Clipview applications

• US 20060274086A1
• Filed: 06/03/2005
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Forstall, Scott, Chaudhri, Imran A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,141,718 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/629
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/543 User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation

Abstract

An implementation allows a user to select an area of interest in a content source and to clip content from the area of interest. A variety of content types may be clipped and presented to a user, and the clipped content may be refreshed from the selected area of interest. Various configuration parameters, as well as the clipped content, may be stored for future retrieval by a clipping application that presents the clipped content. Methods, computer program products, systems, and data structures are provided. One method includes identifying one or more content sources, identifying a portion of a content source to be included in each of a first and second view, storing information associated with the identified content source for each view including a name and identifying information for designating a respective portion of a content source, and displaying both the first and second view in an aggregate view.

Claims

1. A method for displaying content in a user interface comprising:

identifying one or more content sources;

identifying a portion of a content source to be included in each of a first and second view;

storing information associated with the identified content source for each view including a name and identifying information for designating a respective portion of a content source; and

displaying both the first and second view in an aggregate view.

2. The method of claim 1 where the first view is displayed in the second view.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first view and the second view are interleaved in the aggregate view and displayed at different times.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first view controls at least one aspect of the display of the second view.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second views are displayed simultaneously and in different portions of the aggregate view.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second views are displayed side by side in the aggregate view.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first view is called and displayed in the second view.

8. A method for displaying content in a user interface comprising:

identifying an application, the application including one or more user interfaces that are interactive with a user of the application;

identifying a portion of one or more of the user interfaces to be included in a view;

storing information associated with the identified user interface portion including a name and identifying information; and

displaying the identified portion in a view separate from the application.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the identified portion includes an interactive portion that initiates a command in the application.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the application is the Mac OS X operating system and the identified portion includes a finder frame.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the application is a spreadsheet application and the identified portion includes one or more cells of a spreadsheet.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the portions of the one or more cells are non-contiguous in the spreadsheet.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein one or more of the one or more cells are identified in different spreadsheets.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein displaying the identified portion includes not initiating the application and directly accessing he identified portion from a datastore associated with the application.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the application is a media player and the identified portion is a portion of media configured to be played on the media player.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the media is television clips.

17. The method of claim 8 further comprising receiving an interaction with the displayed view and processing the interaction.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein processing includes launching the application and loading the identified portion into a user interface associated with the application.

19. The method of claim 17 where the application is a game, and the interaction is a move required to further the game.

20. The method of claim 19 where the game is multiplayer game and the view provides an alert associated with determining another player in the game has provided an input.

21. The method of claim 11 wherein the application is an authoring application and the identified portion is a portion of a document.

22. The method of claim 11 wherein the application is a mail application and the identified portion is an inbox.

23. The method of claim 11 wherein the application is a mail application and the identified portion is an address book.

24. The method of claim 11 wherein the application is a player application and the identified portion is a sound clip.

25. The method of claim 11 wherein the application is a webcam and the identified portion is a portion of content associated with the webcam.

26. A method for sharing content between applications comprising:

identifying content and an associated application;

providing a viewer application that facilitates viewing a portion of the content without initiating the associated application; and

displaying a portion of the content in a view presented by the viewer including automatically updating the view in accordance with a refresh strategy.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the associated application is a mail application and the content is stored in a mail server associated with the mail application.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the associated application is a document processing application and the content is stored in a datastore associated with the associated application.

29. The method of claim 26 where the shared content is selected from the group consisting of folder, a file, and a document.

30. The method of claim 26 wherein the refresh strategy is selected from the group consisting of automatically, continuously, intermittently, manually, selectively or as provided.

31. The method of claim 26 wherein the identifying content includes receiving input indicating portions of content that are available for ready inclusion in the view.

32. A method for sharing content between applications comprising:

identifying a content source including a portion of the content source to be included in a view, the content source associated with an application;

providing a viewer application that facilitates viewing the portion of the content; and

displaying the portion of the content in a view presented by the viewer application including automatically updating the view in accordance with a refresh strategy.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein identifying a portion of content includes receiving input indicating portions of content that are available for ready inclusion in the view.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein the content is located by a searching application and the searching application returns a portion of the content as a search result.

35. The method of claim 32 wherein the portion of content is identified from prior portions of content presented to a user.

36. The method of claim 32 wherein the process of displaying the portion includes responding to a user interaction to the view.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the response is selected from the group consisting of returning a page request, updating the display, navigating in the view, and displaying received content.

38. The method of claim 36 further comprising interacting with a user when provided an input there from.

39. The method of claim 36 further comprising selectively allowing for user interaction with the view.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein selectively allowing for user interaction includes selecting from no interaction, partial interaction and full interaction where full interaction includes launching the application associated with the content being displayed to facilitate the full interaction.

