the visibility of the icon is perceived without difficulty by the user of the terminal. According to a particular mode of implementation of the invention, which may be implemented alternately or cumulatively with the previous ones, at least one second icon is associated with respective visual information in relation to the execution of the program concerned. The visual information provides, or supplements, information on a state of the application related to the execution of the application. According to a particular embodiment of the invention, which can be implemented alternately or cumulatively with the previous ones, at least one second icon is displayed constantly for a given period of time regardless of the type of information displayed on the screen. screen. In this way, a second icon is continuously accessible regardless of the information displayed; that it is a first set of icons or any other information able to be displayed on a screen, such as the result related to the execution of an application, a current time, etc.

According to a material aspect, the invention relates to a terminal including a screen for the display of a plurality of icons associated with respective programs capable of being executed, icons, called first icons being grouped into sets, called first sets, said terminal comprising display means able to display on the screen the first sets according to a first display mode, characterized in that the display means are furthermore able to display at least one second icon forming a second set according to a second display mode different from the first mode. Finally, according to another material aspect, the invention relates to a computer program capable of being installed on the terminal as defined above, said program comprising code instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps defined in the method described above. The invention will be better understood on reading the description which follows, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The figures: FIG. 1 represents a terminal on which the principle of the invention can be implemented. This figure is a schematic view of icons displayed on the screen of a terminal according to the principle of the invention. Figure 2 shows a view identical to that of Figure 1 following a scroll of a set of icons to another set. Figures 3a and 3b show a schematic view of a screen of the terminal according to an example of a particular implementation of the invention. Figures 4 and 5 are two schematic views of a terminal and particular modes of displaying an icon of a second set on the screen of the terminal. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT EXCHANGING THE INVENTION FIG. 1 represents a MOB terminal comprising an ECR screen for displaying a graphical interface comprising icons representing applications stored in a memory of the terminal. The terminal includes physical and software resources capable of controlling the display of icons on the screen and the scrolling of sets of icons on the screen. The resources include, in addition to the screen described above, in particular at least one processor connected to at least one memory for storing applications and the graphical interface. Thus, a selection of an icon causes the sending of a command to the processor; the processor receives the command and then requires the execution of the application stored in memory associated with the icon and the display of the data that result from the execution. In the following, we consider that the terminal stores in memory thirty seven APPn referenced applications (n = 1 to 37). We also consider that each APP1 application is associated with an On icon (n = 1 to 37) and that the first thirty six On icons (n = 1 to 36) are grouped into sets including twelve icons; more specifically, a set ENS1-1 including the following twelve icons 01-012; a set ENS1-2 includes the following twelve icons 013-024; an ENSI-3 set includes the following twelve icons 025-036.

The sets described above constitute sets of a first type in the sense that the associated display mode, or the associated display logic, called first display logic in the following, is the same for these three sets. . These sets of a first type will be designated hereafter by the term "first sets" to simplify the disclosure of the invention. In the same way, the icons belonging to these three sets ENS1-1, ENS1-2, ENS1-3 which precede are icons of a first type and will be designated in the rest of the description by the expression "first icons". . In Figure 1, the first set ENSI-1 is displayed on the screen. This figure also schematically illustrates the other two subsets, on hatched background, which can be displayed following a DFL scroll command received by the processor of the terminal. In this configuration, successive scroll commands on the screen result in the successive displays of first sets according to the desired scrolling direction. Note that in the figures, the vertically hatched sets represent the sets that can be displayed; unlike a non-hatched set that represents a set displayed on the screen. Note also that the skilled person sometimes refers to these sets ENSI-n (n = 1 to 3) by the term "virtual screen".

In our example embodiment, the screen is a touch screen and the DFL scrolling of the sets of icons is performed by manipulating a stylus on the screen or by contact of a finger of the hand on the surface of the screen ; the manipulation in question causes the transmission of a command that the processor executes. The manner of making a scrolling is not limited to those identified above but extends naturally to other modes of scrolling for example by a manipulation of a key present on the terminal or a computer mouse connected to the terminal .

According to the invention, at least one icon representative of an application is included in a set ENS2 of a second type hereinafter designated by the expression "second set". In our example, the icon concerned is the thirty-seventh icon 037 associated with the application APP37. To this second set ENS2, and therefore in our example, to this thirty-seventh icon, corresponds a display logic, called second logic, different from the first logic. In the sequel, this thirty-seventh icon 037 will be designated by the term "second icon" with reference to the second type of display logic applied to this icon.

