WO2006064406A1

WO2006064406A1 - Graphical user interface

Info

Publication number: WO2006064406A1
Application number: PCT/IB2005/054078
Authority: WO
Inventors: Maarten P. Bodlaender
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2004-12-15
Filing date: 2005-12-06
Publication date: 2006-06-22

Abstract

A graphical user interface that comprises action labels and yet works efficiently is described. The invention provides a graphical user interface comprising a display with a label and an indicated label, a first means for receiving a user input, a second means for measuring the time elapsed from the user input, and a third means for changing the labels displayed in the display when the elapsed time satisfies a first predetermined condition. Such a graphical user interface has the advantage that it automatically updates the displayed information with no need for user input. This can shorten the delay to update the displayed information while the user is free to engage in other activities. Ideally, the new display should comprise the most useful contents or action labels, which the user would like to see in the display.

Description

Graphical user interface

The invention relates to a graphical user interface.

The invention further relates to a method of displaying a graphical user interlace.

The invention further relates to a computer program product designed to perform the method of displaying the graphical user interface.

The invention further relates to an information carrier comprising the computer program for performing the method of displaying the graphical user interface.

The invention further relates to a display device for displaying the graphical user interface.

An embodiment of such a graphical user interface is disclosed in US 2004/0055446 Al. This document discloses a method for an efficient retrieval of stored multimedia asset files. This method comprises steps for displaying the contents of the menus and for receiving, translating and applying user inputs obtained from a user input device. The entries of the menus will hereinafter be referred to as contents labels. The disclosed embodiment of a multimedia player user interface requires dedicated means such as buttons and a magic wheel for receiving user inputs. These dedicated means constitute additional user interlace elements that increase the cost and complexity of the device and support only a single function (a button) or a few functions (a magic wheel). Another possibility is to implement user inputs as additional entries in the menu hierarchy, hereinafter referred to as action labels. One well-known example of such an approach is the file system. Going up such a file system hierarchy requires using the parent directory label.

A problem with this solution is that the location of such a parent directory label is fixed, typically at the beginning or at the end of the menu list. In this case, users have to scroll to that position, which can be time-consuming and irritating, especially for long file lists and small displays. Thus it is desirable to make the action labels such as the parent directory label readily accessible for the user without the need to extensively scroll the menu lists. It is an object of the present invention to provide a graphical user interface that comprises action labels and yet works efficiently. To achieve this object, the invention provides a graphical user interface comprising a display with a label and an indicated label, a first means for receiving a user input, a second means for measuring the time elapsed from the user input, and a third means for changing the labels displayed in the display when the elapsed time satisfies a first predetermined condition. Such a graphical user interface has the advantage that it automatically updates the displayed information with no need for user input. This can shorten the delay to update the displayed information while the user is free to engage in other activities. The effectiveness of the system is determined by choosing the first predetermined condition and the set of labels to be displayed. Ideally, the changed display should comprise the most useful contents or action labels, which the user would like to see in the display. In one embodiment of the graphical user interface as defined in claim 2, the first predetermined condition is that the time elapsed from the user input is at least a predefined period of time. The predefined period of time may be defined in, for example, the manufacturing process or it may be a parameter to be set by the user of the device. If the user does not enter any input during this predefined amount of time elapsed from the user input, the display contents may change and may comprise new labels, preferably some action labels, provided that other required conditions, if any, are also satisfied.

In another embodiment of the graphical user interface as defined in claim 3, the label of the graphical user interface is a contents label or an action label. Hence, the labels of the graphical user interface shown in the display describe contents or actions. For example, in a music media player, the contents labels may comprise the titles of tracks or the names of composers. The action labels, such as "play" or "up", may describe actions to be applied to the contents labels such us playing a track or moving up the hierarchy of the contents.

In yet another embodiment of the graphical user interface as defined in claim 4, the third means for changing the labels in the display are enabled when the display satisfies a second predetermined condition. This embodiment takes the fact into account that it may not always be necessary or useful to change the labels displayed in the display when the time elapsed from the user input satisfies the first predetermined condition. For example, if all the action labels are already present in the display, it is not necessary to change the display to make the action labels easily accessible for a user, as they are already easily accessible. Therefore, a requirement of an additional condition to be satisfied for changing the display may be useful.

