US20030193525A1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Expedited selection of items from a list within a drop down menu of an eye diagram analyzer
Assignee: Agilent Technologies Inc
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Filing: 2002-04-11
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2022-04-11
Abstract
Abstract An eye diagram analyzer can assign a plurality of SUT data signals to be members of a labeled group of channels merged into a composite eye diagram presentation. When a composite eye diagram is being displayed, the operator may select a channel from among the group, and then have the pixels associated with that channel be displayed in an altered manner (highlighted) that allows them to be distinguished from all others, to determine if the behavior of that channel contributes to a condition in the eye diagram that is of interest. The menu from which channels may be selected includes at least one button in a fixed location, and which when clicked on, automatically selects the next item in the list within that menu. In this way the mouse can be positioned just once, and then clicked as often as needed without further motion, allowing the operator to continuously observe, without re-direction of his visual attention, what effect, if any, is produced in the composite eye diagram. There may be one button for traversing the menu list in each direction. Traversing (automatic selection of an adjacent entry in the list) might be one step per click, or if the click is extended, be automatically repeated at some convenient rate. When one end of the list is reached the next selected item can be the item at the other end of the list.
Inventors
- 👤 Richard Nygaard
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 17:05
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/01; G06F3/048; G06F3/0481; G06F3/0482
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
182 words
1 . A method of selecting the next item in an ordered list of items within a menu, the method comprising the steps of: (a) positioning with motion of a user operated pointing device a screen pointer icon proximate a next item selection icon that is proximate a legend representing a currently selected item within the ordered list, the ordered list being displayable as the menu in response to an operation involving a menu icon; (b) while the screen pointer icon is positioned as in step (a), actuating a switch on the user operated pointing device; (c) in response to step (b), automatically selecting as a new currently selected item an item from within the ordered list and which is adjacent, within the order of the list and in a direction associated with the next item selection icon, to that item that previously was the currently selected item at the time step (b) occurred; and (d) subsequent to step (c), displaying in place of the legend of step (a) a new legend representing the automatically and newly selected item of step (c).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
182 words
1 . A method of selecting the next item in an ordered list of items within a menu, the method comprising the steps of: (a) positioning with motion of a user operated pointing device a screen pointer icon proximate a next item selection icon that is proximate a legend representing a currently selected item within the ordered list, the ordered list being displayable as the menu in response to an operation involving a menu icon; (b) while the screen pointer icon is positioned as in step (a), actuating a switch on the user operated pointing device; (c) in response to step (b), automatically selecting as a new currently selected item an item from within the ordered list and which is adjacent, within the order of the list and in a direction associated with the next item selection icon, to that item that previously was the currently selected item at the time step (b) occurred; and (d) subsequent to step (c), displaying in place of the legend of step (a) a new legend representing the automatically and newly selected item of step (c).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
33 words
2 . A method as in claim 1 further comprising the step (e) of, subsequent to step (c), automatically implementing an action based upon the selection of an item in the ordered list.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
26 words
3 . A method as in claim 1 further comprising the step, prior to step (a), of user definition of the items in the ordered list.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
102 words
4 . A method as in claim 1 wherein prior to step (a) an initial selection from the ordered list is made by performing the steps comprising: (a1) positioning with motion of the user operated pointing device the screen pointer icon proximate a desired item in an ordered list of items in the menu; (a2) while the screen pointer icon is positioned as in step (a1), initially selecting the desired item as the selected item by actuating the switch on the user operated pointing device; and (a3) subsequent to step (a2), displaying a legend representing the initially selected item of step (a2).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
61 words
5 . A method as in claim 1 further comprising the steps of displaying a composite eye diagram whose components are signals associated with the items in the ordered list and highlighting that portion of the displayed composite eye diagram corresponding to a component thereof whose associated item in the ordered list was selected in accordance with steps (a) through (d).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
148 words
6 . Menu apparatus having a pointing device with motion signals and a user actuatable switch, having a display device and having a processor mechanism writing to the display device a menu of implementable items selectable in response to the motion signals and to user activation of the switch, the menu apparatus comprising: a screen pointer icon whose position in the display is in response to the motion signals; an ordered list of menu items, selectable one at a time; a displayed legend indicating a selected menu item; a next-item-in-the-ordered-list selection icon; and the processor mechanism responding to an actuation of the switch while the screen pointer icon is proximate the next-item-in-the-ordered-list selection icon by de-selecting a currently selected menu item and selecting the next menu item in the ordered list, by altering the displayed legend to reflect that activity, and by implementing the newly selected menu item.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
148 words
6 . Menu apparatus having a pointing device with motion signals and a user actuatable switch, having a display device and having a processor mechanism writing to the display device a menu of implementable items selectable in response to the motion signals and to user activation of the switch, the menu apparatus comprising: a screen pointer icon whose position in the display is in response to the motion signals; an ordered list of menu items, selectable one at a time; a displayed legend indicating a selected menu item; a next-item-in-the-ordered-list selection icon; and the processor mechanism responding to an actuation of the switch while the screen pointer icon is proximate the next-item-in-the-ordered-list selection icon by de-selecting a currently selected menu item and selecting the next menu item in the ordered list, by altering the displayed legend to reflect that activity, and by implementing the newly selected menu item.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
72 words
7 . Menu apparatus as in claim 6 , further comprising: a previous-item-in-the-ordered-list selection icon; and wherein the processor mechanism responds to an actuation of the switch while the screen pointer icon is proximate the previous-item-in-the-ordered-list selection icon by de-selecting a currently selected menu item and selecting the previous menu item in the ordered list, by altering the displayed legend to reflect that activity, and by implementing the newly selected menu item.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
71 words
8 . Menu apparatus as in claim 6 , further comprising: eye diagram data acquisition and analysis mechanisms for a plurality of data signals applied to respective eye diagram channels; and further wherein the menu items represent eye diagram channels; and the processor mechanism implements the selected menu item by highlighting a component portion of a composite eye diagram corresponding to the data signal applied to the selected eye diagram channel.
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