USER INTERFACE METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE VISUAL DISPLAY OF MAPS HAVING SELECTABLE MAP ELEMENTS IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICES

摘要

Techniques for controlling user interface operation of a communication device when displaying a map involves the steps of causing a viewable map region of the map to be displayed, the viewable map region having a plurality of selectable map elements; maintaining a list of element identifiers which includes identifiers corresponding to the selectable map elements in the viewable map region, each identifier being associated with a pair of x, y coordinates; controlling end user selection of the selectable map elements via a positioning mechanism in left and right directions in accordance with a numeric order of the x-coordinates; and controlling end user selection of the selectable map elements via the positioning mechanism in up and down directions in accordance with a numeric order of the y-coordinates.