In yet another embodiment of the graphical user interface as defined in claim

5, the second predetermined condition is that the action label is not present in the display. For example, it is possible to design a graphical user interface wherein, if the action label is displayed in the display, all available action labels can be quickly selected, if necessary, by scrolling the contents of the display in a direction. In this case, it is unnecessary to change the labels displayed in the display when the time elapsed from the user input satisfies the first predetermined condition. In yet another embodiment of the graphical user interface as defined in claim

6, the second predetermined condition is that the indicated label is the contents label. The indicated label is the reference label for the user input. In this embodiment, the new label comprised in the changed display may be the action label describing an action applicable to the item described by the indicated label if the indicated label is the contents label. For example, in a multimedia player, the action label can be "play" and the corresponding action can be playing the track described by the indicated label referring to a song or to a musical composition. If the indicated label is the action label, no change of the display takes place. In yet another embodiment of the graphical user interface as defined in claim

7, the new label of the display changed by the third means is the action label. In this embodiment, it is emphasized that one of the main uses of the present invention is to employ action labels to perform actions of the graphical user interlace.

In yet another embodiment of the graphical user interface as defined in claim

8, the graphical user interface further comprises a plurality of states, wherein, in each state, the graphical user interface comprises a state-specific label. Typically, a multimedia player can be in an "idle" state, when no media file is played, or in a "playback" state, when a track is being played. The action labels and the corresponding actions in the "idle" state may be different from the action labels and the corresponding actions in the "playback" state. For example, deleting the currently played track does not make much sense. However, volume regulation actions are necessary in the "playback" state. According to the invention, the method of displaying a graphical user interface comprising a display with a label and an indicated label comprises the following steps: a receiving step for receiving a user input, a measuring step for measuring the time elapsed from the user input, and a display updating step for changing the label displayed in the display when the elapsed time satisfies a first predetermined condition, as mentioned in the opening paragraphs.

The computer program product performs the method of the invention, as mentioned in the opening paragraphs. The display device displays the graphical user interface, as mentioned in the opening paragraphs.

These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 shows an example of a schematic diagram of a tree structure of contents for illustrating the operation of the graphical user interface according to the invention; Figure 2 shows an example of the contents tree of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 shows an example of a device for using the graphical user interface according to the invention;

Figure 4 shows an example of the scrollable list and of the display window;

Figure 5 illustrates scrolling up of labels shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 illustrates scrolling down of labels shown in Figure 4;

Figure 7 shows the schematics of a device employing the graphical user interlace according to the invention;

Figures 8 to 11 show a first example of the scrollable list and of the display window; Figures 12 to 15 show a second example of the scrollable list and of the display window; and

Figure 16 is a block diagram of the method for use in the graphical user interlace according to the invention.

Figure 1 depicts an example of a schematic diagram of a tree structure of contents for illustrating the operation of the graphical user interface according to the invention. One such organization is described in US patent 2002/0147728. In the present simplified diagram, relating to a classical music collection, the contents labels describe category nodes and musical track nodes of the contents tree. The categories of this contents tree with a root 10 are composers 11, genres 12 and compositions 13. The leaves of the contents tree comprise musical track nodes - single compositions 14 or movements 15 of larger compositions. Figure 2 shows an example of the contents tree embodying the diagram of

Figure 1, used to illustrate the embodiments of the graphical user interface according to the invention. There are two composer nodes 21 in the composer category, Chopin and Debussy. There are nine genre nodes 22 descending from the Chopin node: Polonaises, Sonatas, Mazurkas, Scherzos, Impromptus, Ballades, Preludes, Nocturnes, and Concertos. The genre node Mazurkas 221 has eight child nodes 23 each corresponding to one track. These tracks are mazurkas composed by Chopin. The genre node Preludes 222 has three child nodes 24 each corresponding to one track. These tracks are preludes composed by Chopin. The genre node Concertos 223 comprises two composition nodes 25. These nodes correspond to the two following concertos: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11 and Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21. The track nodes 26 of the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor are Movement I: Allegro Maestoso, Movement II: Romance: Larghetto, and Movement III: Rondo: Vivace. There is one genre node 27 descending from the Debussy node: Mazurkas. This genre node has one child node 28, Mazurka in F Sharp Minor.

