Wave lens systems and methods for search results

• US 20050216859A1
• Filed: 03/25/2004
• Published: 09/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Dumais, Susan T., Paek, Timothy S., Logan, Ronald K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,335,884 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• 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

The present invention relates to a system and methodology for dynamic presentation of search result information within a selected area of a display. In one aspect, a computerized interface for data presentation is provided. The system includes a lens component associated with a portion of a user interface display, wherein the lens component defines an area to display information from at least one search result. A layout component displays a detailed subset of information within the lens component based upon the search result.

Claims

1. A computerized interface for data presentation, comprising:

a lens component associated with a portion of a user interface display, the lens component defines an area to display information from at least one search result; and

a layout component that displays a detailed subset of information within the lens component based upon the search result.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one search engine and at least one local or remote database to retrieve the search result.

3. The system of claim 1, the layout component receives user inputs that operates, alters, or selects display criteria of the lens component and other search results.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising one or more parameters that effect the display criteria.

5. The system of claim 4, the parameters include at least one of a lens size, a lens shape, a lens location, a magnification factor, a presentation rate, a delay, a trigger, and a minimum font size.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one other lens component to display information.

7. The system of claim 1, the lens component is defined as a fisheye lens that is applied vertically to a display at about a focal center of the display.

8. The system of claim 7, the focal center includes one result item comprising a title, description, and URL of a web page.

9. The system of claim 7, the fisheye lens is associated with a piecewise view.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display option for controlling a rate of magnification for the lens component by using a factor as a target and incrementally adjusting a zoom until the target is reached.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a display of animated content that enlarges and settles into a maximum size.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising a parameter that controls a size of zoom increments.

13. The system of claim 12, the zoom increments are controlled with a step function.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising geometric or exponential functions that allow data to grow or settle at varying acceleration.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a content insertion parameter that is adjusted according to a rate of insertion or according to a size of information chunks.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a control panel to allow designers to adjust display parameters for the lens component or the layout component.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display output associated with at least one of an instant information view and a dynamic information view.

18. The system of claim 17, the dynamic information view is coordinated with an amount of content to progressively insert content into a description according to time a mouse hovers over a particular result.

19. A computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for implementing the components of claim 1.

20. A system for displaying query results, comprising:

means for retrieving search results from a database;

means for processing the search results in accordance with a lens; and

means for displaying at least one search result from within the lens and other search results outside the lens.

21. A method for automatic search result organization, comprising:

defining a plurality of parameters for displaying search results;

defining a lens region to display at least one of the search result; and

displaying at least one of the search results within the lens region and at least one other search result outside the lens region.

22. The method of claim 21, the parameters include at least one of a lens size, a lens shape, a lens location, a magnification factor, a viewing rate, a delay, a trigger, and a minimum font size.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising providing a focal center for the lens region.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising controlling a rate of magnification for the lens region by using a factor as a target and incrementally adjusting a zoom until the target is reached.

25. A graphical user interface, comprising:

one or more data items and associated results retrieved from a database;

one or more display objects created for the data items;

an input component for selecting the data items and the associated parameters; and

a lens component to present at least one of the display objects in a different format with respect to a collection of the data items.

26. The interface of claim 25, further comprising controls for interacting with a search engine, a database, the display objects or the lens component.

27. The interface of claim 25, the display objects are associated with at least one of text insertion, query-relevant text insertion, thumbnails of a web page, information about a size of a result, a download speed, and a recency of a page.