ROTATIONALLY DEPENDENT INFORMATION IN A THREE DIMENSIONAL GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

• US 20080059910A1
• Filed: 08/29/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit
• Original Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit
• Inventors: BUCHHEIT, BRIAN K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,259,132 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/848
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor

Abstract

A method for presenting digital objects in a electronic space that corresponds to a physical analog having N sides along a directional axis. The digital object can be rotated in an electronic space along the directional axis. A visual rendering of the rotated object is presented within a display, with a number of sides different than N. Accordingly, digital objects can be overloaded with information in a rotationally dependent manner.

Claims

1. A method for presenting digital objects in an electronic space comprising:

identifying a digital object having a physical analog with N sides along a directional axis;

rotating the digital object in an electronic space along the directional axis; and

visually rendering the rotated object within a display, where the rendered object has a number of sides different than N when rotated along the directional axis.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

rotating the digital object along the directional axis in an alternate direction; and

visually presenting the rotated object within the display, where the presented object has a different number of sides than the rendered object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each side of the present object is a graphical representation of the physical analog.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital object is associated with a set of data organized within a hierarchy, said visual rendering step further comprising:

presenting data from a different level of the hierarchy of each side of the digital object is presented, wherein each present side corresponds to a level of the hierarchy.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the digital object has a number of sides along the directional axis equivalent to a number of levels in the hierarchy.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein rotating the digital object analog the directional axis in one direction results in a successive display of data, each rotation displaying a set of data corresponding to a successively superior level of the hierarchy.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein rotating the digital object analog the directional axis in an alternate direction results in a successive display of data, each rotation displaying a set of data corresponding to a successively subordinate level of the hierarchy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of claim 1 are performed by at least one machine in accordance with at least one computer program having a plurality of code sections that are executable by the at least one machine.

9. The method for presenting digital objects within a computing interface comprising:

displaying a digital object in a visual interface;

receiving a user selection to rotate the digital object along a designate axis;

visually rendering the digital object responsive to the receiving step so that a digital representation of the rotated object is approximately equivalent to a representation for a physical analog of the digital object when the physical analog is rotated in a corresponding fashion; and

providing a user selectable mechanism to rotate the digital object in the visual interface in an alternate fashion, wherein when the user selectable mechanism is selected and a rotation occurs, an alternate digital representation for the rotate object is created that is not approximately equivalent to a representation for the physical analog of the digital object when the physical analog is rotated in a corresponding fashion.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the user selectable mechanism results in a display of text within the alternate digital representation, wherein the text is not visually displayed on the physical analog.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the text comprises user selectable commands.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the text comprises metadata for the digital object.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the user selectable mechanism results in the digital object having a number of sides along a directional axis that is different from a number of sides that the physical analog has along an equivalent directional axis.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the number of sides of the digital object is dependent on a user selected direction of rotation.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the user selectable mechanism includes a means to immediately return the digital object to a state that the digital object was in before the alternate digital representation was created.

16. A graphical user interface comprising:

a digital object, which is rotatable within the graphical user interface responsive to a user selection; and

a set of rotational controls, wherein a combination of a selection of one of the rotational controls and a user rotation of the digital object results in the digital object being rendered in the graphical user interface in a manner approximately equivalent to a rotated view resulting from an approximately equivalent rotation of a physical analog of the digital object, and wherein a combination of a selection of a different on of the rotational controls and a user rotation of the digital object results in the digital object being rendered in the graphical user interface in a manner that is not approximately equivalent to a rotated view resulting from an approximately equivalent rotation of the physical analog of the digital object.

17. The graphical user interface of claim 16, wherein the rendering of the digital object when the different one of the rotational controls is selected includes text, and wherein the text is not visually displayed on the physical analog.

18. The graphical user interface of claim 17, wherein the text includes user selectable commands.

19. The graphical user interface of claim 17, wherein the text comprises metadata for the digital object.

20. The graphical user interface of claim 16, wherein the selection of the one and of the different one of rotational controls is automatically performed based upon a user selected rotational direction for the digital object.