There may be a set of associated action labels for every contents label of a graphical user interface of the present invention. The action labels in such a set comprise, for example, a "play" label for playing tracks of the subtree defined by the node labeled by the contents label associated with this "play" action label, an "add to playlist" label for adding, to the playlist, tracks of the subtree defined by the node labeled by the contents label associated with this "add to playlist" action label, or a "delete" label for deleting tracks of the subtree defined by the node labeled by the contents label with which this "delete" action label is associated. For example, if these "play", "add to playlist" or "delete" labels are associated with the Mazurkas label 121, the "play" label will be used for playing all mazurkas 24, the "add to playlist" label will be used to add all mazurkas 24 to the playlist, and the "delete" label will be used to delete all the mazurkas 24 from the contents tree. In the preferred embodiment, the "play", "add to playlist" and "delete" action labels are associated with a contents label only if the subtree defined by the contents label has some valid tracks. If there are no tracks in this subtree, there is no need to associate any one of these labels with the contents label. Hence, none of these labels will be associated with the Polonaises label, for example. Further examples of action labels are the "up" label for moving up the graphical user interface hierarchy of labels and the "playlist" label for playing the playlist.

Figure 3 shows an example of a device 31 comprising a display 32 of the graphical user interface of the invention and a user input device comprising means for receiving the select input, for example, a select button 33, and means for receiving the scroll input, for example, a scroll button 34. A power switch 35 is located at the top on the left-hand side of the device. The display 32 comprises five lines of text, each line being capable of displaying one label. Each line displays one contents label. The label displayed in a black frame denoted by reference numeral 36 is the indicated label. Other designs of the device, in particular of the user input device, are also possible. For example, the user input device may further comprise second means for receiving the scroll input for scrolling in a second direction, for example, a second scroll button, or it may further comprise means for receiving the up input for moving up the contents tree, for example, an up button. Also, the fields of the display may comprise a different number of lines, for example, seven lines. Alternatively, these fields of the display may be cells of a table with a plurality of rows and columns.

The lines of the display comprise labels from the set of contents labels and the set of action labels. The labels of the graphical user interface of the present invention can be organized hierarchically into lists or other scrollable objects. In the preferred embodiment, the scrollable objects are ordinary lists. Each such list comprises contents labels of child nodes belonging to the same parent node of the contents tree. These lists are hereinafter referred to as scrollable lists. The scrollable lists may be, and typically are, longer than the list of labels shown in the display. For example, only five genres of Chopin's works are displayed in the display 36. However, the scrollable list, which includes the labels of the display 36, comprises all nine labels of genres of Chopin's works. An example of this scrollable list 40 is shown in Figure 4.

The display window 41 maps the labels of the scrollable list 40 onto the display 32. In the preferred embodiment, scrolling up is defined as moving up the labels of the scrollable list 40. The scrollable list 50 and the display window 51 resulting from scrolling the scrollable list 40 up by one label is shown in Figure 5. The scrollable list 60 and the display window 61 resulting from scrolling the scrollable list 40 down by one label is shown in Figure 6. In the preferred embodiment, the scrolling is cyclic, as shown in Figures 5 and 6. The two labels marked in each Figure 4, 5 and 6 are the indicated labels (reference numerals 42, 52 and 62) and the application labels (reference numerals 43, 53 and 63). The definition and the role of the indicated label and of the application label are described in the following paragraphs.

If there are fewer than five labels, say n (0<n<5), in the scrollable list, the display window will comprise all the n labels of the scrollable list followed by 5-n empty lines. Alternatively, the 5-n labels can be wrapped around. In this case, the display window always comprises 5 labels, some of which occur more than once.

