Image preview

• US 8,117,548 B1
• Filed: 05/03/2005
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ragan, Gene Z.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Angkool, David Phantana
• Application Number:
  US11/121,490
• Time in Patent Office: 2,478 Days
• Field of Search: 715/856, 715/746, 715/810
• US Class Current: 715/746
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/156 Query results presentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system are provided for displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of a file by interfacing with a graphical interface relating to the file. A request for viewing a file content is received. A window for viewing a graphical representation of at least a portion of the content of a file is provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for viewing a file content based upon an interface of a pointer to a representation of said file, wherein receiving said request for viewing said file content further comprises detecting a pointer rollover relative to a graphical interface relating to said file, wherein the file is at least one of a drawing file, an image file, a database document file, a text document file, a file of downloaded information, a presentation file, a spreadsheet file, an email file, a project document file or a PDF file;

providing a preview for viewing a graphical representation of at least a portion of the content of said file using a preview window, wherein the preview is provided without opening a separate application, wherein providing said preview for viewing a graphical representation of at least a portion of the content of said file further comprises at least one of displaying an image of said at least a portion of said content of said file in a preview window using at least one native framework or displaying an image of said at least a portion of said content of said file without using an application relating to said file; and

performing at least one of;

sizing the preview window based at least upon an amount of data available for the preview;

or

providing an additional amount of the content of the file in the preview based at least upon a portion of a length of time of the pointer rollover.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one native framework is an application native to the computer system, the at least one native framework comprising at least one library file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein without using an application relating to said file comprises using an application different from a native framework.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing said preview for viewing a graphical representation of at least a portion of the content of said file further comprises providing a window for displaying a content relating to said preview.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a pointer over said graphical interface relating to said file comprises detecting said pointer rolling over an icon relating to said file.

5. A method, comprising:

providing at least one graphical interface relating to a file, wherein the file is at least one of a drawing file, an image file, a database document file, a text document file, a file of downloaded information, a presentation file, a spreadsheet file, an email file, a project document file or a PDF file;

receiving a signal relating to a pointer interfacing with said graphical interface, wherein the pointer interfacing with said graphical interface comprises a rollover by the pointer relative to said graphical interface;

generating a preview window for viewing a graphical representation of at least a portion of the content of said file in response to receiving said signal, wherein the preview window is generated without opening a separate application using at least one native framework; and

performing at least one of;

sizing the preview window based at least upon an amount of data available for the preview;

or

providing an additional amount of the content of the file in the preview based at least upon a portion of a length of time of the pointer rollover.

6. An apparatus comprising a graphical interface, comprising:

a display device comprising;

a first module to determine an interfacing between a pointer and a graphical interface of a file, wherein said first module is adapted to detect a said pointer over said graphical interface, wherein the file is at least one of a drawing file, an image file, a database document file, a text document file, a file of downloaded information, a presentation file, a spreadsheet file, an email file, a project document file or a PDF file;

a second module to receive at least a portion of the actual file data relating to said file based upon determining said interfacing;

a third module to provide a graphical representation of said at least a portion of the data relating to said file, wherein the graphical representation is provided without opening a separate application using at least one native framework; and

at least one of wherein the size of the graphical representation is based upon an amount of actual data associated with the file, or wherein an additional portion of the file is included in the graphical representation based upon an amount of time that the pointer is over said graphical interface.

7. The apparatus comprising said graphical interface of claim 6, wherein said third module is capable of providing a preview window for displaying said graphical representation relating to said at least a portion of the data.

8. The apparatus comprising said graphical interface of claim 6, further comprising a fourth module to identify a file type of said file.

9. The apparatus comprising said graphical interface of claim 6, further comprising a fifth module for selecting the at least one native framework based upon at least one of said at least a portion of the data and said file type, for displaying said image.

10. The apparatus comprising said graphical interface of claim 6, wherein said third module is capable of displaying said graphical representation without launching an application relating to said file.

