METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING VISUAL CONTENT IN A VIRTUAL THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE

• US 20130104018A1
• Filed: 06/09/2011
• Published: 04/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visual Domains Limited
• Original Assignee: Visual Domains Limited
• Inventors: Shefi, Yoav
• Granted Patent: US 9,678,925 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/003 Navigation within 3D models or images

Abstract

A system and method for displaying pages in a 3D virtual space. A set of pages may be portioned into one or more clusters of pages that are arranged in a plane in the 3D space so that for each cluster, the pages in the cluster are arranged contiguously in the plane. A boundary may then be formed in the plane around pages of the cluster. If a first page in a cluster contains an active link, a page opened by activating the link is positioned in the plane within the boundary of the cluster in a selectable position relative to the first page.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a set of two or more pages in a 3D virtual space comprising (a) partitioning the set of pages into one or more clusters of pages, (b) arranging the pages in a plane in the 3D space so that for each cluster, the pages in the cluster are arranged contiguously in the plane, and (c) for each cluster, forming a boundary in the plane around pages of the cluster.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein a first page in a cluster contains an active link, and a page opened by activating the link is positioned in the plane within the boundary of the cluster in a selectable position relative to the first page.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising changing the position of the boundary when a new page is added to the cluster.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the boundary has an interior edge and an exterior edge, the interior edge being distinguishable from the exterior edge.

5. The method according to claim 4 wherein the interior edge is sharp and the exterior edge is diffused.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein activating a first link on a first page opens a first child page designated as a second opened page, and the first page and first child page are included in a first cluster.

7. The method according to claim 6 wherein, when a first active link is activated in the second page, a first child designated as a third page is opened that is included in the first cluster.

8. The method according to claim 6 wherein the first active links activated in pages already opened in the first cluster open new pages which are included in the first cluster.

9. The method according to claim 7 wherein activating a second active link in a second page opens a second child page and the second page and the first child page of the second page and the second child page of the second page are removed from the first cluster and included in a second cluster.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein any number of first child pages opened through activating links in a first page are included in the same cluster as the first page.

15. The method according to claim 1 where moving the cursor in a manner which increases the distance from the rectangle increases the speed of movement, but moving the cursor in a manner which decreases the distance to the rectangle decreases the speed of movement at a faster rate than the rate of increasing speed with increasing distance.

16. The method according to claim 1 wherein moving the cursor in a manner which decreases the distance to the rectangle edge closest to the cursor simultaneously moves the rectangle edge closer to the cursor.

17. The method according to claim 1 wherein after a motion speed has been decelerated, moving the cursor in a manner that increases the distance of the cursor form the rectangle further accelerates the acceleration of speed until the speed matches the speed determined by the distance of the cursor from the rectangle.

18. The method according to claim 1 wherein while the cursor has been moved so as to generate motion in the direction of the cursor, a motion into the depth direction is generated with a speed proportionate to the motion towards that direction.

32. The method according to claim 1 wherein either each of the ancestor page images is on top of its closest predecessor page image or each of the predecessor is on top of the ancestor.

33. A system comprising a processor configured to execute a method according to claim 1.

34. A computer program product for use in a computer system, the computer program product comprising one or more non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the method recited in claim 1.

11. A method for navigating above a plane in a 3D space comprising (a) positioning a rectangle in a 2D rendition of the 3D space so that a portion of the plane is viewed through the rectangle, (b) positioning a cursor in the 2D rendition, (c) if the cursor is positioned outside the rectangle, moving the rectangle over the plane in a direction determined by the cursor while keeping the rectangle fixed in the 2D rendition, and (c) when the cursor is positioned in the interior of the rectangle, the rectangle does not move.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein a speed of movement of the rectangle over the plane is determined by a distance from the cursor to a nearest edge of the rectangle.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein, the speed of movement of the rectangle over the plane increases with increasing distance between the cursor and the rectangle and decreases with a decreasing distance between the cursor and the rectangle.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the speed of movement of the rectangle has a sigmoidal, parabolic or sinusoidal relationship to the distance between the cursor and the rectangle.

19. A method for displaying a pop-up menu associated with an item in a page displayed in a 3D virtual space comprising:

detecting a pop-up menu to be displayed by determining that a user has positioned a cursor over the item; and

positioning the pop-up at an angle to a viewing screen.

20. The method according to claim 19 wherein menu items are displayed tilted from a background of the pop-up menu.

21. The method according to claim 19 further comprising displaying an arrow from the pop-up menu pointing to the item in the page.

22. A method for displaying a second web page in a 3D virtual space, the second web page being displayed upon activating a link in a first webpage, comprising:

(a) detecting that a predetermined key on a keyboard or a computer mouse has been activated, (b) displaying the second webpage in the 3D space over the first web page as long as the predetermined key continues to be activated, and (c) removing the second webpage when the predetermined key is released.

23. A method for displaying a second web page in a plane in a 3D virtual world, the second web page being displayed upon activating a link in a first web page, comprising:

(a) detecting that a cursor has been moved to a position over the link, (b) producing a graphical element on the first web page, (c) in response to a determination that the cursor is positioned over the graphical element, causing the second web page to be displayed in the 3D space over the first web page and the graphical element to be displayed over the displayed second web page at the same position as on the first web page, (d) removing the second web page when the cursor is moved off the graphical element.

24. The method according to claim 23 further comprising detecting whether the graphical element has been activated, and responsive to a determination that the graphical element has been activated, causing the second web page to behave like the first web page.

25. A method for anti-aliasing of a content element comprising a picture of an object and a background, the method comprising:

(a) selecting one or more pixels in the background of the content element, (b) scanning the pixels at least a portion of the content element making pixels having a color similar to that of the selected one or more background points transparent to generates a first modified image of the content element, (c) applying a bilinear filter to the first modified image in which the color of a given pixel is replaced with the average of the color of a set of two or more pixels contiguous with the given pixel and including the given pixel to generate a second modified image of the content element, and (d) superimposing the first and second modified images to generate a third modified image.

26. The method according to claim 25 further comprising adding the second modified image to the third modified image to generate a fourth modified image in which the second modified image is oriented so as to provide an effect of shading of the object.

27. A method for navigating web pages in 3D space comprising (a) arranging a collection of web page images arranged in a declining orbit on the plane where (b) selecting a page image may move the view to the selected page corresponding to the selected image.

28. The method according to claim 27 wherein the page images represent a series of ancestor source pages and predecessor pages, each predecessor page have been opened by activation of a link in an ancestor page, arranged in a declining orbit.

29. The method according to claim 28 wherein each predecessor page image partially overlaps an ancestor page image.

30. The method according to claim 27 where the page images represent only pages left open on the plane in the 3D Space.

31. The method according to claim 27 where if a first descendant page is missing on the plane then the closet descendant page image is positioned as the page image descendant to the ancestor page in an inward spiral.