According to the invention, the second display logic of this second set ENS2 is different from the display logic of the first sets ENS1-1, ENS1-2 and ENS1-3. By way of illustration, in our example, the second icon 037 is displayed constantly during the successive displays of the first sets ENSI-1, ENSI-2 and ENSI-3. In FIG. 1, the icon 037 appears on the first one, and is able to be displayed on the second set ENSI-2 and on the third set ENSI-3 on the subsequent display of the second and the third set. Thus, when the user's finger goes from a position PA to a position PB on the screen, with reference to FIG. 1, this change of position commands a DFL scrolling of the first sets, which causes the display of the first together, namely ENS1-2, on the screen as well as the simultaneous display of the second set ENS2 namely the icon 037. So on, while the set ENS1-2 is displayed, when the finger of the The user moves from a PC position to a PD position on the screen, with reference to FIG. 2, this change of position commands a DFL scrolling of the first sets, namely a scrolling from the first set ENS1-2 to the first set ENSI. -3; which causes the display of the first set ENS1-3 on the screen as well as the simultaneous display of the second set ENS2, namely the icon 037.

It should be noted that the position of the icon 037 on the screen of the terminal is judiciously chosen to both be visible and not to hinder the visibility of the first sets when they are displayed on the screen. In our example, this icon 037 is located on the upper right of the screen behind the first icons. The invention is not limited to this example; for example, with reference to Figure 4, the icon could have been placed at the bottom of the screen, for example under the eighth icon 08. With reference to Figure 5, the icon 037 could also be located behind plan compared to the first sets as if a first set and a second set overlapped. In this last example, the selection of the icon 037 is made by selecting a visible part on the screen of the icon 037. According to one variant, the icon 037 is transparent in whole or in part. For example, the 037 icon may have a visible outline and a transparent background. This variant makes it possible not to encumber the screen with icons from a second set, in order to privilege the visualization of the icons of a first set. According to another variant, the icon 037 flashes in the sense that the icon is visible and transparent alternately. As a result, the first icons of a first set displayed on the screen are more visible during the transparency phase of the icon.

According to another variant, the second icon 037 provides information in connection with the progress of the execution of the application concerned APP37. For example, if APP37 application is a messaging tool, the icon is able to retrieve information related to the receipt of an email. The mode of restitution is any, this one can be sound, visual, etc. According to another variant of the method of the invention, the second icon 037 is permanently displayed and is therefore constantly accessible independently of the information displayed on the screen. Figures 3a and 313 illustrate this variant. Suppose the user selects an icon among the first icons 01-036 described above. For example, consider that the selected icon is associated with an application that can provide a map. According to this variant, during a first step, the user UT selects the icon concerned, for example the icon 031. In a second step, the processor executes the command received and requires the execution of the application APP31 associated with the icon 031. In our example, during execution, an OBT graphical object representative of the evolution linked to the execution of the concerned application is displayed on the ECR screen. According to this variant, the second icon 037 is displayed during this first step. Then, in a third step, the processor displays the result related to the execution namely a CRT geographical map. According to this variant, the second icon 037 is displayed during this second step. The second icon 037 is therefore permanently accessible regardless of the information displayed on the ECR screen. Access to the application concerned therefore does not require scrolling operations but simply a selection of the second icon on the screen.

Claims (7)

REVENDICATIONS1. Method for displaying a plurality of icons (01-037) on a screen (ECR) of a terminal (MOB), an icon associated with a program that can be executed, icons (01-036), said first icons, being grouped into sets (ENSI-1; ENS1-2; ENS1-3), said first sets, able to be displayed according to a first display mode, characterized in that at least one icon (037) , said second icon, forms a second set (ENS2) able to be displayed according to a second display mode different from the first set. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the first display mode comprises a successive display of first sets (ENSI-1; ENS1-2; ENS1-3) on the screen, and in that at least the same second icon (037) is displayed during successive displays of the first sets. 3. Display method according to claim 1, characterized in that, during the display on the screen of a first set, an icon of the second set displayed is transparent in whole or in part. 4. Display method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, during the display on the screen of a first set, the visibility of a second icon varies over time. 5. Display method according to claim 4, characterized in that at least a second icon is associated with respective visual information related to the execution of the program concerned. 6. Terminal (MOB) including a screen (ECR) for displaying a plurality of icons (01-037) associated with respective programs that can be executed, icons (01-036), said first icons being grouped together (ENS1-1, ENS1-2, ENS1-3), said first sets, said terminal comprising display means able to display on the screen the first sets according to a first display mode, characterized in that that the display means are furthermore capable of displaying at least a second icon (037) forming a second set (ENS2) according to a second display mode different from the first mode. 7. A computer program capable of being installed on a terminal as defined in claim 6, said program comprising code instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs the steps defined in one of claims 1 to 6.