REDUCED COMPLEXITY USER INTERFACE

• US 20100162176A1
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Dunton, Randy R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,869 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/862
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor

Abstract

A reduced complexity user interface is described. In an embodiment, a user interface module causes an animation of a pile of objects on a user interface display. The pile of objects to expand from a contracted form when a pointer approaches a boundary of the pile on the user interface display. The user interface module to determine two closest objects in the pile of objects that correspond with the pointer on the user interface display and to move the two closest objects to the pointer to visually indicate an insertion point into the pile. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a user interface module to cause an animation of a pile of objects on a user interface display, wherein the pile of objects to expand from a contracted form when a pointer approaches a boundary of the pile on the user interface display, wherein the user interface module to determine two closest objects in the pile of objects that correspond with the pointer on the user interface display and to move the two closest objects to the pointer to visually indicate an insertion point into the pile.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the insertion point to represent where a new object will be inserted into the pile.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the boundary is not visible to a user.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pile of objects may be searched by moving the pointer along the boundary.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pile of objects to expand to allow a user to more easily view the objects in the pile.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the pile of objects to expand to allow the user to extract an object from the pile or insert an object into the pile.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pile of objects to return to the contracted form when the pointer moves away from the boundary.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user interface module to receive movement information from a remote control, and move the pointer in response to the movement information, wherein the remote control is a free-form pointing device.

9. A method, comprising:

causing an animation of a pile of objects on a user interface display, the animation comprising;

expanding the pile of objects from a contracted form when a pointer approaches a boundary of the pile on the user interface display;

determining two closest objects in the pile of objects that correspond with the pointer on the user interface display; and

moving the two closest objects to the pointer to visually indicate an insertion point into the pile.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the insertion point to represent where a new object will be inserted into the pile.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the boundary is not visible to a user.

12. The method of claim 9, the animation further comprising searching the pile of objects by moving the pointer along the boundary.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the pile of objects to expand to allow a user to more easily view the objects in the pile.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the pile of objects to expand to allow the user to extract an object from the pile or insert an object into the pile.

15. The method of claim 9, the animation further comprising returning the pile of objects to the contracted form when the pointer moves away from the boundary.

16. The method of claim 9, the animation further comprising:

receiving movement information from a remote control; and

moving the pointer in response to the movement information, wherein the remote control is a free-form pointing device.

17. A machine-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

causing an animation of a pile of objects on a user interface display, the animation comprising;

expanding the pile of objects from a contracted form when a pointer approaches a boundary of the pile on the user interface display;

determining two closest objects in the pile of objects that correspond with the pointer on the user interface display; and

moving the two closest objects to the pointer to visually indicate an insertion point into the pile.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the insertion point to represent where a new object will be inserted into the pile.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the boundary is not visible to a user.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, the animation further comprising searching the pile of objects by moving the pointer along the boundary.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the pile of objects to expand to allow a user to more easily view the objects in the pile.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the pile of objects to expand to allow the user to extract an object from the pile or insert an object into the pile.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, the animation further comprising returning the pile of objects to the contracted form when the pointer moves away from the boundary.