METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CAUSING A PORTION OF AT LEAST ONE CONTENT ITEM TO BE HIGHLIGHTED RELATIVE TO ANOTHER PORTION OF THE AT LEAST ONE CONTENT ITEM DURING MOVEMENT OF THE CONTENT ITEM

• US 20120320076A1
• Filed: 06/14/2011
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Nurmi, Mikko Antero, Solismaa, Jouni Tapio
• Granted Patent: US 9,852,716 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/589
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/10 Special adaptations of display systems for operation with variable images
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/30 Control of display attribute

Abstract

A method is provided for causing a display of at least one content item and for enabling movement of the at least one content item. The method also causes a portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted relative to another portion of the at least one content item while the at least one content item is being moved. The portion of the at least one content item may be highlighted in various manners including by changing the brightness of the portion, applying a graphical effect to the portion and/or causing movement of the portion, such as by zooming the portion of the at least one content item. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

causing a display of at least one content item;

enabling movement of the at least one content item; and

causing, via a processor, a portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted relative to another portion of the at least one content item while the at least one content item is being moved.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein causing a display of at least one content item comprises causing a display of a plurality of content items, and wherein causing a portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted comprises causing a subset of the plurality of content items to be highlighted relative to others of the plurality of content items.

3. A method according to claim 2 further comprising identifying the subset of the plurality of content items to be highlighted based upon an importance of the respective content items.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein identifying the subset of the plurality of content items to be highlighted comprises determining the importance of the respective content items based upon at least one of usage data, context data, historical data, location data or social relation data.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein causing the portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted comprises changing the brightness of the portion of the at least one content item relative to another portion of the at least one content item.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein causing the portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted comprises applying a graphical effect to the portion of the at least one content item.

7. A method according to claim 1 wherein causing the portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted comprises causing movement of the portion of the at least one of content item.

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein causing movement comprises zooming the portion of the at least one content item relative to another portion of the at least one content item.

9. A method according to claim 1 further comprising eliminating highlighting of the portion of the at least one content item upon completion of the scrolling.

10. A method according to claim 1 further comprising continuing to highlight the portion of the at least one content item after completion of the movement.

11. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

cause a display of at least one content item;

enable movement of the at least one content item; and

cause a portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted relative to another portion of the at least one content item while the at least one content item is being moved.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause a display of at least one content item by causing a display of a plurality of content items, and wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause a portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted by causing a subset of the plurality of content items to be highlighted relative to others of the plurality of content items.

13. An apparatus according to claim 12 wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to identify the subset of the plurality of content items to be highlighted based upon an importance of the respective content items.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13 wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to identify the subset of the plurality of content items to be highlighted by determining the importance of the respective content items based upon at least one of usage data, context data, historical data, location data or social relation data.

15. An apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause the portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted by changing the brightness of the portion of the at least one content item relative to another portion of the at least one content item.

16. An apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause the portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted by applying a graphical effect to the portion of the at least one content item.

17. An apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to cause the portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted by causing movement of the portion of the at least one of content item.

18. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising program code instructions for:

causing a display of at least one content item;

enabling movement of the at least one content item; and

causing a portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted relative to another portion of the at least one content item while the at least one content item is being moved.

19. A computer program product according to claim 18 wherein the program code instructions for causing a display of at least one content item comprise program code instructions for causing a display of a plurality of content items, and wherein the program code instructions for causing a portion of the at least one content item to be highlighted comprise program code instructions for causing a subset of the plurality of content items to be highlighted relative to others of the plurality of content items.

20. A computer program product according to claim 19 wherein the computer-executable program code instructions further comprise program code instructions for identifying the subset of the plurality of content items to be highlighted based upon an importance of the respective content items.