Recording medium, computer and method for selecting computer display items

1. A method of sequentially displaying each of a plurality of items as a selectable item on a screen of a computer, said computer including a controller which has pressure-sensitive means, comprising the steps of:

acquiring a pressure-sensing output from said controller,

determining a display rate for sequentially displaying selectable items on the screen, said display rate being dependent on a value of said pressure-sensing output; and

sequentially displaying each of the plurality of items as the selectable item at the determined display rate;

wherein each of the plurality of items is associated with one of a plurality of ordered pointer values or one of a plurality of ordered index values, and

wherein the step of sequentially displaying each of the plurality of items as the selectable item further comprises the step of:

incrementing a current pointer value or a current index value to identify a next selectable item.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at most one of the plurality of items is displayed on the screen as the selectable item at any point in time.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein more than one of the plurality of items is displayed on the screen at a point in time, and each of the displayed items is sequentially highlighted at the determined display rate as the selectable item.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the selectable item is highlighted by a cursor.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 . wherein said determined display rate is proportional to the value of said pressure-sensing output.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein said determined display rate increases with an increase in the value of said pressure-sensing output.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein said determined display rate decreases with an increase in the value of said pressure-sensing output.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein said determined display rate decreases with a decrease in the value of said pressure-sensing output.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said determined display rate is defined by a number of screen frames per second.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the value of said pressure-sensing output determines an amount of time that a selectable item is displayed on said screen before a next sequentially displayed selectable item is displayed on said screen.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the value of said pressure-sensing output further determines a number of selectable items that are sequentially displayed during a given time period.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the current index value identifies an image to be displayed as the selectable item.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the current pointer identifies a display position for highlighting a selectable item.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the selectable item is highlighted by a cursor.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said pressure-sensing output defines a number of pointer values or a number of index values to be incremented during a given time period.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said pressure-sensing output determines a last pointer value or a last index value to applied during a given time period.

17. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein each sequentially displayed selectable item is displayed at the same location on the screen.

18. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

selecting a displayed selectable item.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 ,

wherein said pressure sensitive means from said controller further comprises a first pressure sensitive member and a second switch member,

wherein said determined display rate is dependent on an output from said first pressure sensitive member, and

wherein said displayed selectable item is selected in response to an output from said second switch member.

20. A recording medium on which is recorded a computer-readable and executable software program that performs processing by taking as instructions an output from a controller of a computer, said controller having pressure-sensitive means for sensing a pushing pressure of a user of the computer on the controller in order to generate the output from said controller, wherein said software program comprises:

a processing program that sequentially displays each of a plurality of items as a selectable item on a screen of The computer by:

acquiring a pressure-sensing output from said controller;

determining a display rate for sequentially displaying selectable items on the screen, said display rate being dependent on said pressure-sensing output; and

sequentially displaying each of the plurality of items as the selectable item at the determined display rate;

wherein each of the plurality of items is associated with one of a plurality of ordered pointer values or one of a plurality of ordered index values, and

wherein the step of sequentially displaying each of the plurality of items as the selectable item further comprises the step of:

incrementing a current pointer value or a current index value to identify a next selectable item.

21. A computer comprising:

a controller having pressure-sensitive means for sensing a pushing pressure of a user on the controller and generating a pressure sensing output;

a display screen;

means for monitoring the pressure-sensing output from the controller;

means for determining a display rate for sequentially displaying selectable items on the display screen, said display rate being dependent on a value of said pressure-sensing output; and

means for sequentially displaying each of the plurality of items on the display screen as the selectable item at the determined display rate;

wherein each of the plurality of items is associated with one of a plurality of ordered pointer values or one of a plurality of ordered index values, and

wherein the step of sequentially displaying each of the plurality of items as the selectable item further comprises the step of:

incrementing a current pointer value or a current index value to identify a next selectable item.

22. The computer as claimed in claim 20 , wherein said pressure sensitive means from said controller includes a first pressure sensitive member and a second switch member, and said means for determining a display rate is dependent on an output from said first pressure sensitive member, the computer further including:

means for detecting an output from said second switch member; and

means for selecting a displayed selectable item by detecting an output from said second switch member.

23. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:

selecting each selectable item makes a connection to a target including one of a program command, file, web address, and mail address; and

each selectable item is associated with a different target than each other selectable item.