Visual configuration and activation

• US 10,656,800 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2013
• Issued: 05/19/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Machalani, Henri-Charles, Dukhon, Marina, Alphin, III, Thomas H., Sawaya, Samer F., McDevitt, Sarah W., DeKlotz, Daniel W., Kotynia, Jakub P., Panic, Marko, Amenta, David S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chavez, Renee D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lobo, Carl P
• Application Number:
  US13/854,025
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298214A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,608 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4451 User profiles; Roaming

Abstract

Techniques for visual configuration and activation are described. Techniques discussed herein enable visuals to be presented to a user based on a user-specific visual configuration. The visuals are activated such that the visuals are selectable to access various functionalities. In at least some embodiments, a visualization that represents a user-specific visual configuration is provided to and displayed on a device. The visualization includes inactive visuals that are activated based on various considerations.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to perform operations including;

receiving, at the computing device from a visual management resource that stores a plurality of visual profiles in association with a plurality of user accounts, visualization data associated with a specific visual profile that corresponds to a specific user account, wherein the visualization data defines a positional-arrangement in which a plurality of visuals are to be displayed in association with the specific user account, and wherein different visuals of the plurality of visuals represent applications with different functionalities;

displaying, at the computing device, a visualization of the plurality of visuals in accordance with the positional-arrangement, wherein at least some visuals of the plurality of visuals represent corresponding applications that are currently inactive at the computing device;

determining an activation order for the at least some visuals of the plurality of visuals based on user interaction information that uniquely corresponds to the specific user account, the user interaction information indicating a frequency of user interaction with the at least some visuals of the plurality of visuals at the computing device or a different computing device;

concurrently with the displaying the visualization of the plurality of visuals in accordance with the positional-arrangement, automatically activating the at least some visuals of the plurality of visuals based on the activation order such that a first visual of the at least some visuals having a higher frequency of user interaction than a second visual of the at least some visuals is activated before the second visual; and

while continuing the activating of the at least some visuals;

dynamically updating the visualization to visually distinguish the first visual from the second visual when the first visual becomes activated prior to the second visual becoming activated, and

enabling selection of the first visual to access a represented application in response to activating the first visual.

2. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein displaying the visualization of the plurality of visuals in accordance with the positional-arrangement is performed in response to an initial user authentication with the computing device.

3. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein displaying is performed in response to at least one of a recovery process or a reconfiguration of the computing device.

4. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the positional-arrangement in which the plurality of visuals is to be displayed in association with the specific user account represents a custom visual configuration that is generated in association with the specific user account.

5. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the activation order is based on a visual order of the plurality of visuals in the positional-arrangement of the plurality of visuals.

6. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the dynamically updating the visualization comprises displaying a progress indicator that indicates an activation progress for a specific visual within the positional-arrangement of the plurality of visuals.

7. The computing device as recited in claim 1, the operations further comprising changing the activation order in response to receiving an indication to change the activation order.

8. The computing device as recited in claim 7, wherein the indication to change the activation order comprises at least one of a user selection of a particular visual or a user manipulation of the particular visual such that the particular visual is promoted in the activation order.

9. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein a particular visual of the plurality of visuals represents a portion of an operating system, and activating the at least some of the visuals is performed without updating the particular visual representing the portion of the operating system.

19. A computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein enabling selection of the first visual is performed prior to completion of activating the second visual.

20. The computing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the activation order is determined based at least in part on one or more frequencies of use with which the specific user has used individual functionalities corresponding to individual visuals, and wherein the activation order is determined independently of the positional-arrangement.

10. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

transmitting, to a visual management resource that stores a plurality of visual profiles in association with a plurality of user accounts, a request for visualization data associated with a specific visual profile that corresponds to a specific user account, the request transmitted in response to authenticating the specific user account at a device, the visualization data defining a positional-arrangement in which a plurality of visuals are to be displayed in association with the specific user account, wherein different visuals of the plurality of visuals represent applications with different functionalities;

generating, at the device and based on the visualization data, a visualization of the plurality of visuals, the visualization including at least some visuals that represent a corresponding application that is currently inactive at the device;

determining an activation order for activating the at least some visuals, the activation order being determined based on user interaction information describing a frequency of user interaction with the at least some visuals at the device or at a different device, the activation order being independent of the positional-arrangement in which the plurality of visuals is to be displayed in association with the specific user account;

causing the device to display a rendering of the plurality of visuals in accordance with the positional-arrangement with at least one indication that the corresponding application of the at least some visuals is currently inactive at the device;

causing the device to automatically activate the at least some visuals, concurrently while displaying the plurality of visuals in accordance with the positional-arrangement, based on the activation order by first activating a first visual of the at least some visuals that has a higher frequency of user interaction than a second visual of the at least some visuals; and

while continuing to activate the at least some of the visuals, updating the rendering of the plurality of visuals to visually distinguish the first visual from the second visual when the first visual becomes activated prior to the second visual becoming activated.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein authenticating the specific user account is performed in response to one or more of a recovery process or a reconfiguration of the device.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the positional-arrangement is customized in association with the specific user account.

13. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device from a visual management resource that stores a plurality of visual profiles in association with a plurality of user accounts, visualization data associated with a specific visual profile that corresponds to a specific user account, wherein the visualization data defines a positional-arrangement in which a plurality of visuals is to be displayed in association with the specific user account, wherein different visuals of the plurality of visuals represent applications with different functionalities;

causing the computing device to render a visualization of the plurality of visuals in accordance with the positional-arrangement, wherein at least two of the visuals represent corresponding applications that are currently inactive at the computing device;

initiating activation of the at least two visuals of the visualization in an activation order by downloading, installing, or registering one or more applications for each of the at least two visuals, wherein the activation order is determined based on user interaction information that corresponds to the specific user account, and wherein the user interaction information is independent of the positional-arrangement in which the plurality of visuals is to be displayed in association with the specific user account;

receiving, after initiating the activation and prior to completing the activation, an indication to change the activation order;

changing the activation order in response to receiving the indication by promoting a first visual of the at least two visuals in the activation order and demoting a second visual of the at least two visuals in the activation order; and

enabling selection of the first visual to access an application that is represented by the first visual in response to activating the first visual, prior to completing activation of the second visual.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the at least two visuals of the visualization represent, prior to activation, at least two applications that are not currently installed on the device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the activation order is based on at least one of a visual order of the visuals in the visualization or a visual priority indicated by a user.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein receiving the indication to change the activation order comprises receiving a user selection of the first visual.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein receiving the indication to change the activation order comprises receiving a user selection of the second visual.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising activating the first visual and enabling selection of the first visual to access functionality represented by the first visual, prior to completion of activating the second visual.