The indicated label 36 shown in Figure 3 as a label in a black frame is a reference label for a user input such as the select input for selecting the indicated label and the scroll input for scrolling. In the preferred embodiment, the indicated label frame occupies the middle line in the display. Any label of the scrollable list can be placed in the indicated label frame and become the indicated label by scrolling the scrollable list. Alternatively, the indicated label frame can be fixed at another location in the display or it can move with scrolling within the display in a way well known in the art.

The skilled person will understand that there are many ways to implement the relation between the display and the indicated label frame as well as to implement scrolling, and that the particular way used in this description serves only for illustration and by no means limits the invention to a particular choice of marking or placing the indicated label or of the scrolling method. Also, the number of displayed lines of text or even the organization of the display and how it is mapped into the set of labels of the graphical user interface of the invention may vary from one embodiment to another.

Whenever the user enters a select input using the select button 33, this input is applied to the indicated label. Hereinafter, this action is referred to as selecting the label and the label itself is referred to as the selected label. The selected label may be a contents label or an action label. In addition, selecting the desired label also refers to scrolling the scrollable list to place the desired label into the indicated label frame followed by entering the select user input.

Each scrollable list is likely to comprise some action labels. For example, in addition to the contents labels, the scrollable list shown in Figure 4 comprises a few action labels such as the PLAY label, the ADD TO PLAYLIST label and the DELETE label. Note that each action label is always associated with one contents label present in the scrollable list. The label, with which the action labels in the scrollable list are associated, is hereinafter referred to as the application label. The action labels in the scrollable list associated with the application label are hereinafter referred to as item-specific action labels. For example, the three action labels PLAY, ADD TO PLAYLIST and DELETE shown in Figure 4 (also in Figures 5 and 6) are associated with the Preludes label 43 (also 53 and 63, respectively). Thus, the Preludes label is the application label. In the preferred embodiment, the item- specific action labels are located just below the application label. In addition to having the predefined position relative to the item-specific associated labels, the application label can be marked by the application label frame, for example, a shaded background. The action defined by an item-specific action label depends on the item defined by the application label, with which this action label is associated. For example, in the scrollable list in Figure 4, the PLAY label defines the action of playing all mazurka tracks in the subtree defined by the Mazurkas node. Other action labels, which may be included with a scrollable list of labels, are labels that are not associated with any label in this scrollable list. For example, the UP action label and the PLAYLIST action label shown in Figure 4 are such labels. Unlike the PLAY label, the UP label is not associated with any contents label in the scrollable list of Figure 4, with which it is included. One can say that this UP label is associated with the scrollable list with which it is included. Equivalently, one can say that this UP label is associated with the label of the parent node of this scrollable list. The action, defined by the UP label, is moving the display up the contents hierarchy. For example, the action defined by the UP label in Figure 4 is displaying the labels of the scrollable list comprising the Chopin label and the Debussy label. Similarly, the PLAYLIST action label is not associated with any contents label in the scrollable list of Figure 4, with which it is included. In fact, this label is associated with no label at all. The action defined by the PLAYLIST label is playing all tracks comprised in the playlist. The action labels, which are not associated with any label of the scrollable list, are hereinafter referred to as general action labels.

Figure 7 shows the schematics 701 of the device 31 of Figure 3 comprising an I/O port 702, an I/O bus 703, a memory 704, a memory bus 705 and a CPU 706 for performing the tasks of a graphical user interface according to the invention. The memory 704 comprises a computer-readable program, which can be executed by the CPU 706. This program comprises codes for reading and interpreting the user input, measuring the time elapsed from the user input, checking the first, the second or the third condition, and updating the lull list and the display if the required conditions are satisfied.

