Posted last night to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, a new BlackBerry patent application describes technlogy for magnifying the height of a highlighted selection in a BlackBerry menu interface.

Figure 11 is where it all comes together. But let me walk you through this one, methodically.

The Abstract for patent application 20060154696 describes a:

Method and apparatus with a user interface for controlling the apparatus are provided in which a currently selected menu item is magnified in height relative to other items in the menu so as to distinguish the item. While in addition to providing an appealing way to indicate which item is currently selected, the magnification makes the item easier to read, particularly in poorer lighting conditions.

I've shown you the patent abstract and some key art at the top of this post. Now, let's go exploring for some more illustrations that will show us how this is supposed to work.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram which illustrates pertinent components of a wireless communication device adaptable in accordance with an embodiment of the invention and which communicates within a wireless communication network;

FIG. 2 is a detailed diagram of a preferred wireless communication device of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 to 6 are each an illustration of an example of a menu component of a graphical user interface, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, for a wireless communication device such as the devices of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are each an illustration of an example of a menu component of a graphical user interface, in accordance with respective further embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are each an illustration of an example of a menu component of a graphical user interface in accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 7.

Hold on, this is where it all comes together:

FIGS. 11A, 11B and 11C illustrate a further embodiment of a menu component of a graphical user interface.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for operations of a user interface in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.