Semantic Zoom Animations

• US 20130067391A1
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Pittappilly, Theresa B., Deutsch, Rebecca, Soegiono, Orry W., Waggoner, Nicholas R., Kuehnle, Holger, Luengen, Ross N., Kwiatkowski, Paul J., Markiewicz, Jan-Kristian, Hofmeester, Gerrit H., Carr, William D., Disano, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 10,353,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Semantic zoom techniques are described. In one or more implementations, techniques are described that may be utilized by a user to navigate to content of interest. These techniques may also include a variety of different features, such as to support semantic swaps and zooming “in” and “out.” These techniques may also include a variety of different input features, such as to support gestures, cursor-control device, and keyboard inputs. A variety of other features are also supported as further described in the detailed description and figures.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a computing device, the method comprising:

displaying a first view including a first list of scrollable items in a user interface on a display device;

recognizing an input to replace the first view with a second view that includes a second list of scrollable items in which at least one of the items in the second list represents a group of items in the first list;

calculating a vector to translate the second list of scrollable items such that the at least one of the items in the second list is aligned with the group of items in the first list as displayed by the display device; and

replacing the displayed first view with the second view on the display device using the calculated vector such that the at least one of the items in the second list is aligned with a location on the display device at which the group of items in the first list was displayed.

2. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising displaying the second view without using the calculated vector responsive to a determination that provision of the input has ceased.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the replacement of the view causes a semantic swap between the different views.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the items relate to a file system of the computing device.

7. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the first and second views are configured to support different amounts of zoom in the user interface to change a display size of the representations.

8. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the input involves a gesture, a keyboard input, or a cursor control device input.

9. A method as described in claim 8, wherein the gesture is a pinch or a reverse pinch gesture.

4. A method as described in claim 4, wherein the semantic swap causes different arrangement of the items in the first and second views.

5. A method as described in claim 4, wherein the semantic swap causes different metadata to be displayed in the first and second views.

10. A method implemented by a computing device, the method comprising:

recognizing inputs as describing movement;

identifying a semantic swap gesture from the inputs to cause an operation to replace the first view of representations of content in the user interface with a second view that describes the content differently in the user interface; and

displaying a crossfade animation as part of the operation to transition between the first and second views that involves different amounts of the first and second views to be displayed together, the amounts based at least in part on the movement described by the inputs.

11. A method as described in claim 10, wherein the different amounts of the first and second views are controlled using an amount of opacity applied to the views.

12. A method as described in claim 10, further comprising displaying either the first or second views responsive to a determination that provision of the inputs has ceased.

13. A method as described in claim 10, wherein the displaying of the animation is performed in real time responsive to an amount of the movement described by the inputs.

14. A method as described in claim 10, wherein the input involves a gesture, a keyboard input, or a cursor control device input.

15. A method as described in claim 14, wherein the gesture is a pinch or a reverse pinch gesture.

16. A method as described in claim 10, wherein the semantic swap causes different arrangement of the items in the first and second views.

17. A method as described in claim 10, wherein the semantic swap causes different metadata to be displayed in the first and second views.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising computer executable instructions that, responsive to execution by a computing device, causes the computing device to implement an operating system to perform operations comprising:

recognizing an input to replace a first view including a first list of scrollable items in a user interface with a second view that includes a second list of scrollable items;

replacing the displayed first view with the second view on the user interface device using a vector calculated to align at least one of the items in the second list with a location on the display device at which a group of items in the first list that is represented by the at least one item was displayed; and

displaying the second view without using the calculated vector responsive to a determination that provision of the input has ceased.

19. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 18, wherein the displaying of the second view is performed using an animation.

20. One or more computer-readable storage media as described in claim 18, wherein the animation causes the second list of scrollable items to translate in the user interface an amount of the vector.