Method and system for improved viewing and navigation of content

• US 20050210399A1
• Filed: 03/18/2004
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ma, Wei-Ying, Filner, Aaron S., McLain, Jay F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,441,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/767
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

A system and method for small computing devices that present a thumbnail image of content such as a web page, allows a viewer to select a region, and zooms in on the selected region in a way that reduces scrolling and helps users to understand the content they are reading. The page is scaled such that a user need only scroll in one dimension to see the content, and is divided into regions. Regions may be arranged as cells of a grid, or arranged by logically-related content. A user navigates among the regions as desired, selects a region from the thumbnail view, and obtains an expanded version of that region. In the expanded view, the region is ordinarily scaled so that the user scrolls in only one dimension to view the content of the region. Browser “Back” commands are supported, as are frames.

Claims

1. In a computing device, a method comprising:

dividing content into regions;

displaying a plurality of the regions together in a reduced size;

detecting a request to display a selected one of the regions; and

displaying the selected region in a size that is expanded relative to the reduced size.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein dividing the content into the regions comprises providing a navigation grid having a plurality of regions which can each be navigated to via navigation commands.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein dividing the content into the regions comprises panelizing the content into panelized regions.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, providing a tooltip that is based on the content of a region that is being displayed in the reduced size.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the selected region in the expanded size comprises scaling the selected region such that its content can be viewed by scrolling in only one dimension.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein scrolling in a second dimension changes the displayed region from the previously selected region to another region.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising, providing a visual indication of the change of regions.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein scrolling in the one dimension beyond a limit in the region changes the displayed region from the previously selected region to another region.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising, providing a visual indication of the change of regions.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising, when the regions are displayed together in a reduced size, providing a cursor that indicates which region will be selected as the selected region upon detecting the request to display one of the regions.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein dividing the content into the regions comprises providing a navigation grid having a plurality of regions which can each be navigated to via navigation commands, and wherein the cursor is provided as a grid framing marker.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein dividing the content into the regions comprises panelizing the content into panelized regions, and wherein providing the cursor comprises marking a border around a panelized region.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the regions in the reduced size comprises scaling the regions such that the regions can be viewed by scrolling in only one dimension.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving the content as a web page.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising scrolling within the selected region.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein scrolling within the selected region comprises jumping between two links based on a single directional command.