41. The method of claim 32 wherein displaying a portion of the content in accordance with the refresh strategy includes tracking changes in the portion of content in the content source and providing an update to the portion of the content displayed in accordance with the refresh strategy.

42. The method of claim 32 wherein the application is a browser.

43. The method of claim 32 wherein the application is a messaging application and the view provides an alert whenever a new message is received in a message store associated with the messaging application.

44. The method of claim 32 wherein displaying a portion of the content includes applying a function to the portion of the content prior to display.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the function is a graphical operation.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the function is a filter.

47. The method of claim 32 wherein displaying the portion includes displaying the portion in a widget.

48. The method of claim 32 wherein the steps of identify, providing and displaying are instantiated by a widget.

49. The method of claim 32 wherein displaying the view includes displaying the view in an overlay of a display environment.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the display environment is selected from the group consisting a desktop environment and a dashboard environment.

51. The method of claim 49 wherein the display environment is a display of an electronic device.

52. The method of claim 32 further comprising maintaining a script describing a process for refreshing the portion of the content.

53. The method of claim 32 wherein the step of displaying is performed selectively for different users depending on permissions associated with a given user.

54. The method of claim 32 wherein the content source is associated with a subscription service and refreshing the view is performed in accordance with a subscription agreement.

55. A method for displaying web content in a user interface comprising:

maintaining first and second information, each of the first and second information associated with a content source including a name and identifying information for designating a selected portion of the content source; and

displaying a view including respective selected portions associated with the first and second information.

56. The method of claim 55 further comprising

identifying a first content source associated with the first information;

selecting a portion of the content source to be included in the view;

identifying a second content source associated with the second information; and

selecting a portion of the content source to be included in the view.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein identifying the content source includes determining a script for accessing the content source, maintaining information includes maintaining the script, and displaying includes using the script to access current content associated with the selected portion.

58. The method of claim 56 wherein selecting includes determining view characteristics including a dimension of a display area to display the selected portion.

59. The method of claim 56 wherein selecting includes determining view characteristics including a location of the view in a display environment.

60. The method of claim 55 further comprising rendering the content source and deriving reference data describing the selected portion using the rendered data.

61. The method of claim 55 further comprises detecting a trigger event for activating an overlay in the user interface and where displaying the view includes displaying the view in the overlay.

62. The method of claim 61 wherein the overlay is a dashboard that includes one or more graphical user interface elements.

63. The method of claim 61 further includes detecting a trigger event for dismissing the overlay and reactivating the user interface.

64. The method of claim 55 further comprising detecting a user interaction with the view and providing a response where the response is selected from the group consisting of returning a page request, updating the display, navigating in the view, and displaying received content.

65. The method of claim 55 further comprising interacting with a user when provided an input there from.

66. The method of claim 55 further comprising selectively allowing for user interaction with the view.

67. A data structure for content to be displayed in a user interface comprising:

metadata identifying a first and second content source;

metadata describing an area of interest in each content source;

metadata describing a relationship for displaying both areas of interest in a unified view; and

preference data describing at least refresh preferences to be used when displaying the areas of interest in a user interface.

68. The data structure of claim 67 further comprising navigation metadata including a script for accessing each area of interest.

69. The data structure of claim 67 wherein the metadata describing an area of interest includes a selection definition including information describing a selected portion including reference information and view dimension information.

70. The data structure of claim 69 wherein the reference information includes information defining geographic coordinates for locating the selected portion.

71. The data structure of claim 70 wherein the reference information includes information defining a locator in the content source selected from the group consisting of a frame, a view, or a widget.

72. The data structure of claim 67 further comprising a script for locating the area of interest, the script including one or more processes for authenticating a user for accessing the content source.

73. The data structure of claim 67 wherein the metadata describing the area of interest includes information for identifying selected portions of a plurality of different content sources.

74. The data structure of claim 67 wherein the metadata describing the area of interest includes information for identifying selected non-contiguous portions of a content source.

75. The data structure of claim 67 wherein the refresh preferences are selected from the group consisting of automatically, continuously, intermittently, manually, selectively or as provided.

76. A method for identifying content to be displayed in a user interface comprising:

identifying two or more digital content sources;

selecting a portion of each digital content source to be included in a view defined by a selection definition; and

maintaining information associated with each digital content source including navigation information to the digital content source, the selection definition and metadata describing a relationship for displaying each portion in a unified view.

77. The method of claim 76 wherein the digital content source is selected from the group consisting of a web page, a file, a document, or a spreadsheet.

