VIEW VIRTUALIZATION

• US 20160070434A1
• Filed: 08/31/2015
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Home Box Office Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Home Box Office Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Clark, Brendan Joseph, Furtwangler, Brandon C., Parker, J. Jordan C.
• Granted Patent: US 11,494,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131

Abstract

The described technology is directed towards having UI elements structured in a hierarchical configuration, in which parent and child UI elements communicate via a virtualization interface. A change to any parent UI element view propagates to each impacted descendant, e.g., each child, any children of that child and so on, whereby each child can manage virtualization and rendering based upon the change. Focus changes among the UI elements are also handled by propagating information via the virtualization interface.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

rendering a view corresponding to a parent user interface (UI) element, the view including at least one child UI element of the parent UI element;

receiving a change to the view;

determining which child UI element or children UI elements of the parent UI element are relevant based upon the change to the view, and creating any non-instantiated child UI element that is relevant;

determining which child UI element or children UI elements of the parent UI element are not relevant based upon the change to the view, and virtualizing away at least one child UI element that is not relevant;

propagating data corresponding to the change to the view to each relevant child UI element of the parent UI element; and

rendering a new view corresponding to the parent UI element, the new view including one or more relevant child UI elements of the parent UI element.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining which child UI element or children UI elements of the parent UI element are relevant based upon the change to the view comprises determining whether each child is to be rendered within the new view.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining which child UI element or children UI elements of the parent UI element are relevant based upon the change to the view comprises determining whether each child is to be rendered in the new view or is within a buffered view.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein rendering the new view comprises having each child UI element of the one or more relevant children UI elements determine whether that child is in view, and if so, rendering that child UI element in the new view.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving the data representing the change at a relevant child UI element that is a lower-level parent to one or more lower-level child UI elements, and in response, determining which of the one or more lower-level child UI elements are relevant based upon the change to the view, and creating any non-instantiated child UI element that is relevant, determining which of the one or more lower-level child UI elements are not relevant based upon the change to the view, and virtualizing away any child UI element that is not relevant;

and propagating data representing the change to each relevant lower-level child UI element of the lower-level parent UI element.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a change to the view comprises receiving user interaction directed to scrolling the parent UI element.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a change to the view comprises receiving user interaction directed to resizing or zooming the parent UI element.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a change to the view comprises receiving user interaction directed to changing focus from a child UI element of the parent UI element to another child UI element.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein changing the focus from a child UI element of the parent UI element to the other child UI element comprises changing the focus to a different child UI element of the parent UI element.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein changing the focus from a child UI element of the parent UI element to the other child UI element comprises changing the focus to a child UI element of a different parent UI element.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising communicating focus data to the different parent UI element.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the focus data includes direction data, and further comprising determining whether the different parent UI element has a peer UI element that is positioned in a direction corresponding to the direction data, and if so, changing focus to the peer UI element.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the focus data includes direction data, and further comprising determining whether the different parent UI element has a peer UI element that is positioned in a direction corresponding to the direction data, and if so, changing focus to the peer UI element, and if not, communicating the focus data to a higher parent UI element.

14. A system comprising:

a parent container user interface (UI) element having a visualization object interface, the parent container UI element corresponding to a view;

a child UI element of the parent container UI element, the child UI element configured to communicate with the parent container UI element via the visualization object interface; and

the parent container UI element configured to receive a change with respect to the view, the parent container UI element further configured to propagate change information corresponding to the change to the child UI element via the visualization object interface, or to visualize away the child element based on the change to the view.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the parent container UI element is further configured to create another child UI element based on the change to the view.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the child UI element is a lower-level parent container element corresponding to a sub-view of the view, the lower-level parent container element containing a lower-level child UI element configured to communicate with the parent container UI element via a visualization object interface, and wherein if the lower-level parent container element receives the change information, the lower-level parent container UI element configured to, based on the change information, a) visualize away the lower-level child element or b) propagate the change information to the child UI element via the visualization object interface.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the parent container UI element comprises a top-level parent hosted in a view host.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the parent container UI element determines whether to visualize away the child element or to propagate change to the child UI element based upon whether the child element is to be in a new view, the new view corresponding to the view including the change with respect to the view.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the parent container UI element determines whether to visualize away the child element or to propagate change to the child UI element based upon a) whether the child element is to be in a new view, the new view corresponding to the view including the change with respect to the view, or b) whether the child element is within an inflated view relative to the new view.

20. One or more machine-readable media having machine-executable instructions, which when executed perform steps, comprising:

receiving a scroll interaction at a parent container corresponding to a view, the parent container containing a plurality of UI elements;

determining a new view based upon the scroll interaction;

determining which of the plurality of UI elements of the parent container are relevant UI elements with respect to the new view, and virtualizing away at least one UI element that is not relevant;

propagating change information corresponding to the scroll interaction to the relevant UI elements, including a relevant UI element comprising a lower-level container containing a plurality of lower-level UI elements;

determining which of the plurality of lower-level UI elements of the lower-level container are relevant lower-level UI elements with respect to the new view, and virtualizing away at least one lower-level UI element that is not relevant; and

propagating change information corresponding to the scroll interaction to the relevant lower-level UI elements.