SCROLLABLE AREA MULTI-SCALE VIEWING

• US 20100058226A1
• Filed: 08/29/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lindsay, Donald James, Weir, Jeffrey Jon, Flake, Gary, Brewer, Brett
• Granted Patent: US 8,082,518 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/786
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars

Abstract

Utilizing a scrollbar handle for both zooming and panning a display comprising items in a user interface may be accomplished by monitoring an input device'"'"'s interaction with the scrollbar handle. If the scroll handle is dragged in a direction away from an orientation of the scroll handle in the scrollbar, a display area zoom function can be activated. The zoom function allows a viewbox, comprising content, to be rescaled as a function of the distance the scroll handle is dragged. A displaybox can be created that distinguishes an area of the viewbox from the remainder of the display, which corresponds to content in the viewbox that would be displayed in normal zoom if the scroll handle were released at that location. Further, upon detecting that the scroll handle is released, the display area can zoom to a view of the content inside the distinguished area.

Claims

1. A method for multi-scale viewing of a scrollable area in a display utilizing a scrollbar for zooming and panning the scrollable area, comprising:

using input device events monitoring to monitor a user'"'"'s interaction with a scroll handle in a scrollable area of a display;

upon detecting a scroll handle drag orthogonal to a scroll handle'"'"'s orientation in a scrollbar, activating a display area zooming function comprising;

adjusting a scale of a viewbox area of the display comprising;

determining an orthogonal distance travelled by an input device dragging the scroll handle; and

resealing the viewbox area as a function of the orthogonal distance travelled by the input device dragging the scroll handle comprising;

if the scroll handle is dragged toward a center of the display, resealing the viewbox by zooming out to display more content in the viewbox; and

if the scroll handle is dragged away from the center of the display, resealing the viewbox by zooming in to display more detail of the content in the viewbox;

upon detecting a scroll handle drag orthogonal to the scroll handle'"'"'s orientation in a scrollbar, activating a new displaybox function comprising;

distinguishing an area of the display from a remainder of the display corresponding to an area of content in the viewbox that would be displayed upon releasing the dragged scroll handle at that input device location; and

scaling the distinguished area as a function of a zoom level of viewbox content in the scrollable area of the display corresponding to an area of content in the viewbox that would be displayed upon releasing the dragged scroll handle at that input device location; and

upon detecting a release of the scroll handle changing the display to correspond to the content within the distinguished area of the viewbox.

2. The method of claim 1, upon detecting that the viewbox is zoomed out to an extent of the content of the scrollable area of the display, deactivating the display area zooming function.

3. The method of claim 2, activating a new displaybox function comprising corresponding a location of the distinguished area to a location of an input device cursor.

4. The method of claim 1, activating a new displaybox function comprising displaying an extent of contents of the distinguished area in the display behind a view of the viewbox.

5. The method of claim 1, resealing the viewbox area as a function of the orthogonal distance travelled by the input device dragging the scroll handle comprising one or more of:

resealing the viewbox from a vertical scroll handle in such a manner as to keep the input device cursor between a vertical scrollbar and an outside vertical edge of the viewbox;

resealing the viewbox from a horizontal scroll handle in such a manner as to keep the input device cursor between a horizontal scrollbar and an outside horizontal edge of the viewbox; and

upon reaching a zoomed extent of the content in the scrollable area of the display, allowing the input device cursor to pass over an outside edge of the viewbox.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising adjusting a scale of the scroll handle in the scrollbar as function of the zoom level of the content in the viewbox.

7. The method of claim 6, adjusting the scale of the scroll handle comprising:

increasing a size of the scroll handle proportionally to the zoom level of the viewbox as it zooms out toward an extent of the content in the scrollable area of the display; and

decreasing a size of the scroll handle proportionally to the zoom level of the viewbox as it zooms in toward greater detail of the content in the scrollable area of the display.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising adjusting a location of the scroll handle on its respective scrollbar corresponding to the input device'"'"'s movement along the orientation of the scroll handle.

9. The method of claim 1, upon detecting a scroll handle drag orthogonal to the scroll handle'"'"'s orientation in a scrollbar, activating a semantic zoom function comprising manipulating the content in the viewbox to facilitate differentiation of the content.

10. The method of claim 9, activating the semantic zoom function comprising:

generating an index for content in the viewbox; and

inserting index pointers into the content in the viewbox as a function of the zoom level of the content in the viewbox.

11. The method of claim 1, resealing the viewbox area as a function of the orthogonal distance travelled by the input device dragging the scroll handle comprising at least one of:

if the scroll handle is dragged away from the center of the display, and beyond the scrollbar, resealing the viewbox by continuing to zoom in to display more detail of the content in the viewbox;

if the scroll handle is dragged toward the center of the display, resealing the viewbox by zooming in to display more detail in the viewbox;

if the scroll handle is dragged away from the center of the display, resealing the viewbox by zooming out to display more content in the viewbox; and

not activating the new displaybox function when more detail is displayed when the scroll handle is dragged toward the center of the display.

