Interface cube for mobile device

• US 8,132,120 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2008
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Stallings, Heath, Roberts, Brian F., Hwang, Sok Y., Relyea, Donald H. Jr., Angelo, Orland I.
• Primary Examiner(s): PITARO, RYAN F
• Application Number:
  US12/344,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20100169836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• Field of Search: 715/848
• US Class Current: 715/848
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• 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

Abstract

A computing device presents, on a screen, a three-dimensional rendering of an interface cube that includes a representation of a user'"'"'s contacts displayed on at least one surface of the interface cube. The computing device receives a communication item from a peripheral application, where the communication item is associated with a particular contact of the user'"'"'s contacts. The computing device creates a graphic based on the communication item and displays the graphic at a location on the representation of the user'"'"'s contacts that corresponds to the location of the particular contact within a sequence of the user'"'"'s contacts.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions;

and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

present, on a display, a three-dimensional rendering of a rotatable multi-surface interface that includes a representation of contacts associated with the device, where the representation is displayed on at least one surface of the multi-surface interface, and where the representation includes an alphabetical sequence of blocks associated with the contacts;

receive a communication from an application, where the communication is associated with a particular contact, of the contacts;

create a graphic associated with the communication; and

present the graphic to the display to cause the graphic to be displayed at a location on the representation of the contacts, the location corresponding to a position of the particular contact within the alphabetical sequence of blocks associated with the contacts, where the processor, when displaying the graphic, further executes instructions in the memory to;

identify a name of the particular contact associated with the communication,

identify a block, within the alphabetical sequence of blocks, that is associated with the name of the particular contact,

identify a portion of the block that corresponds to a positioning of the particular contact within the block, and

present the graphic to the display to cause the graphic to be displayed at the identified portion of the block.

2. The device of claim 1, where the application includes at least one of:

a telephone application,

a text-messaging application,

an email application,

an instant messaging (IM) application,

a calendar application,

a multimedia messaging service (MMS) application,

a short message service (SMS) application, or

a web browser.

3. The device of claim 1, where the display includes a touch-sensitive display.

4. The device of claim 1, where the processor further executes instructions in the memory to:

associate the graphic with to the application,

detect a selection of the graphic, and

launch the application in response to detecting the selection of the graphic.

5. The device of claim 1, where the processor further executes instructions in the memory to:

receive a user input to anchor the rotatable multi-surface interface, and

anchor the rotatable multi-surface interface in response to receiving the user input.

6. The device of claim 1, where the processor further executes instructions in the memory to:

receive a user input to rotate the rotatable multi-surface interface, and

rotate the rotatable multi-surface interface in response to receiving the user input.

7. The device of claim 1, where the rotatable multi-surface interface comprises a three-dimensional rendering of a cube.

8. A computing device-implemented method, comprising:

presenting, on a display associated with the computing device, a three-dimensional rendering of a rotatable multi-surface interface that includes a representation of contacts associated with the device, where the representation is displayed on at least one surface of the multi-surface interface, and where the representation includes an alphabetical sequence of blocks associated with the contacts;

receiving, by the computing device, a communication from an application, where the communication is associated with a particular contact, of the contacts;

creating, by the computing device, a graphic associated with the communication; and

displaying, by the computing device, the graphic at a location on the representation of the contacts, the displayed location corresponding to a position of the particular contact within the alphabetical sequence of blocks associated with the contacts,

where displaying the graphic includes;

identifying a name of the particular contact associated with the communication,

identifying a block, within the alphabetical sequence of blocks, that is associated with the name of the particular contact,

identifying a portion of the block that corresponds to a positioning of the particular contact within the block, and

displaying the graphic at the identified portion of the block.

9. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving another communication, where the other communication is associated with the particular contact;

creating another graphic based on the other communication; and

displaying the other graphic with the graphic at the location.

10. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

associating the graphic with a link to the application.

11. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, where creating the graphic based on the communication comprises:

retrieving an image associated with the application.

12. The computing device-implemented method of claim 11, where the image representing the application is color-coded to designate at least one of

an application type associated with the application, or

a communication type associated with the communication.

13. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, where the application includes at least one of:

a telephone application,

a text-messaging application,

an email application,

an instant messaging (IM) application,

a calendar application,

a multimedia messaging service (MMS) application,

a short message service (SMS) application, or

a web browser.

14. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, where the multi-surface interface includes an indication of a category of items displayed on a surface of the multi-surface interface.

15. The computing device-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a user input to present an enlarged view of the surface.

16. The computing device-implemented method of claim 8, where the multi-surface interface includes a rotatable cube.

17. A non-transitory storage device for storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to present, on a display, a three-dimensional rendering of a rotatable multi-surface interface that includes a representation of contacts associated with a device, where the representation is displayed on at least one surface of the multi-surface interface, and where the representation includes an alphabetical sequence of blocks associated with the contacts;

one or more instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive a communication from an application, where the communication is associated with a particular contact, of the contacts;

one or more instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to create a graphic associated with the communication; and

one or more instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to display the graphic at a location on the representation of the contacts, the displayed location corresponding to a position of the particular contact within the alphabetical sequence of blocks associated with the contacts,

where one or more instructions to display the graphic further include;

one or more instructions to identify a name of the particular contact associated with the communication,

one or more instructions to identify a block, within the alphabetical sequence of blocks, that is associated with the name of the particular contact,

one or more instructions to identify a portion of the block that corresponds to a positioning of the particular contact within the block, and

one or more instructions to display the graphic at the identified portion of the block.

18. The non-transitory storage device of claim 17, where the application includes at least one of:

a telephone application,

a text-messaging application,

an email application,

an instant messaging (IM) application,

a calendar application,

a multimedia messaging service (MMS) application,

a short message service (SMS) application, or

a web browser.

19. The non-transitory storage device of claim 17, further comprising:

one or more instructions to associate the graphic with the application,

one or more instructions to detect a selection of the graphic, and

one or more instructions to launch the application in response to detecting the selection of the graphic.

20. The non-transitory storage device of claim 17, further comprising:

one or more instructions to receive a user input; and

one or more instructions to anchor the rotatable multi-surface interface in response to the user input.

21. The non-transitory storage device of claim 17, further comprising:

one or more instructions to receive a user input; and

one or more instructions to rotate the rotatable multi-surface interface in response to the user input.

22. The non-transitory storage device of claim 17, where the rotatable multi-surface interface comprises a three-dimensional rendering of a cube.