78. The method of claim 76 wherein selecting a portion is performed by a user.

79. The method of claim 76 wherein selecting further includes identifying the navigation information including a script for accessing the selected portion.

80. The method of claim 76 wherein selecting further includes determining the selection definition, the selection definition including information describing the selected portion including reference information and view dimension information.

81. The method of claim 80 wherein the reference information includes information defining geographic coordinates for locating the selected portion.

82. The method of claim 80 wherein the reference information includes information defining a locator in the digital content source selected from the group consisting of a frame, a view, or a widget.

83. The method of claim 76 wherein identifying the digital content source includes determining a script for accessing the digital content source, and maintaining information includes maintaining the script.

84. The method of claim 76 wherein selecting includes determining view characteristics including a dimension of a display area to display the selected portion and maintaining includes maintaining the view characteristics.

85. The method of claim 76 wherein selecting includes determining view characteristics including a location of the view in a display environment and maintaining includes maintaining the view characteristics.

86. The method of claim 76 wherein selecting includes determining reference data for identifying a particular portion of the digital content source to be displayed and the maintaining step includes storing the reference data.

87. The method of claim 76 further comprising rendering the digital content source and deriving reference data describing the selected portion using the rendered data.

88. The method of claim 76 further comprising maintaining user interaction preferences to be active when displaying the view, the interaction preferences providing a selective level of interaction with the view.

89. A data structure for a graphical display element comprising:

a plurality of content definitions, each including a description of a digital content source and a pre-selected portion of the digital content source;

metadata describing a relationship for displaying each pre-selected portion in a unified view; and

preference data including refresh preferences to be used when displaying the pre-selected portion of the digital content source in a user interface.

90. A graphical display element comprising:

a plurality of content definitions, each including a description of a digital content source and an area of interest of the digital content source;

metadata describing a relationship for displaying each area of interest in a unified view;

preference data including refresh preferences to be used when displaying the area of interest of the digital content source in a user interface; and

a viewer for displaying the areas of interest in the unified view and updating content associated with the area of interest in accordance with the preference data.

91. The graphical display element of claim 90 wherein the digital content source is selected from the group consisting of a web page, a file, a document, or a spreadsheet.

92. The graphical display element of claim 90 wherein the content definition further includes navigation information including a script for accessing the area of interest.

93. The graphical display element of claim 90 wherein content definition further includes a selection definition including information describing the area of interest including reference information and view dimension information.

94. The graphical display element of claim 93 wherein the reference information includes information defining geographic coordinates for locating the selected portion.

95. The graphical display element of claim 93 wherein the reference information includes information defining a locator in the digital content source selected from the group consisting of a frame, a view, or a widget.

96. The graphical display element of claim 90 wherein the content definition includes view characteristics including a dimension of a display area to display the area of interest.

97. The graphical display element of claim 90 wherein the content definition includes view characteristics including a location of the view in a display environment.

98. The graphical display element of claim 90 wherein the content definition further comprises data associated with the digital content source that can be used to locate the area of interest in subsequent views.

99. The graphical display element of claim 98 wherein the data is rendered data.

100. The graphical display element of claim 90 wherein the content definition further comprises user interaction preferences to be active when displaying the view, the interaction preferences providing a selective level of interaction with the view.

101. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computing device to:

identifying one or more content sources;

identify a portion of a content source to be included in each of a first and second view;

store information associated with the identified content source for each view including a name and identify information for designating a respective portion of a content source; and

display both the first and second view in an aggregate view.

102. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computing device to:

identify an application, the application including one or more user interfaces that are interactive with a user of the application;

identify a portion of one or more of the user interfaces to be included in a view;

store information associated with the identified user interface portion including a name and identifying information; and

display the identified portion in a view separate from the application.

103. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computing device to:

identify content and an associated application;

provide a viewer application that facilitates viewing a portion of the content without initiating the associated application; and

display a portion of the content in a view presented by the viewer including automatically updating the view in accordance with a refresh strategy.

104. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computing device to:

identify a content source including a portion of the content source to be included in a view, the content source associated with an application;

provide a viewer application that facilitates viewing the portion of the content; and

display the portion of the content in a view presented by the viewer application including automatically updating the view in accordance with a refresh strategy.

105. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computing device to:

maintain first and second information, each of the first and second information associated with a content source including a name and identifying information for designating a selected portion of the content source; and

display a view including respective selected portions associated with the first and second information.

106. A computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computing device to:

identify two or more digital content sources;

select a portion of each digital content source to be included in a view defined by a selection definition; and

maintain information associated with each digital content source including navigation information to the digital content source, the selection definition and metadata describing a relationship for displaying each portion in a unified view.