Interface for navigating interrelated content hierarchy

• US 8,296,682 B2
• Filed: 02/29/2008
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sloo, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Levy, Amy M
• Application Number:
  US12/040,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20090222769A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,698 Days
• Field of Search: 715/716, 715/719, 715/718, 715/720, 715/723, 715/792, 715/810, 715/825, 715/835, 715/853, 715/854, 715/855, 725/2, 725/39, 725/41, 725/44, 725/45, 725/49, 725/109, 725/133, 725/139, 725/141
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156

Abstract

An interface allows navigation of a hierarchy of related content organized into a node tree. Each node may be associated with media content and navigation input may be received to navigate between the nodes. The interface includes a mechanism for viewing graphical data representing related content within the node tree. A user may provide input to navigate between nodes in the same hierarchy level or different hierarchy levels while graphical data for the selected node is provided in the interface.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for providing an interface, comprising:

retrieving data by a client from a server, the client capable of downloading digital media content that is part of a set of related digital media content, the data including graphical data and describing a first hierarchical structure for organizing the set of related digital media content and a second hierarchical structure for organizing advertising content, each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure having two or more hierarchy levels of nodes, each node of the first hierarchical structure representing digital media content in the set of related digital media content;

connecting the first hierarchical structure to the second hierarchical structure, connecting the first hierarchical structure to the second hierarchical structure including linking a node in the first hierarchical structure to a node in the second hierarchical structure;

providing an interface by the client for navigating the first hierarchical structure of the set of related digital media content and the second hierarchical structure, the interface including first graphical information for a first set of two or more nodes in a first hierarchical level of the first hierarchical structure, the interface indicating that a first node of the first set of two or more nodes is a currently selected node;

receiving a first navigation input by the client;

determining, in response to receiving the first navigation input, a second set of two or more nodes including at least one parent node or child node of the currently selected node in a second hierarchical level of the first hierarchical structure, and one or more peripheral nodes of said at least one parent or child node, wherein one or more peripheral nodes of said at least one parent or child node are in the second hierarchical level of the first hierarchical structure or in the second hierarchical structure; and

updating the interface to replace said first graphical information with second graphical information associated with the second set of two or more nodes, said second graphical information associated with said second set of two or more nodes is provided in a horizontal row of frames according to a sequential relationship between said at least one parent or child node and said one or more peripheral nodes of said at least one parent or child node.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said step of receiving the first navigation input includes:

receiving a selection of an interface element by the client, the element associated with navigating to a parent node of the currently selected node, the second set of two or more nodes including the parent node of the currently selected node.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said step of receiving the first navigation input includes:

receiving a selection of an interface element by the client, the element associated with navigating to a default child node of the currently selected node, the second set of two or more nodes including the default child node of the currently selected node.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second navigation input associated with navigating within the second level of the first hierarchical structure; and

providing the interface with third graphical information associated with a third set of two or more nodes in response to receiving the second navigation input, the second set of nodes and the third set of nodes associated with the second level of the first hierarchical structure and having one or more overlapping nodes.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the third graphical information associated with the third set of two or more nodes includes a shift in position of a portion of the second graphical information for the second set of nodes.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the third graphical information associated with the third set of two or more nodes includes an addition of graphical information for nodes contained in the third set of nodes and not contained in the second set of nodes.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first graphical information for the first set of two or more nodes is provided in a first linear collection of frames in the interface.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the first linear collection of frames is positioned in a first horizontal row of frames in the first level of the first hierarchal structure according to a first sequential order associated with the first set of two or more nodes.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the first sequential order is based on a sequence of episodes for a television show, and the second sequential order is based on a sequence of seasons for the television show.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing an interface by the client includes:

accessing the currently selected node;

accessing a node table to determine one or more sibling nodes for the currently selected node; and

identifying graphical information associated with each of the one or more sibling nodes of the currently selected node from the node table.

11. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

receiving node tree data describing a first hierarchical structure for organizing a first set of related digital content and a second hierarchical structure for organizing a second set of digital content, each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure having two or more hierarchical levels of nodes, each node representing digital content in the respective set of digital content;

constructing a table from the node tree data, said table identifies at least one parent or child node for each node in the first hierarchical structure and one or more peripheral nodes of said each node, said table includes one or more links identifying graphical information associated with said each node in the first hierarchical structure, wherein a peripheral node of at least one node in the first hierarchical structure is a node in the second hierarchical structure;

selecting a first current node from the first hierarchical structure;

identifying a first set of one or more peripheral nodes of the first current node from the table, the first current node and the first set of one or more peripheral nodes associated with a first hierarchical level;

constructing an interface for navigating the first hierarchical structure of the first set of digital content and the second hierarchical structure of the second set of digital content, the interface including first graphical information associated with the first current node and the first set of one or more peripheral nodes, said first graphical information associated with the first current node and the first set of one or more peripheral nodes is provided in a first horizontal row of frames in the first hierarchical level according to a first sequential relationship between the first current node and the first set of one or more peripheral nodes;

receiving input by the client with respect to the first current node; and

re-constructing the interface to replace the first graphical information associated with the first current node and the first set of one or more peripheral nodes with second graphical information associated with a second current node and a second set of one or more peripheral nodes of the second current node, the second current node and the second set of one or more peripheral nodes associated with a second hierarchical level different from the first hierarchical level, and said second graphical information associated with the second current node and the second set of one or more peripheral nodes is provided in a second horizontal row of frames in the second hierarchical level according to a second sequential relationship between the second current node and the second set of one or more peripheral nodes.

12. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 11, wherein the two or more levels of nodes in the first hierarchical structure include a show segment level, an episode level, and a season level.

13. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 11, wherein the table includes one or more records for each node, each record including a node number for a particular node and node numbers for one or more peripheral nodes for the particular node.

14. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 11, wherein said one or more processors are contained in a gaming console capable of retrieving the set of digital content over a network.

15. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 11, wherein the first set of digital content is associated with seasons, episodes and segments of a television show.

16. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 15, wherein the graphical information for each node in the first hierarchical structure is an image representing video content for a season, an episode or a segment associated with the television show.

17. A system for providing an interface, comprising:

a communication interface for communicating with a server and a display device;

a storage device that includes a node table and image data;

an interface generation engine that retrieves node tree data and one or more images from a server and stores the node tree data and images in the storage device, the node tree data describing a first hierarchical structure for organizing a set of related digital content having a hierarchy of two or more levels of nodes and a second hierarchical structure for organizing one or more advertisements, each node in the first hierarchical structure representing digital content in the set of related digital content, constructs the node table from the node tree data, said node table identifies at least one parent or child node for each node in the first hierarchical structure and one or more peripheral nodes of said each node, said node table includes one or more links to graphical information associated with said each node, connects the first hierarchical structure to the second hierarchical structure using a node in each of the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure, identifies a current node in the first hierarchical structure and determines one or more sequentially neighboring nodes and at least one child or parent node of the current node from the node table, constructs an interface framework for navigating the first hierarchical structure and the second hierarchical structure and populates the interface framework with graphical information associated with the current node, the sequentially neighboring nodes, and the at least one parent or child node, said populating the interface framework with graphical information includes populating the interface framework with images associated with the current node and the sequentially neighboring nodes in a horizontal row in a first hierarchical level of the first hierarchal structure according to a sequential relationship between the current node and the one or more sequentially neighboring nodes and populating the interface framework with images associated with the at least one parent or child node and one or more peripheral nodes of the at least one parent or child node, wherein one or more peripheral nodes of said at least one parent or child node are in a second hierarchical level of the first hierarchal structure different from said first hierarchical level or in the second hierarchical structure via a link from said at least one parent or child node;

an input mechanism for receiving user input, the interface generation engine identifying the current node based on the user input; and

an interface rendering engine that renders the interface framework on the display device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the system includes a gaming console or a set top box.