RELATIVE ITEM OF INTEREST EXPLORER INTERFACE

• US 20120066646A1
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Published: 03/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concert Technology Corporation
• Original Assignee: Waldeck Technology, LLC (Concert Technology Corporation)
• Inventors: Purdy, Sean T., Jennings, Kenneth, Katpelly, Ravi Reddy, Petersen, Steven L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,782,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/834
• 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: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for representing a reference item and a number of items of interest. In one embodiment, each item of interest is assigned to one of a number of concentric regions in a two-dimensional space based on one or more attributes of the item of interest. The concentric regions in the two-dimensional space are centered at a location in the two-dimensional space that corresponds to the reference item. A GUI is then generated such that the GUI includes concentric display regions that correspond to the concentric regions in the two-dimensional space, where a select concentric display region provides an expanded view of the items of interest located within the corresponding region in the two-dimensional space and the remaining concentric display region(s) provide collapsed view(s) of the items of interest in the corresponding region(s) of the two-dimensional space.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

assigning each item of interest of a plurality of items of interest to one of a plurality of concentric regions in a two-dimensional space based on a location of the item of interest in the two-dimensional space determined based on one or more attributes of the item of interest, the plurality of concentric regions being centered at a location of a reference item in the two-dimensional space determined based on one or more attributes of the reference item that correspond to the one or more attributes of the item of interest;

generating a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that represents the reference item and the plurality of items of interest in the two-dimensional space such that the GUI includes a plurality of concentric display regions that correspond to the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space, a select one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides an expanded view of one or more of the plurality of items of interest located in a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space, and each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides a collapsed view of one or more of the plurality of items of interest located in a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space; and

effecting presentation of the GUI to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of concentric display regions are centered on an indicator that represents the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein, in order to provide the expanded view, the select one of the plurality of concentric display regions comprises one or more item representations that represent:

relative distances within the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space between the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space and the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space; and

bearings within the two-dimensional space from the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space to the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein providing the GUI comprises performing a collision avoidance process by which item representations of two or more of the plurality of items of interest in the one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space that corresponds to the select one of the plurality of concentric display regions are positioned in such a manner as to at least substantially avoid collision of the item representations in the GUI.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein, in order to provide the collapsed view for each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions, the remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions comprises one or more item representations that represent:

bearings within the two-dimensional space from the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space to the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space, but not relative distances within the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space between the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space and the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein, in order to provide the collapsed view for each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions, the remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions comprises one or more item representations that represent:

bearings within the two-dimensional space from the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space to the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space, and attenuated relative distances within the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space between the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space and the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein, in order to provide the collapsed view for each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions, the remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions comprises one or more item representations that are at least substantially equidistant from the indicator that represents the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the one or more item representations represent bearings within the two-dimensional space from the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional space to the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference item is a reference location, the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of crowds of users, and the two-dimensional space is a two-dimensional geographic space.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

the plurality of concentric display regions in the two-dimensional space is a plurality of concentric geographic regions in the two-dimensional geographic space centered at the reference location;

assigning each item of interest of the plurality of items of interest to one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space comprises assigning each crowd of the plurality of crowds to one of the plurality of concentric geographic regions based on spatial information that defines a location of the crowd; and

generating the GUI comprises generating the GUI such that the plurality of concentric display regions correspond to the plurality of concentric geographic regions, the select one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides the expanded view of one or more of the plurality of crowds located within a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric geographic regions, and each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides a collapsed view of one or more of the plurality of crowds located within a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric geographic regions.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference item is a reference location, the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of Points of Interest (POIs), and the two-dimensional space is a two-dimensional geographic space.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference item is a reference location, the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of friends of the user in a social network, and the two-dimensional space is a two-dimensional geographic space.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference item is a reference location, the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of friends and friends-of-friends of the user in a social network, and the two-dimensional space is a two-dimensional geographic space.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of commercially available items.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein effecting presentation of the GUI to the user comprises presenting the GUI to the user.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein effecting presentation of the GUI to the user comprises sending the GUI to a computing device of the user via a network.

17. A computing device comprising:

a controller adapted to;

assign each item of interest of a plurality of items of interest to one of a plurality of concentric regions in a two-dimensional space based on a location of the item of interest in the two-dimensional space determined based on one or more attributes of the item of interest, the plurality of concentric regions being centered at a location of a reference item in the two-dimensional space determined based on one or more attributes of the reference item that correspond to the one or more attributes of the item of interest;

generate a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that represents the reference item and the plurality of items of interest in the two-dimensional space such that the GUI includes a plurality of concentric display regions that correspond to the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space, a select one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides an expanded view of one or more of the plurality of items of interest located in a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric display regions in the two-dimensional space, and each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides a collapsed view of one or more of the plurality of items of interest located in a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space; and

effect presentation of the GUI to a user.

18. The computing device of claim 17 wherein the computing device is a user device further comprising a display associated with the controller, and the controller is adapted to effect presentation of the GUI to the user by presenting the GUI via the display of the user device.

19. The computing device of claim 17 wherein the computing device is a server computer further comprising a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the server computer to a user device of the user via a network, and the controller of the server computer is adapted to effect presentation of the GUI to the user by sending the GUI to the user device of the user via the network.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a computing device to:

assign each item of interest of a plurality of items of interest to one of a plurality of concentric regions in a two-dimensional space based on a location of the item of interest in the two-dimensional space determined based on one or more attributes of the item of interest, the plurality of concentric regions being centered at a location of a reference item in the two-dimensional space determined based on one or more attributes of the reference item that correspond to the one or more attributes of the item of interest;

generate a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that represents the reference item and the plurality of items of interest in the two-dimensional space such that the GUI includes a plurality of concentric display regions that correspond to the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space, a select one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides an expanded view of one or more of the plurality of items of interest located in a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric display regions in the two-dimensional space, and each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides a collapsed view of one or more of the plurality of items of interest located in a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional space; and

effect presentation of the GUI to a user.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein the computing device is a user device comprising a display associated with the controller, and the software instructs the controller to effect presentation of the GUI to the user by presenting the GUI via the display of the user device.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein the computing device is a server computer comprising a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the server computer to a user device of the user via a network, and the software instructs the controller of the server computer to effect presentation of the GUI to the user by sending the GUI to the user device of the user via the network.