Figures 8 to 11 illustrate an example of the first embodiment of the present invention, wherein the scrollable lists comprise contents labels and general action labels. In Figure 8, the scrollable list 80 comprises contents labels of the genres of works composed by Chopin, listed in Figure 2, and one general action label, the UP label. There are no item- specific action labels and thus no application label. The display window 81 comprises five contents labels. The UP label is not present in the display. In the preferred embodiment, this is equivalent to saying that the UP label satisfies the second predetermined condition. The Scherzos label is the indicated label 82. The user now has a few options. He can scroll up or down the scrollable list, select the UP label, or select a contents label, for example, Mazurkas. If the user selects the UP label, the scrollable list 80 will be replaced by another scrollable list corresponding to the next higher hierarchy level as shown in Figure 9. The scrollable list 90 comprises the names of two composers, Chopin and Debussy. No action label UP is comprised in this scrollable list, as this is the highest scrollable list in the contents hierarchy of the present example. The Chopin label, the label of the parent node of the nodes defined by the contents labels of the scrollable list 81, is the indicated label 92. Since there are only two labels in this scrollable list, two top lines and one bottom line of the display window 81 are empty. Alternative arrangements involving even or odd permutations of contents labels of the scrollable list 80 are possible.

If the user selects the label Mazurkas, the scrollable list 80 will be replaced by another scrollable list 100 corresponding to the next lower hierarchy level. This is shown in Figure 10. The scrollable list 100 comprises eight mazurkas by Chopin, listed in Figure 2, and the UP action label. The UP action label is the indicated label. Alternative arrangements involving even or odd permutations of contents labels of the scrollable list 80 are possible. In the absence of a user input, the contents of the display window 81 will be displayed until the time elapsed from the last user input satisfies the first predefined condition. In the preferred embodiment, this condition is that the elapsed time is a predetermined amount of time. When the elapsed time exceeds this predetermined amount of time and when the UP label is not present in the display, the time-out conditions, the first predetermined condition and the second predetermined condition are satisfied and the contents of the display window is changed to comprise the UP label. One way to achieve the desired change in the contents of the display window is to rearrange the scrollable list 80 as shown in Figure 11. The UP label in the new scrollable list 110 is moved up so that it now occupies the middle position in the display window 111. Consequently, the UP label becomes the indicated label 112 and can be quickly selected for moving up the contents hierarchy. The four contents labels of the scrollable list, namely Scherzos, Impromptus, Ballades and Preludes, are moved one line down to make room for the UP label. Alternative arrangements of labels involving even or odd permutations of contents labels of the scrollable list 80 and yet achieving the same desirable effect, namely placing the UP action label in the display window, but not necessarily in the indicated label frame, are also possible.

The second example of an embodiment of the invention with the scrollable list comprising contents labels, general action labels and item-specific action labels is explained below with reference to Figures 12 to 15. In Figure 12, the scrollable list 120 comprises contents labels of the genres of works composed by Chopin, listed in Figure 2, and four action labels, the UP and PLAYLIST general action labels, and the PLAY and ADD TO PLA YLIST item-specific action labels. The display window 121 comprises five contents labels. The Mazurkas label is the indicated label 122. In the preferred embodiment, this is equivalent to saying that the display satisfies the third predetermined condition that the indicated label is a contents label. The Preludes label is the application label 123 with which the item-specific action labels PLAY and ADD TO PLAYLIST are associated.

The user has a few options. He can scroll up or down the scrollable list, select any one of the four action labels, or select a contents label, for example, Mazurkas. If the user selects the UP label, the scrollable list 120 will be replaced by another scrollable list 130 corresponding to the next higher hierarchy level as shown in Figure 13. In this case, the scrollable list 120 is replaced by the scrollable list 130 comprising the names of the two composers, Chopin and Debussy, and three action labels, PLAYLIST, PLAY and ADD TO PLAYLIST. No action label UP is required as the scrollable list 130 is the highest scrollable list in the contents hierarchy of the present example. The Chopin label, the label of the parent node of the nodes described by the contents labels of the scrollable list 120, is the indicated label 132. The Chopin label is also the application label 133 of the scrollable list 130. The item-specific action labels are placed just below the application label 133 and the general action label is placed above the application label 133 to make these action labels easily selectable. Alternative arrangements of labels involving even or odd permutations of contents labels of the scrollable list 120 are possible.

