Collection user interface

• US 8,418,257 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2010
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hoogerwerf, Scott D., Wong, Lyon, Cardwell, Aaron W., Gilmore, Michael J., Ebeling, Rolf A., Mishra, Manav, Harris, Jensen, Radhakrishnan, Kavitha, Karas, Benjamin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Reza, Mohammad W
• Application Number:
  US12/947,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20120124677A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 726/29, 726/26, 726/30, 726/32
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Collection user interface techniques are described. In one or more implementations, a plurality of inputs are recognized as gestures received via interaction with a user interface to navigate through a file system of a computing device and select representations of objects managed by file system of the computing device, at least two of which are accessible via different devices. In response, copies of the representations are displayed by the computing device in a collection portion of the user interface. An option is output in conjunction with the collection portion by the computing device that is selectable to initiate a command to be performed using the objects that have corresponding representations included in the collection portion.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

recognizing a plurality of inputs as gestures received via interaction with a user interface, the gestures being configured to;

navigate through a file system of a computing device, the file system comprising objects that include a file or a folder, at least two of the objects are accessible via different devices; and

select representations of the objects managed by the file system in a first portion of the user interface;

in response to the selection of the representations of the objects in the first portion of the user interface, displaying copies of the selected representations of the objects in a collection portion of the user interface, the collection portion being different from the first portion; and

outputting an option in the collection portion of the user interface that is selectable to initiate a command to be performed using the objects in the file system based on the copies of the selected representations of the objects being included in the collection portion.

2. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising outputting the user interface in response to receipt of a request from an application by one or more modules to access the file system.

3. A method as described in claim 2, wherein the application is prevented from direct access to the file system through interaction with the one or more modules.

4. A method as described in claim 2, wherein interaction with the one or more modules is configured such that the application is not aware of where in the file system the objects are being accessed.

5. A method as described in claim 2, wherein the option is configured to provide data of the objects that have corresponding copies of the selected representations of the objects included in the collection portion to the application.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein a first of the at least two objects is accessible via a local file system, a peripheral device communicatively coupled to the computing device, or another computing device that is accessible to the computing device over a network and a second of the at least two objects is accessible via a different one of the local file system, the peripheral device communicatively coupled to the computing device, or the other computing device that is accessible to the computing device over the network.

7. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the displaying is performed such that display of the collection portion persists during the selection of the representations of the objects in the first portion of the user interface and as the navigation through the file system is performed.

8. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the file system is part of an operating system that executes on the computing device to perform the recognizing, the displaying and the outputting.

9. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the file system employs a namespace.

10. A method as described in claim 1, wherein at least one of the gestures to select representations of the objects involves a tap of the representations of the objects, which causes the copies of the selected representations of the objects to be displayed in the collection portion.

11. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the user interface of the computing device supports a gesture to remove a corresponding said copy of the representation from the collection portion.

12. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the user interface of the computing device is configured to change a display characteristic of a representation of the object selected to be copied to the collection portion in response to the selection.

13. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the collection portion of the user interface of the computing device is configured to display data that describes a current state of the collection portion.

14. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the collection portion of the user interface of the computing device is configured to display properties of a corresponding said object in response to a gesture that indicates selection of the copy of the representation of the object in the collection portion.

15. A method comprising:

displaying a plurality of copies of representations of objects in a collection portion of a user interface by a computing device, the plurality of copies collected for display using gestures to specify objects from different locations in a namespace employed by the computing device and the displaying of the collection portion persisting during navigation of the namespace to locate the representations of the objects; and

outputting, in the collection portion of the user interface, an option that is selectable to initiate a command to be performed using the objects that have copies of representations of objects included in the collection portion.

16. A method as described in claim 15, further comprising displaying the user interface in response to receipt of a request from an application to access the namespace, the application not being aware of the namespace.

17. A method as described in claim 16, wherein the user interface is configured to provide navigation through the namespace without enabling the application to access the namespace directly, the navigation configured to verify that access performed by a user through interaction with the user interface is to be granted to the application as requested.

18. A method comprising:

recognizing a first input as a first gesture to select a first representation of a first file displayed in a user interface by a computing device;

in response to the recognizing of the first gesture, displaying a copy of the first representation of the first file in a collection portion in the user interface;

recognizing a second input as a second gesture to select a second representation of a second file displayed in the user interface by the computing device, the first and second objects accessible via different locations in a namespace employed by the computing device;

in response to the recognizing of the second gesture, displaying a copy of the second representation of the second file in the collection portion in the user interface along with the copy of the first representation of the first file; and

outputting an option in the collection portion that is selectable to initiate a command to be performed using the first and second objects based on the copy of the first representation of the first file and the copy of the second representation of the second file being displayed in the collection portion.

19. A method as described in claim 18, further comprising outputting the user interface in response to receipt of a request from an application to access the namespace, the application not being aware of the namespace.

20. A method as described in claim 19, wherein the user interface is configured to provide navigation through the namespace without enabling the application to access the namespace directly, the navigation configured to verify that access performed by a user through interaction with the user interface is to be granted to the application as requested.