12. The method of claim 1, using input device events monitoring comprising using script code mouse events to monitor a user'"'"'s interaction with the scroll handle in the scrollable area of the display.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising displaying contents of the distinguished area behind the viewbox in the display upon detecting a scroll handle drag orthogonal to the scroll handle'"'"'s orientation in a scrollbar.

14. A system for multi-scale viewing of a scrollable area in a display, having at least one scrollbar with a scroll handle, utilizing a scrollbar for zooming and panning the scrollable area, comprising:

an input device event detector configured to detect input device related actions in conjunction with a scrollable area in a display;

a zoomable viewbox configured to be rescaled to accommodate user interface content zooming, the zoomable viewbox comprising content of the scrollable area of the display, the zoomable viewbox displayed in the scrollable area of the display;

a viewbox scaler, operably coupled to the input device event detector, configured to rescale the zoomable viewbox as a function of an orthogonal distance of an input device scroll handle drag from an orientation of the scroll handle, the viewbox scaler comprising;

a zoom out function configured to rescale the zoomable viewbox by zooming out to display more content in the viewbox if the scroll handle is dragged toward a center of the display; and

a zoom in function configured to rescale the viewbox by zooming in to display more detail of the content in the viewbox if the scroll handle is dragged away from the center of the display;

a new displaybox generator, configured to generate a distinguished area of the display from a remainder of the display that corresponds to an area of content in the viewbox that would be displayed upon releasing the dragged scroll handle at that input device location;

a displaybox scaler configured to rescale the distinguished area as a function of a zoom level of viewbox content in the scrollable area of the display corresponding to an area of content in the viewbox that would be displayed upon releasing the dragged scroll handle at that input device location; and

a display area adjuster, operably coupled to the input device event detector, configured to change the display area to correspond to the content within the distinguished area of the viewbox upon detection of a release of the scroll handle

15. The system of claim 14, the distinguished area comprising content that would be displayed within a fully zoomed in display of content of the scrollable area.

16. The system of claim 14, a location of the distinguished area within the viewbox corresponding to a location of the input device cursor in the display.

17. The system of claim 14, the input device event detector comprising a mouse events detector configured to detect mouse events on the display.

18. The system of claim 14, comprising a semantic zoomer configured to manipulate a view of the content in the viewbox to facilitate visual differentiation of the content, upon detection of the viewbox resealing to zoom out.

19. The system of claim 14, the scrollable area of the display configured to display contents of the distinguished area behind the viewbox.

20. A computer usable medium comprising computer readable programming configured to allow multi-scale viewing of a scrollable area in a display utilizing a scrollbar for zooming and panning the scrollable area, which when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

monitor a user'"'"'s interaction with a scroll handle in a scrollable area of a display using mouse events monitoring to;

activate a display area zooming function upon detecting a scroll handle drag orthogonal to a scroll handle'"'"'s orientation in a scrollbar, comprising;

adjusting a scale of a viewbox area of the display comprising;

determining an orthogonal distance travelled by an input device dragging the scroll handle; and

resealing the viewbox area as a function of the orthogonal distance travelled by the input device dragging the scroll handle comprising;

if the scroll handle is dragged toward a center of the display, resealing the viewbox by zooming out to display more content in the viewbox; and

if the scroll handle is dragged away from the center of the display, resealing the viewbox by zooming in to display more detail of the content in the viewbox;

activate a new displaybox function upon detecting a scroll handle drag orthogonal to the scroll handle'"'"'s orientation in a scrollbar, comprising;

distinguishing an area of the display from a remainder of the display corresponding to an area of content in the viewbox that would be displayed upon releasing the dragged scroll handle at that input device location;

scaling the distinguished area as a function of a zoom level of viewbox content in the scrollable area of the display corresponding to an area of content in the viewbox that would be displayed upon releasing the dragged scroll handle at that input device location;

corresponding a location of the distinguished area to a location of a cursor; and

displaying an extent of contents of the distinguished area in the display behind a view of the viewbox;

deactivate the display area zooming function upon detecting that the viewbox is zoomed out to an extent of the content of the scrollable area of the display;

activate a semantic zoom function upon detecting a scroll handle drag orthogonal to the scroll handle'"'"'s orientation in a scrollbar, comprising;

generating an index for content in the viewbox; and

inserting index pointers into the content in the viewbox as a function of the zoom level of the content in the viewbox; and

change the display to correspond to the content within the distinguished area of the viewbox upon detecting a release of the scroll handle.