If the user selects the PLAYLIST label, the playlist stored in the device is played. Note that the PLAYLIST label is not required and can be dropped from the scrollable list if the playlist is empty. Here we have assumed that the playlist is not empty. If the user selects the PLAY label, the eight mazurkas comprised in the subtree defined by the application label, Mazurkas, node will be played. If the user selects the ADD TO PLA YLIST label, the eight mazurkas comprised in the subtree defined by the node labeled Mazurkas, the application label 123, will be added to the playlist. If the user selects the Mazurkas label, the scrollable list 120 will be replaced by another scrollable list 140 corresponding to the next lower hierarchy level, as shown in Figure 14. In this example, the scrollable list 140 comprises the eight mazurkas by Chopin, listed in Figure 2, and the four action labels: PLAYLIST, UP, PLAY and ADD TO PLAYLIST. The first label, Mazurka Op. 6, No. 1 in F Sharp Minor, on the list of Mazurkas, reference numeral 22 in Figure 2, is both the indicated label 142 and the application label 143. The item-specific action labels are placed just below the application label and the general action labels are placed above the application label 143 to make these action labels quickly selectable. Alternative arrangements of labels are possible. In the absence of a user input, the contents of the display window 121 will be displayed until the time elapsed from the last user input is a predetermined amount of time. When the elapsed time exceeds this predetermined amount of time and when the indicated label is a contents label, the time-out conditions of the second embodiment, the first predetermined condition and the third predetermined condition are satisfied and the contents of the display window is changed to display the action labels to make them easily available to the user. One way to achieve the desired change in the contents of the display window is to rearrange the scrollable list 120 as shown in Figure 15. In the updated scrollable list 150, the indicated label of the scrollable list 120, Mazurkas, is both the indicated label 152 the application label 153. The action labels, PLAYLIST, UP, PLAY and ADD_TO_PLAYLIST, are now comprised in the display window 151. The item-specific action labels are placed just below the application label 153 and the general action label is placed above the application label 153 to make these action labels quickly selectable. Alternative arrangements of labels are possible.

The skilled person will understand that there are several ways in which the labels of the scrollable lists can be effectively rearranged in order to yield the desired effect and that the way shown in the above examples of embodiments serves the purpose of explaining the invention and by no means limits the present invention to one particular arrangement of labels in the display window. Also, the action of selecting a track can be associated with a function. For example, this action can be associated with playing the selected track or displaying more action labels applicable to this track. In the former case, there may be no need to include the PLAY label with the scrollable list of track labels. Finally, although the scrollable lists are used in the above description as a convenient tool for describing the operation of the present invention, it is merely a tool and the invention can, in principle, be described without the use of scrollable lists. In the above embodiments, the scrollable lists comprised both the contents labels and the action labels. Alternatively, in the third embodiment, the action labels can form separate scrollable lists associated with contents labels and thus forming an additional hierarchy level. This may be useful when dealing with large sets of item-specific action labels associated with contents labels. A scrollable list of action labels comprising item- specific labels associated with the indicated label can be displayed if the time-out condition of the third embodiment is satisfied. The time-out condition in the third embodiment is the same as the time-out condition in the second embodiment. This list of action labels must comprise an action label for returning to displaying the hierarchy of contents labels. The steps of the method employed by the embodiments of the graphical user interlace of the present invention are presented in Figure 16. This method comprises a step 161 of updating the labels in the display, a step 162 of resetting the time elapsed from the user input, a step 163 of listening to and receiving the user input, and a step 164 of checking if the new user input has been received. At this point, the method has two branches to follow. If the new user input has been received, the method returns to and continues with step 161 of updating the labels in the display. If the new user input has not been received, the method performs a step 165 of incrementing the elapsed time. In the next step 166, a check is performed if the elapsed time satisfies the first predetermined condition. If the elapsed time does not satisfy the first predetermined condition, the method returns to and continues with step 163 of listening to and receiving the user input. If the elapsed time satisfies the first predetermined condition, the method performs a step 167 of checking if the display satisfies the second predetermined condition. If the display satisfies the second predetermined condition, the method returns to and continues with step 161 of updating the labels in the display. If the display does not satisfy the second predetermined condition, the subsequently performed step is a step 168 of resetting the time elapsed from the user input, and the method returns to and continues with step 163 of listening to and receiving the user input. The skilled person will understand that the method described above may involve further steps not shown in the diagram in Figure 16. Also, some steps can be merged together while other steps can be split into more detailed steps. The described method and diagram serve the purpose of explaining to the reader how the present invention works and should not be interpreted as a limitation of the present invention.

