EXPOSING INERTIAL SNAP POINTS

• US 20130111396A1
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Brid, Regis L. F.
• Granted Patent: US 9,372,612 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/114 Pagination
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/973 Scroll tool, e.g. window scroll bar
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/974 Slider control as on-screen object in operator interface

Abstract

A scroll viewer control that displays associated content having inertial snap points in a scrollable view. The scroll viewer control applies inertial movement to displayed content such that even after a user completes a scroll gesture, the displayed content continues to scroll with reducing velocity until the scroll slows to a stop within the scrollable view. In so doing, the scroll viewer control enforces an inertial snap point by causing the scroll to stop when a boundary of the scrollable view coincides with the inertial snap point. A content control may implements an interface that allows the scroll viewer control to discover the snap point set associated with the content. Furthermore, the content control may notify the scroll viewer control of changes in the snap point set.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising one or more computer storage media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to instantiate in memory the following:

a scroll viewer control configured to perform the following when associated with content;

an act of causing a scrollable view to be displayed on a display of the computing system;

an act of causing the content do be displayed within the scrollable view;

an act causing the displayed content to scroll within the scrollable view in response to a user interacting with the scrollable view control using a scroll gesture;

an act of applying inertial movement to displayed content such that after a user completes the scroll gesture, the displayed content continues to scroll with reducing velocity until the scroll slows to a stop within the scrollable view;

an act of discovering a set of one or more inertial snap points associated with the underlying content, wherein the set of one or more inertial snap points may differ according to content; and

an act of enforcing an inertial snap point of the set of one or more inertial snap points associated with the underlying content such that when the scroll slows to a stop, the scroll slows to a stop such that a boundary of the scrollable view coincides with the inertial snap point.

2. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by one or more processors of the computing system, the computing system is further configured to instantiate in memory the following:

a content control configured to perform the following when associated with the content;

an act of notifying the scroll viewer control of the set of one or more inertial snap points associated with the content, wherein the set of one or more inertial snap points may differ according to the content control.

3. The computer program product in accordance with claim 2,

wherein the content control is configured to performing the act of notifying the scroll viewer control of the set of one or more inertial snap points associated with the content by performing an act of implementing an interface comprising one or more methods that may be called by the scroll viewer control,

wherein the scroll viewer controller is configured to perform the act of discovering the set of one or more inertial snap points by performing an act of calling at least one method of the one or more methods of the interface.

4. The computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the content control is further configured to perform the following when associated with the content:

an act of notifying the scroll viewer control of a change in the set of one or more inertial snap points.

5. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the enforced inertial snap point is a horizontal snap point.

6. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the enforced inertial snap point is a vertical snap point.

7. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the set of one or more inertial snap points includes at least one horizontal snap point and at least one vertical snap point.

8. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the set of one or more inertial snap points includes a plurality of regular inertial snap points that are equality spaced.

9. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the set of one or more inertial snap points includes a plurality of irregular inertial snap points include at least some that are not equality spaced.

10. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the set of one or more inertial snap points includes a plurality of horizontal snap points and a plurality of vertical snap points, wherein

the plurality of horizontal snap points are regular snap points that are equally spaced horizontally, and

the plurality of vertical snap points are irregular snap points that includes at least some vertical snap points that are not equally spaced vertically.

11. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the set of one or more inertial snap points includes a plurality of horizontal snap points and a plurality of vertical snap points, wherein

the plurality of vertical snap points are regular snap points that are equally spaced vertically, and

the plurality of horizontal snap points are irregular snap points that includes at least some vertical snap points that are not equally spaced horizontally.

12. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the boundary of the scrollable view that coincides with the inertial snap point is an upper boundary of the scrollable view.

13. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the boundary of the scrollable view that coincides with the inertial snap point is a left boundary of the scrollable view.

14. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the set of one or more inertial snap points is a plurality of inertial snap points.

15. The computer program product in accordance with claim 14, wherein the inertial snap point of the plurality of inertial snap points is a first inertial snap point, and the boundary of the scrollable view that coincides with the first inertial snap point is a first boundary of the scrollable view, wherein the scroll viewer control is perform configured to perform the following when associated with the content:

an act of enforcing a second inertial snap point of the plurality of inertial snap points associated with the underlying content such that when the scroll slows to a stop, the scroll slows to a stop such that a second boundary of the scrollable view coincides with the second inertial snap point.

16. The computer program product in accordance with claim 15, wherein the first boundary is a vertical boundary and the second boundary is a horizontal boundary.

17. The computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the boundary is configurable by a user.

18. A computer-implemented method for allowing a user to scroll through content displayed in a scrollable view on a display, the method comprising:

an act of discovering a plurality of inertial snap points associated with the displayed content, wherein the plurality of inertial snap points may differ according to content;

an act of detecting a scroll gesture performed by a user on the scrollable view;

an act causing the displayed content to scroll within the scrollable view in response to the act of detecting the scroll gesture;

an act of detecting that the user has completed the scroll gesture;

an act of applying inertial movement to displayed content even after the act of detecting that the user has completed the scroll gesture; and

an act of causing the inertial movement to come to a stop such that a boundary of the scrollable view stops at an inertial snap point of the plurality of inertial snap points.

19. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 18, wherein the boundary is a first boundary, and the inertial snap point is a first inertial snap point, the method further comprising:

an act of causing the inertial movement to come to the stop such that a second boundary of the scrollable view stops at the second inertial snap point of the plurality of inertial snap points.

20. A computer program product comprising one or more computer storage media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to instantiate in memory the following:

a scroll viewer control configured to perform the following when associated with content;

an act of causing a scrollable view to be displayed on a display of the computing system;

an act of causing the content do be displayed within the scrollable view;

an act causing the displayed content to scroll within the scrollable view in response to a user interacting with the scrollable view control using a scroll gesture;

an act of applying inertial movement to displayed content such that after a user completes the scroll gesture, the displayed content continues to scroll with reducing velocity until the scroll slows to a stop within the scrollable view;

an act of discovering a plurality inertial snap points associated with the underlying content, wherein the plurality inertial snap points may differ according to content; and

an act of enforcing an inertial snap point of the plurality of inertial snap points associated with the underlying content such that when the scroll slows to a stop, the scroll slows to a stop such that a boundary of the scrollable view coincides with the inertial snap point; and

a content control configured to perform the following when associated with the content;

an act of notifying the scroll viewer control of the set of one or more inertial snap points associated with the content; and

an act of notifying the scroll viewer control of a change in the set of one or more inertial snap points.