TIMELINE CONTROL

• US 20110239149A1
• Filed: 02/17/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Davis, Karen L., Cueto, Neil M., Lai, Barry W., McLaughlin, Joseph P., Rybicki, Paul N., DeGuzmanGamab, Mark Anthony, Barnes, Christopher C., Butcher, Larry R., Lazo, Rhetto S., Lee, Chunkwok
• Application Number:
  US13/029,943
• Publication Number:
  US 20110239149A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/772
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time

Abstract

Timeline control techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a timeline is displayed that is divided into a plurality of intervals, each of which corresponds to a respective period of time. Responsive to selection of one of the plurality of intervals, a control is displayed within the selected interval that is scrollable within an area defined by the selected interval to move between content that is associated at corresponding points in time at a scrolling speed that is based at least in part on an amount of the content that is associated with the interval.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a timeline that is divided into a plurality of intervals, each of which correspond to a respective period of time; and

responsive to selection of one of the plurality of intervals, displaying a control within the selected interval that is scrollable within an area defined by the selected interval to move between content that is associated at corresponding points in time at a scrolling speed that is based at least in part on an amount of the content that is associated with the interval.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the scrolling speed of the control within the interval is slower than a scrolling speed for another said interval of the timeline that is associated with a lesser amount of content.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of increments include indications indicating a number of items of content that correspond to the respective period of time.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the selection is made by navigating the control to the selected interval.

5. A method as described in claim 4, wherein the navigating is performed by clicking the selected interval using a cursor control device or dragging the control to the selected interval.

6. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising selecting portions of the content to be displayed concurrently with the timeline, the selecting based at least in part on the selected interval.

7. A method as described in claim 6, wherein the portions of the content that are selected to be displayed are taken from messages, images, and contacts and are displayed concurrently with the timeline in a user interface.

8. A method as described in claim 6, wherein the selecting is performed such that if a threshold number of portions of the content are not available for the selected interval, at least one portion of content associated with an adjacent said interval of the timeline is selected.

9. A method as described in claim 6, wherein the selecting is performed using one or more rules such that the portions of the content that are selected are likely to be of interest of a user.

10. A method as described in claim 9, wherein at least one of the rules leverages metadata of the content that is associated with the interval.

11. A method as described in claim 1, wherein a scrolling speed through the timeline using the control is configured to use incremental increases to increase the scrolling speed.

12. A method comprising:

selecting portions of content that are associated with a period of time associated with one of a plurality of intervals of a timeline using one or more rules; and

displaying the selected portions concurrently with the timeline, the timeline including a plurality of indications along which indicate that content is associated with a corresponding point in time defined by the timeline.

13. A method as described in claim 12, wherein at least one said rule leverages metadata of the content that is associated with the interval.

14. A method as described in claim 12, wherein the selecting is performed such that if a threshold number of portions of the content are not available for the one of the plurality of intervals, at least one portion of content associated with an adjacent said interval of the timeline is selected.

15. A method as described in claim 12, wherein the selected portions have differing sizes and are prioritized based at least in part on a likelihood that the corresponding content is of interest to a user.

16. A method as described in claim 12, wherein the portions of the content that are selected to be displayed are taken from messages, images, and contacts and are displayed concurrently with the timeline in a user interface.

17. A method as described in claim 12, wherein the intervals are associated with boundaries that are moveable in response to one or more inputs to specify a corresponding period of time.

18. One or more computer-readable media comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform operations comprising:

displaying portions of messages, images, and contacts selected from content concurrently with a timeline, the timeline including a plurality of indications along which indicate that content is associated with a corresponding point in time defined by the timeline; and

displaying a control that is scrollable at different speeds through the intervals based on an amount of content that is associated with the interval.

19. One or more computer readable media as described in claim 18, wherein the selected portions have differing sizes and are ordered from large to small based at least in part on a likelihood that the corresponding content is of interest to a user.

20. One or more computer readable media as described in claim 18, wherein the portions are selected for display based at least in part on commonality of respective metadata.