It is obvious to the skilled person that the present invention can be used in a variety of devices or applications comprising multimedia players, PDAs, mobile phones and web browsers. The type of contents and actions, and thus the contents labels and the associated action labels may be different depending on the particular product. Alternatively, the contents and actions may be customizable or programmable. Therefore, the contents labels and the associated action labels used above serve the purpose of explaining how the present invention works and should not be interpreted as a limitation of the present invention. In the embodiments discussed so far, it was assumed that the response to the user input or the time-out mechanism is always the same, regardless of the state of the device. It may, however, be very useful to identify various states of the device and make the response dependent on the particular state of the device. For example, there may be two states for a multimedia player: the "playback" state, when the device is playing a track, and the "idle" state, when no track is being played. The current state can be displayed in the display area in a reserved field or indicated by some other means. In the "idle" state, the device can operate as described above. However, in the "playback" state, the set of associated action labels may comprise new action labels different from those used in the "idle" state. Also, the second predefined condition may be abolished or may assume a different form dependent on the selected action label.

These new action labels may be, for example, the VOLUME UP label for turning up the volume of the currently played track, the VOLUME DOWN label for turning down the volume of the currently played track, the PAUSE label for pausing the currently played track or the RESUME label for resuming the currently paused track, or the STOP label for stopping the current play queue, whether a single track or a playlist, and returning to the "idle" state. For example, upon selecting the PLAY label, a scrollable list comprising the above action labels can be created and displayed.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. Use of the verb "comprise" and its conjugations does not exclude the presence of a plurality of elements or steps other than those stated in the claim. Use of the indefinite article "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. In the system claims enumerating several means, several of these means can be embodied by one and the same item of readable software or hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A graphical user interface comprising a display (32) comprising a label of the graphical user interface; the display (32) further comprising an indicated label (36); a first means (704) for receiving a user input; a second means (704) for measuring the time elapsed from the user input; and a third means (704) for changing the labels displayed in the display (32) when the elapsed time satisfies a first predetermined condition.

2. A graphical user interface as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first predetermined condition is that the time elapsed from the user input is at least a predefined period of time.

3. A graphical user interface as claimed in claim 1, wherein the label of the graphical user interface is a contents label or an action label.

4. A graphical user interface as claimed in claim 3, wherein the action label of the graphical user interface is a general label or an application label.

5. A graphical user interface as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third means for changing the labels displayed in the display are enabled when the display satisfies the second predetermined condition.

6. A graphical user interface as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second predetermined condition is that the action label is not present in the display.

7. A graphical user interface as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second predetermined condition is that the indicated label is the contents label.

8. A graphical user interface as claimed in claim 1, wherein the new label of the display changed by the third means is the action label.

9. A graphical user interface as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of states, wherein, in each state, the graphical user interface comprises a state-specific label.

10. A method of displaying a graphical user interface comprising a display (32) comprising a label and an indicated label (36), the method comprising: a receiving step (163) for receiving a user input; a measuring step (166) for measuring the time elapsed from the user input; a display-updating step (161) for changing the label displayed in the display when the elapsed time satisfies a first predetermined condition.

11. A computer program product designed to perform the method as claimed in claim 10.

12. An information carrier comprising the computer program as claimed in claim 11.

13. A display device (31) for displaying the graphical user interface as claimed in claim 1.