INTERFACE CUBE FOR MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20100169836A1
• Filed: 12/29/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Data Services LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: STALLINGS, Heath, HWANG, Sok Y., ROBERTS, Brian F., ANGELO, Orland I., RELYEA, Donald H. JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,132,120 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 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

A computing device presents, on a screen, a three-dimensional rendering of an interface cube that includes a representation of a user'"'"'s contacts displayed on at least one surface of the interface cube. The computing device receives a communication item from a peripheral application, where the communication item is associated with a particular contact of the user'"'"'s contacts. The computing device creates a graphic based on the communication item and displays the graphic at a location on the representation of the user'"'"'s contacts that corresponds to the location of the particular contact within a sequence of the user'"'"'s contacts.

Claims

1. A computing device-implemented method, comprising:

displaying, on a screen of the computing device, a three-dimensional rendering of a multi-surface interface including a representation of a user'"'"'s contacts displayed on at least one surface of the multi-surface interface;

receiving a communication item from a peripheral application, where the communication item is associated with a particular contact of the user'"'"'s contacts;

creating a graphic based on the communication item; and

displaying, on the screen of the computing device, the graphic at a location on the representation of the user'"'"'s contacts, the location corresponding to a location of the particular contact within a sequence of the user'"'"'s contacts.

2. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving another communication item, where the communication item is associated with the particular contact;

creating another graphic based on the other communication item; and

displaying the other graphic in a stack with the graphic at the location corresponding to the location of the particular contact within the sequence of the user'"'"'s contacts.

3. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the graphic with a link to the peripheral application.

4. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where creating a graphic based on the communication item comprises:

retrieving an image representing the peripheral application associated with the communication item.

5. The computing device-implemented method of claim 4, where the image representing the peripheral application associated with the communication item is color-coded to designate a type of peripheral application or a type of communication item.

6. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where the peripheral application includes:

a telephone application,

a text-messaging application,

an email application,

an instant messaging (IM) application,

a calendar application,

a multimedia messaging service (MMS) application,

a short message service (SMS) application, or

a web browser.

7. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where the representation of the user'"'"'s contacts is an alphabetical sequence of blocks.

8. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where the multi-surface interface comprises a handle associated with a surface of the multi-surface interface.

9. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, where the handle includes an indication of a category of items displayed on the surface.

10. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, where user input to select the handle causes an enlarged view of the surface associated with handle to be presented.

11. The computing device-implemented method of claim 1, where the multi-surface interface is a rotatable cube.

12. A device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions;

a display; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

present, on the display, a three-dimensional rendering of a rotatable multi-surface interface that includes a representation of a user'"'"'s contacts displayed on at least one surface of the multi-surface interface;

receive a communication item from a peripheral application, where the communication item is associated with a particular one of the user'"'"'s contacts;

create a graphic based on the communication item; and

add the graphic to the display at a location on the representation of the user'"'"'s contacts, the location corresponding to a location of the particular one of the user'"'"'s contacts within a sequence of the user'"'"'s contacts.

13. The device of claim 12, where the peripheral application includes:

a telephone application,

a text-messaging application,

an email application,

an instant messaging (IM) application,

a calendar application,

a multimedia messaging service (MMS) application,

a short message service (SMS) application, or

a web browser.

14. The device of claim 12, where the display includes a touch-sensitive display.

15. The device of claim 12, where the processor further executes instructions in the memory to:

associate the graphic with a link to the peripheral application,

detect a selection of the graphic to launch the peripheral application.

16. The device of claim 12, where the processor further executes instructions in the memory to:

present on the display a control button to receive a user input to anchor the rotatable multi-surface interface.

17. The device of claim 12, where the representation of the user'"'"'s contacts is an alphabetical sequence of blocks.

18. The device of claim 17, where the instructions in the memory to add the graphic to the display at a location on the representation of the user'"'"'s contacts includes instructions to:

identify a name of the particular one of the user'"'"'s contacts,

identify a block within the alphabetical sequence of blocks that is associated with a first letter of the name of the particular one of the user'"'"'s contacts,

identify an alphabetical sequence of the user'"'"'s contacts associated with the block; and

add the graphic to a location on the block that corresponds to the place of the particular one of the user'"'"'s contacts within the alphabetical sequence of the user'"'"'s contacts associated with the block.

19. The device of claim 12, where the rotatable multi-surface interface comprises a handle associated with a surface of the rotatable multi-surface interface, where the processor may detect user input to the handle to rotate the rotatable multi-surface interface.

20. The device of claim 12, where the rotatable multi-surface interface comprises a three-dimensional rendering of a cube.

22. The device of claim 19, further comprising:

means for displaying multiple graphics for the particular contact as a stack on the surface of the interface shape.

21. A device, comprising:

means for displaying, on a screen of the device, a three-dimensional rendering of an interface shape that includes a representation of a user'"'"'s contacts displayed on at least one surface of the interface cube;

means for receiving a communication item, where the communication item is associated with a particular contact;

means for creating a graphic based on the communication item;

means for displaying the graphic at a location on the representation of the user'"'"'s contacts, the location corresponding to a location of the particular contact within a sequence of the user'"'"'s contacts;

means for associating the graphic with a peripheral application to present the communication item; and

means for launching the peripheral application upon selection of the graphic by the user.