Moveable viewport for indicating off-screen content

• US 8,589,818 B1
• Filed: 01/03/2013
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jones, Jonah, Van Lancker, Willem
• Primary Examiner(s): Pesin, Boris
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ell, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US13/733,402
• Time in Patent Office: 320 Days
• Field of Search: 715/784
• US Class Current: 715/785
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means

Abstract

An off-screen content indication system receives an identification of a geographic term, generates an off-screen content indicator that indicates a location of an off-screen entity associated with the identified geographic term, places the off-screen content indicator outside a viewport that currently displays a portion of a map to a user, and temporarily moves or shifts the viewport toward the general direction of the location of the off-screen entity to reveal the generated off-screen content indicator.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method in a map client device having a user interface for providing an indication of off-screen content during a geographic search, the method comprising:

providing a digital map via the user interface;

displaying a portion of the digital map corresponding to a selected geographic area within a viewport located in a first position;

receiving a geographic search term via the user interface as the geographic search term is being input; and

prior to receiving an indication that the geographic search term has been submitted for searching;

(i) determining that the geographic search term identifies an off-screen entity located outside the selected geographic area,

(ii) providing an off-screen content indicator that indicates the direction toward the location of the identified off-screen entity, and

(iii) temporarily moving the viewport in a general direction of the location of the identified off-screen entity from the first position to a second position, wherein the off-screen content indicator is visible only when the viewport is moved to the second position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein temporarily moving the viewport includes moving the viewport so that the newly displayed portion of the map within the viewport at the second position substantially overlaps the portion of the map visible when the viewport is in the first position.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the off-screen content indicator includes locating the off-screen content indicator on the outside edge of the viewport while located in the first position, so that the small movement of the viewport reveals the off-screen content indicator at the edge of the viewport.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein temporarily moving the viewport further includes moving the viewport back from the second position to the first position.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein temporarily moving the viewport from the first position to the second position and back from the second position to the first position takes a total of between half a second and three seconds.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the geographic search term includes receiving the geographic search term within a search box.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the search box is affixed to one position on the digital map so that the search box does move relative to the viewport when the viewport moves from the first position to the second position.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the geographic search term within the search box includes updating the geographic search term in response to receiving an entry of a new character via the user interface.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the indication that the geographic search term has been submitted for searching includes detecting when the user activates a corresponding control.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second geographic search term via the user interface as the second geographic search term is being input;

determining that the second geographic search term identifies a second off-screen entity located outside the selected geographic area,

providing a second off-screen content indicator that indicates the direction toward the location of the second identified off-screen entity; and

temporarily moving the viewport in a general direction of the location of the second identified off-screen entity from the second position to a third position, wherein the second off-screen content indicator is visible only when the viewport is moved to the third position.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the second geographic search term identifies an off-screen entity located outside the selected geographic area, providing the second off-screen content indicator, and temporarily moving the viewport a general direction of the location of the second identified off-screen entity occur prior to receiving an indication that the second geographic search term has been submitted for searching.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the indication that the second geographic search term has been submitted for searching includes detecting when the user activates a corresponding control.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein temporarily moving the viewport is limited to the extent the map has been loaded into the memory of the map client device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the off-screen content indicator includes locating the off-screen content indicator at the location of the identified off-screen entity.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, executable by a processor, for providing an indication of off-screen content during a geographic search for a map client device having a user interface, the instructions comprising:

(i) instructions for providing a digital map via the user interface;

(ii) instructions for displaying a portion of the digital map corresponding to a selected geographic area within a viewport located in a first position;

(iii) instructions for receiving a geographic search term via the user interface as the geographic search term is being input;

(iv) instructions for determining that the geographic search term identifies an off-screen entity located outside the selected geographic area;

(v) instructions for providing an off-screen content indicator that indicates the direction toward the location of the identified off-screen entity; and

(vi) instructions for temporarily moving the viewport in a general direction of the location of the identified off-screen entity from the first position to a second position, wherein the off-screen content indicator is visible only when the viewport is moved to the second position;

wherein the instructions (iv), (v), and (vi) are executed prior to instructions that operate to receive an indication that the geographic search term has been submitted for searching.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for temporarily moving the viewport include moving the viewport so that the newly displayed portion of the map within the viewport at the second position substantially overlaps the portion of the map visible when the viewport is in the first position.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions for providing the off-screen content indicator include locating the off-screen content indicator on the outside edge of the viewport while located in the original position, so that the small movement of the viewport reveals the off-screen content indicator at the edge of the viewport.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for temporarily moving the viewport further include moving the viewport back from the second position to the first position.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for temporarily moving the viewport from the first position to the second position and back from the second position to the first position include temporarily moving the viewport for a total of between half a second and three seconds.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for receiving the geographic search term include receiving the geographic search term within a search box.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the search box is affixed to one position on the digital map so that the search box moves relative to the viewport when the viewport moves to the second position.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein instructions for receiving the geographic search term within the search box include updating the geographic search term in response to receiving an entry of a new character via the user interface.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein instructions for receiving the indication that the geographic search term has been submitted for searching include detecting when the user activates a corresponding control.

24. An off-screen content indication system for providing an indication of an off-screen content during a geographic search, the system comprising:

a map display routine stored on one or more computer memories and that executes on one or more computer processors to provide a digital map via a user interface and to display a portion of the digital map corresponding to a selected geographical area within a viewport located in a first position;

a geographic search term input routine stored on one or more computer memories and that executes on one or more computer processors to receive a geographic search term via the user interface as the geographic search term is input; and

an off-screen content indication routine stored on one or more computer memories and that executes on one or more computer processors, (i) to determine that the geographic search term identifies an off-screen entity located outside the selected geographic area, (ii) to provide an off-screen content indicator that indicates the direction toward the location of the identified off-screen entity, and (iii) to temporarily move the viewport in a general direction of the location of the identified off-screen entity from the first position to a second position, prior to receiving an indication that the geographic search term has been submitted for searching, wherein the off-screen content indicator is visible only when the viewport is moved to the second position.