11. A system, comprising:

a display device for displaying a graphical interface relating to a file, wherein the file is at least one of a drawing file, an image file, a database document file, a text document file, a file of downloaded information, a presentation file, a spreadsheet file, an email file, a project document file or a PDF file;

a controller for determining whether a pointer has interfaced with said graphical interface, said controller to provide an image of at least a portion of the data relating to said file based upon said pointer interfacing with said graphical interface, wherein the image is provided without opening a separate application using at least one native framework, and wherein said pointer interfacing comprises a pointer rollover; and

wherein the controlling is configured to perform at least one of;

sizing the image based at least upon an amount of data available for the image;

or

providing an additional amount of the data relating to the file in the image based at least upon a portion of a length of time of the pointer rollover.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said controller comprising an operating system for controlling an operation of said system, said operating system comprising a preview unit to provide a preview window for viewing at least a portion of the content of said file in response to said pointer interfacing with said graphical interface.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein said controller being further adapted to determine a size of said preview window based upon at least of native size of an image in the file, the resolution of a particular display device, a placement of said preview window, data relating to a content of said file, and the type of said file.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein said at least one native framework comprises at least one of a graphics system module, an API module, a visual interface module, an object oriented application module, a graphics standards module, a multi-media application module and a network communications module.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein said pointer is at least one of a mouse pointer, a pen interface pointer, and a keyboard pointer.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising a user interface for providing said graphical interface of said file.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein said controller being capable of modifying a size of said image based upon an input from at least one of a keyboard, a pen interface, and a mouse.

18. An apparatus comprising a preview unit, comprising:

a processor;

a first processor module to determine an interfacing between a pointer and a graphical interface of a file, wherein the file is at least one of a drawing file, an image file, a database document file, a text document file, a file of downloaded information, a presentation file, a spreadsheet file, an email file, a project document file or a PDF file;

a second processor module to receive at least a portion of the data relating to said file based upon determining said interfacing;

a third processor module to provide an image of said at least a portion of the data relating to said file in a preview window, wherein the preview window is provided without opening a separate application using at least one native framework, and further wherein the preview window is provided in response to determining the interfacing between the pointer and the graphical interface of the file; and

wherein the third processor module is configured to perform at least one of;

sizing the image based at least upon an amount of data available for the image;

or

providing an additional amount of the data relating to the file in the image based at least upon a portion of a length of time of said interfacing.

19. The apparatus comprising said preview unit of claim 18, wherein said preview unit being integrated with a window server, said window server being part of an operating system.

20. The apparatus comprising said preview unit of claim 18, wherein said image is displayed for at least one of a predetermined period of time and until a signal to terminate said image is received.

21. A computer readable program storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, performs a method, comprising:

receiving a request for viewing a file content based upon an interface of a pointer to a representation of said file, wherein receiving said request for viewing said file content further comprises detecting a pointer over a graphical interface relating to said file, wherein the file is at least one of a drawing file, an image file, a database document file, a text document file, a file of downloaded information, a presentation file, a spreadsheet file, an email file, a project document file or a PDF file; and

providing a preview for viewing a graphical representation of at least a portion of the content of said file, using a preview window, wherein the preview window is provided without opening a separate application using at least one native framework; and

performing at least one of;

sizing the preview window based at least upon an amount of data available for resolving the preview;

or

providing an additional file content in the preview based at least upon a portion of a length of time of the interfacing of the pointer to the representation of said file.

22. An apparatus comprising a preview window, comprising:

a display device adapted to display an image of at least a portion of data of a file associated with a graphical interface, wherein the file is at least one of a drawing file, an image file, a database document file, a text document file, a file of downloaded information, a presentation file, a spreadsheet file, an email file, a project document file or a PDF file, said image being displayed as a result of a stimulation of said graphical interface received from an input device, said image being displayed prior to launching an application associated with said file, wherein the image is displayed without opening a separate application using at least one native framework, and wherein displaying the image comprises sizing the preview window based at least upon an amount of data available for the image.

23. The apparatus comprising said preview window of claim 22, wherein said graphical interface is an icon.

24. The apparatus comprising said preview window of claim 22, wherein the at least one native framework is an application native to the computer system, the at least one native framework comprising at least one library file.

25. An apparatus for displaying a graphical representation of at least a portion of a file, comprising:

means for providing at least one graphical interface of a file, wherein the file is at least one of a drawing file, an image file, a database document file, a text document file, a file of downloaded information, a presentation file, a spreadsheet file, an email file, a project document file or a PDF file;

means for receiving a signal relating to a pointer interfacing with said graphical interface;

means for providing a preview window for viewing a graphical representation of at least a portion of the content of said file in response to receiving said signal, wherein the preview window is provided without opening a separate application using at least one native framework;

means for sizing the preview window based at least upon an amount of data available for resolving the preview; and

means for providing an additional file content in the graphical representation based at least upon a portion of a length of time of the interfacing of the pointer with said graphical interface.