APPLICATION TO NAVIGATE, MONITOR AND CONTROL MULTIPLE LIVE OBJECTS (01-Oct-2009)

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APPLICATION TO NAVIGATE, MONITOR AND CONTROL MULTIPLE LIVE

OBJECTS

BACKGROUND

    The present invention relates generally to an application applied in a user interface (UI) for managing multiple live objects and, more specifically to a graphical strip that allows a user to navigate, monitor and control multiple live objects.

    In a real-time environment, a user, generally, works with a large collection of live objects. The live objects are objects, which have properties that constantly change in real time. For efficient working, the user typically needs a way to navigate between the entire collection of live objects, work with a currently selected live object and simultaneously monitor critical information of all the live objects in the collection.

    The requirement of navigating and monitoring multiple live objects is usually addressed by adding data to columns in a view list of all the live objects. This list typically requires scrolling to view all such live objects. Another suitable means, to navigate and monitor multiple live objects, is a graphical visualization display representing live objects as icons. These icons generally have some properties indicating the state of the icon. The state of the icon indicates status of important properties of that particular live object to which the icon belongs. Yet another solution to address the problem of navigating and monitoring multiple live objects includes a collection of visible objects in a scrollable window.

    Further, the requirement of a user to be able to select and work with a particular live object in the large collection of live objects is generally handled by providing an option to toggle a screen between an operator view and a larger status display view. The operator view is used to work with a particular live object. The larger status display

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view is used to navigate, and monitor the entire collection of live objects. An alert button is typically provided, which flashes when any live object, within the collection in the display view, needs the attention of the user.

    However, the above conventional solutions either utilize too much screen real estate, or require user intervention to view or monitor the entire collection of live objects. Furthermore, such user intervention is a great limitation if the user is not equipped with a keyboard or touch screen. In a real-time environment, a substantial number of users interact with live objects through controls on a console or with bar-code scanners, and the like.

    Therefore, there exists a need in the art of an application that allows a user in a real-time environment to view, monitor and navigate the entire collection of live objects while working on any live object by selecting one live object from the entire collection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

    Figure 1 is a block diagram of a user interface (UI) display having a graphical strip provided by an applica...