Methods for combination tools that zoom, pan, rotate, draw, or manipulate during a drag

• US 20080204476A1
• Filed: 03/04/2008
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Roland Wescott Montague
• Original Assignee: Roland Wescott Montague
• Inventors: Montague, Roland Wescott
• Granted Patent: US 8,274,534 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/661
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04807 Pen manipulated menu
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

After positioning the cursor and pressing-and-holding a mouse button to begin a drag, a user continues to drag the cursor out of and into plural popped up regions. While the cursor is within a region, an associated function effects the displayed graphical information in a particular way, such as continuously panning, drawing, zooming, or rotating. Upon rolling-out of a region without entering a contiguous region, the last function continues to execute and all popped up regions are removed such that the user may utilize the entire display without being switched to another function. In a simple form, after release of the mouse button, a tool may zoom out if the user held the mouse substantially stationary and zoom in on a rectangle if the mouse was dragged. Reducing the number of times a user clicks by eliminating the step of selecting a function should help avoid repetitive strain injuries.

Claims

1. A method of zooming in or out, comprising:

a. providing a screen display for displaying graphical content; and

b. providing an input device for defining a fixed reference point location and a movable selection point location on said screen display, where said selection point location is defined by dragging; and

c. providing a first region spatially relative to and containing said reference point location; and

d. zooming out said graphical content in response to completing said drag while said selection point location is within said first region, thereby previously non-visible graphical content is displayed; and

e. magnifying and displaying a selected portion of said graphical content in response to completing said drag while said selection point location is outside of said first region, where said reference point location and said selection point location define the size and position of said selected portion;

whereby, a user may press and release an arbitrary location without dragging to zoom out, or the user may press and drag beyond a region'"'"'s boundary to draw an area of interest then release to zoom in, without having to first select either a zoom in or a zoom out function by way of an additional user action such as a key press, click of an icon, gesture, or marking menu stroke.

2. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 1 wherein said selected portion having a rectangular shape.

3. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 2 wherein said selected portion having corners at said reference point location and said selection point location.

4. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 3 further comprising:

zooming out dynamically said graphical content in response to pausing said drag while said selection point location is within said first region;

whereby, a user may press and release an arbitrary location without dragging to zoom out, or the user may press and pause without dragging to dynamically zoom out, or the user may press and drag beyond a region'"'"'s boundary to draw a rectangle of interest then release to zoom in, without having to first select either a zoom in or a zoom out function by way of an additional user action such as a key press, click of an icon, gesture, or marking menu stroke.

5. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 1 further comprising:

zooming out dynamically said graphical content in response to pausing said drag while said selection point location is within said first region;

whereby, a user may press and release an arbitrary location without dragging to zoom out, or the user may press and pause without dragging to dynamically zoom out, or the user may press and drag beyond a region'"'"'s boundary to draw an area of interest then release to zoom in, without having to first select either a zoom in or a zoom out function by way of an additional user action such as a key press, click of an icon, gesture, or marking menu stroke.

6. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 1 wherein said reference point is any arbitrary pointer location chosen by a user, where said arbitrary pointer location not having a previously defined selectable item,

whereby a user is able to start a drag from any area not already occupied by functions such as menus, icons, and program shortcuts.

7. A method of zooming in or out, comprising:

a. providing a screen display for displaying graphical content; and

b. providing an input device for defining a fixed reference point location and a movable selection point location on said screen display, where said selection point location is defined by dragging; and

c. providing a first region spatially relative to and containing said reference point location; and

d. zooming out said graphical content in response to pausing said drag while said selection point location is within said first region, thereby previously non-visible graphical content is displayed; and

e. magnifying and displaying a selected portion of said graphical content in response to completing said drag while said selection point location is outside of said first region, where said reference point location and said selection point location define the size and position of said selected portion;

whereby, a user may press and pause without dragging to dynamically zoom out, or the user may press and drag beyond a region'"'"'s boundary to draw an area of interest then release to zoom in, without having to first select either a zoom in or a zoom out function by way of an additional user action such as a key press, click of an icon, gesture, or marking menu stroke.

8. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 7 wherein said selected portion having a rectangular shape.

9. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 8 wherein said selected portion having corners at said reference point location and said selection point location.

10. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 7 further comprising:

activating a previously defined selectable item in response to completing said drag without pausing for a predetermined duration of time while said selection point location is within said first region, and said selection point location is overtop of said previously defined selectable item location.

11. The method of zooming in or out according to claim 10 wherein said previously defined selectable item is a hyperlink within a web page;

whereby a user may press and release on a hyperlink to load in a new webpage, or the user may press and pause without dragging to dynamically zoom out, or the user may press and drag beyond a region'"'"'s boundary to draw an area of interest then release to zoom in, without having to first select either a zoom in or a zoom out function by way of an additional user action such as a key press, click of an icon, gesture, or marking menu stroke.

12. A method of selecting and activating a tool, comprising:

a. providing a screen display for displaying graphical content; and

b. providing an input device for defining a fixed reference point location and a movable selection point location on said screen display, where said selection point location is defined by dragging; and

c. providing a first region containing said reference point location and further providing two or more additional regions contiguous with at least one previously provided region;

wherein at least three of said regions are each assigned a substantially different corresponding function, and each of said functions comprises one or more actions; and

d. activating at least one said action in response to said selection point location rolling-out of the corresponding function'"'"'s region;

whereby a user may press an arbitrary location to display pop-up menu items, then activate a desired item by dragging the selection point out of the item'"'"'s corresponding region without entering a contiguous region, such as pop-up new menu items or activate a file save action.

13. The method of selecting and activating a tool according to claim 12 wherein rolling-out of at least one said region continuously modifies the displayed graphical content based on, but not limited to, both said reference point location and said selection point location;

whereby a user may press to display tool choices, then drag out of the desired tool'"'"'s region to activate it, and continue the same drag while the tool utilizes the reference point and selection point locations, such as panning the graphical content displayed, or drawing a rectangle of interest and zooming in on the rectangle upon completing the drag by releasing.

14. The method of selecting and activating a tool according to claim 13 wherein rolling-out of at least one said region eliminates all said regions, thereby preventing selection and activation of a different action;

whereby a user may utilize all areas of the screen for the activated action such as panning.

15. The method of selecting and activating a tool according to claim 14 wherein at least one rolling-out action is selected from the group consisting of pan, rotate, and zoom.

16. The method of selecting and activating a tool according to claim 12 further comprising:

activating at least one said action in response to releasing while said selection point location is within the corresponding region;

whereby a user may press-release without dragging to activate the first region function'"'"'s corresponding action, such as zooming out, or the user may press-drag into the region of a function of interest and release to permanently activate it, similar to clicking on a standard toolbar icon, such as draw curve.

17. The method of selecting and activating a tool according to claim 12 further comprising:

activating at least one said action in response to said selection point location pausing within the corresponding function'"'"'s region;

Whereby a user may press and pause without dragging for a duration of time to begin dynamically zooming out.

18. The method of selecting and activating a tool according to claim 12 further comprising:

activating a predetermined selectable item in response to completing said drag without pausing for a duration of time while said selection point location is within said first region, and said selection point location is overtop of said predetermined selectable item location;

whereby a user may press and release on a hyperlink to load in a new webpage, or the user may press and pause without dragging to dynamically zoom out, or the user may press and drag and roll-out of a dynamic pan region to pan the display, or the user may press and drag and roll-out of a rectangle zoom-in region to draw an area of interest to zoom in on following a release.

19. The method of selecting and activating a tool according to claim 12 further comprising:

activating a predetermined selectable item in response to completing said drag after pausing for a duration of time while said selection point location is within said first region, and said selection point location is overtop of said predetermined selectable item location;

whereby a user may press and release to zoom out a fixed amount, or the user may press and pause and release on a hyperlink to load in a new webpage, or the user may press and drag and roll-out of a dynamic pan region to pan the display, or the user may press and drag and roll-out of a rectangle zoom-in region to draw an area of interest to zoom in on following a release.