Systems and methods for co-axial navigation of a user interface

• US 20050149551A1
• Filed: 01/05/2004
• Published: 07/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fong, Jeffrey, Abanami, Thamer, Franklin, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,698,654 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

Improved systems and methods for navigating media via a user interface, such as a user interface provided on a handheld or portable computing device, are provided. The methods for navigating media of the invention extend the navigation experience by allowing bi-axial context shifts, e.g., with respect to substantially orthogonal directions, allowing a user to conceptually preserve context associated with the navigation experience, context that is lost in one-dimensional hierarchical navigation experiences. In one embodiment, the bi-axial navigation mechanism of the invention includes a drill down twist, i.e., the transformation of a parent list of a parent screen from a vertical list to a horizontal band when moving from the parent screen to the child screen and a horizontal browsing mechanism allowing a user to browse multiple lists using a continuous band of headers.

Claims

1. A user interface for a computing device having a display, comprising:

a first input component for navigating according to a first orientation headers displayed on the display;

a second input component for navigating according to a second orientation list elements of a list associated with a current header of the headers displayed; and

a selection component for receiving a selection of a list element from the list,

wherein when a selection of a list element from the list is received by the selection component, at least a subset of the list elements are displayed according to the first orientation as the new headers of a new screen.

2. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein the selected list element is the current header of the new screen and a second list is displayed associated with the current header.

3. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein the current header is emphasized.

4. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein said first orientation is substantially orthogonal to said second orientation.

5. A user interface according to claim 4, wherein one of (A) said first orientation is horizontal and said second orientation is vertical and (B) said first orientation is vertical and said second orientation is horizontal.

6. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein header names of the new headers are truncated according to a fade process at least based on the size of the header name.

7. A user interface according to claim 6, wherein for a header name located to the left of the current header, the beginning of the header name is truncated.

8. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein the selected list element is the current header of the new screen and if the selected list element is an atomic element, further information about the atomic element is displayed along with the current header.

9. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein navigating headers with said first input component includes moving to the next header according to the first orientation and thereby displaying a second list for that next header.

10. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein each of said headers includes an association with a list, whereby said navigable headers form a band of lists represented by the headers.

11. A user interface according to claim 10, wherein said band of lists is arranged horizontally as a circular list.

12. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein when the selection of the list element is received by the selection component, at least one subset of the list elements are displayed according to the first orientation as the new headers of a new screen, wherein nouns included in text corresponding to the at least one subset of the list elements are displayed as the new headers.

13. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein said first input component receives LEFT and RIGHT input and said second input component receives UP and DOWN input and said selection component receives an OK input.

14. A user interface according to claim 1, wherein the initial location of an input position of the second input component is determined based upon user browsing history.

15. A user interface according to claim 14, wherein the initial location of an input position of the second input component is determined based upon most recent selection from the list.

16. A user interface according to claim 14, wherein the user browsing history is reset when the root menu of the user interface.

17. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable modules having computer executable instructions for implementing the user interface of claim 1.

18. A computing device comprising the user interface of claim 1.

19. A modulated data signal carrying computer executable instructions for implementing the user interface of claim 1.

20. A method for navigating a set of objects based upon first and second orientations of a display of a computing device, comprising:

presenting an initial screen having initial headers oriented according to the first orientation, said initial headers providing top-level categories for filtering the set of objects;

presenting a list of elements associated with a currently selected header of the initial headers according to the second orientation;

navigating the list of elements according to the second orientation;

selecting an element from the list of elements;

in response to said selecting the element, presenting an additional screen having element headers based upon the list of elements according to the first orientation; and

presenting a second list of elements associated with a currently selected header of the element headers.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the currently selected header of the element headers of the additional screen is the header based upon the selected element.

22. A method according to claim 20, wherein the currently selected header is emphasized relative to any unselected header.

23. A method according to claim 20, wherein said first orientation is substantially orthogonal to said second orientation.

24. A method according to claim 23, wherein one of (A) said first orientation is horizontal and said second orientation is vertical and (B) said first orientation is vertical and said second orientation is horizontal.

25. A method according to claim 20, wherein a header name of the new headers is truncated according to a fade process at least based on the size of the header name.

26. A method according to claim 20, wherein the selected element is the current selected header of the additional screen and if the selected list element is an atomic element, further including displaying information about the atomic element along with the currently selected header.

27. A method according to claim 20, further including navigating the initial headers according to the first orientation and said navigating the initial headers includes moving to the next header according to the first orientation and thereby displaying a second list for that next header.

28. A method according to claim 20, wherein each of said initial headers includes an association with a list, whereby said initial headers form a band of lists represented by the headers.

29. A method according to claim 20, wherein the navigating the list of elements includes inputting a location of an input position on the list of elements and the starting location on the list of elements is determined based upon user browsing history.

30. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable modules having computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of claim 20.

31. A computing device comprising means for performing the method of claim 20.

32. A modulated data signal carrying computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 20.

33. A computing device, comprising:

a display;

a computer readable medium comprising computer executable modules comprising computer executable instructions configured to interact with the display and for enabling a user to search for an atomic element of a plurality of elements via categories for describing the plurality of elements,

wherein, via the display, headers are displayed according to a first orientation and a list associated with a currently selected header is displayed according to a second orientation, wherein upon receiving a selection of a list element of the list, at least some of the list elements including the selected list element of the list are displayed as new headers of a new screen according to the first orientation, and a second list is displayed associated with the selected list element according to the second orientation.

34. A computing device according to claim 33, wherein the currently selected header of the new headers of the new screen is the header based upon the selected list element.

35. A computing device according to claim 33, wherein the currently selected header is emphasized relative to any unselected header.

36. A computing device according to claim 33, wherein said first orientation is substantially orthogonal to said second orientation.

37. A computing device according to claim 33, wherein a header name of the new headers is truncated according to a fade process at least based on the size of the header name.

38. A computing device according to claim 33, wherein the selected list element is the current selected header of the additional screen and if the selected list element is an atomic element, further information about the atomic element is displayed along with the currently selected header.

39. A computing device according to claim 33, wherein the headers are navigated according to the first orientation and said navigating the headers includes moving from the currently selected header to the next header according to the first orientation and thereby displaying a second list for that next header, which is the new currently selected header.

40. A computing device according to claim 33, wherein each of said headers includes an association with a list, whereby said headers form a band of lists.

41. A computing device according to claim 33, wherein the selection of the list element includes navigating the list by inputting a location of an input position on the list, wherein the starting location on the list of elements is determined based upon user browsing history.

42. A computing device for navigating a set of objects based upon first and second orientations of a display of a computing device, comprising:

means for presenting an initial screen having initial headers oriented according to the first orientation, said initial headers providing top-level categories for filtering the set of objects;

means for presenting a list of elements associated with a currently selected header of the initial headers according to the second orientation;

means for navigating the list of elements according to the second orientation;

means for selecting an element from the list of elements;

means for presenting an additional screen having element headers based upon the list of elements according to the first orientation in response to said selecting the element; and

means for presenting a second list of elements associated with a currently selected header of the element headers.

43. A computing device according to claim 42, wherein the currently selected header of the element headers of the additional screen is the header based upon the element selected with the means for selecting.

44. A computing device according to claim 42, wherein said first orientation is substantially orthogonal to said second orientation.

45. A computing device according to claim 42, further including means for navigating the initial headers according to the first orientation and said means for navigating the initial headers includes means for moving to the next header according to the first orientation and corresponding means for displaying a second list for that next header.