Controlling three-dimensional views of selected portions of content

• US 8,589,822 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2010
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bell, Denise A., Grigsby, Travis M., Jenkins, Jana H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Augustine, Nicholas
• Assistant Examiner(s): DRAGOESCU, CLAUDIA B
• Application Number:
  US12/965,375
• Publication Number:
  US 20120151416A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• Field of Search: 715848-852, 715/801, 715/836
• US Class Current: 715/848
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/34 Stereoscopes providing a stereoscopic pair of separated images corresponding to parallactically displaced views of the same object, e.g. 3D slide viewers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Some embodiments of the inventive subject matter are directed to presenting a first portion of content and a second portion of content in a two-dimensional view via a graphical user interface and detecting an input associated with one or more of the first portion of the content and the second portion of the content. Some embodiments are further directed to selecting the first portion of the content in response to the detecting of the input, and changing the presenting of the first portion of the content from the two-dimensional view to a three-dimensional view in response to the selecting the first portion of the content. Some embodiments are further directed to continuing to present the second portion of the content in the two-dimensional view while changing the presenting of the first portion of the content to the three-dimensional view.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting a two-dimensional view of content in a graphical user interface;

detecting that at least a portion of the content is obstructed by a border of the graphical user interface, when the two-dimensional view of the content is presented; and

presenting the at least the portion of the content in a stereoscopic three-dimensional view in response to the detecting that the at least the portion of the content is obstructed by the border of the graphical user interface, wherein a stereoscopic depth effect of the stereoscopic three-dimensional view makes the at least the portion of the content appear to extend beyond the border of the graphical user interface, and wherein the at least the portion of the content is no longer obstructed when presented in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the content in response to user input directly with the content.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting the content in response to user input with additional content presented via the graphical user interface, wherein the user input causes the additional content to change state, and wherein the presenting the at least the portion of the content in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view is in response to the detecting the change in the state to the additional content.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the content is associated with a first position in the graphical user interface, wherein the additional content is associated with a second position in the graphical user interface, and wherein said presenting the at least the portion of the content in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view further comprises maintaining the first position of the content relative to the second position of the additional content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting the at least the portion of the content in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view comprises modifying visual elements of the at least the portion of the content to have the stereoscopic depth effect.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the stereoscopic depth effect is perceptible by one or more of a three-dimensional viewing mechanism and an autostereoscopic display.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a change of state to the content after presenting the at least the portion of the content in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view, wherein the change in the state would cause the at least the portion of the content to not be obstructed by the graphical user interface when presented with the two-dimensional view; and

presenting the at least the portion of the content in the two-dimensional view in response to the change of the state of the content.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting that the at least the portion of the content is within a distance to the border of the graphical user interface, wherein the border corresponds to an area of the graphical user interface that contains the content;

generating a prompt to change the presenting of the at least the portion of the content from the two-dimensional view to the stereoscopic three-dimensional in response to the detecting that the at least the portion of the content is within the distance to the border;

detecting an acceptance to the prompt via user input; and

changing the presenting of the at least the portion of the content in response to the detecting the acceptance of the prompt via the user input.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting an interaction with the content; and

rotating the content, in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view, in response to the detecting the interaction with the content.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the content is a text string presented in a window presented via the graphical user interface, wherein the border of the graphical user interface comprises a border of the window, wherein a length of the text string increases in response to a change in state of the content, wherein the at least the portion of the content comprises a portion of the text string that is obstructed by the border of the window when presented with the two-dimensional view, and wherein the presenting the at least the portion of the content in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view causes the portion of the text string to appear to extend beyond the border of the window when presented in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting a change to the content;

detecting that the change to the content causes a size of the content to exceed a boundary of a presentation area, wherein the boundary of the presentation area corresponds to the border of the graphical user interface; and

presenting the content in the stereoscopic three-dimensional view in response to the detecting that the change to the content causes the size of the content to exceed the boundary of the presentation area.

12. A computer program product for changing an appearance of content to a stereoscopic three-dimensional state, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to,

detect a modification to the content presented in a two-dimensional state via a graphical user interface, wherein the content is contained within an area of the graphical user interface,

determine, based on the modification, that at least a portion of the content is obstructed by a boundary of the area of the graphical user interface when presented in the two-dimensional state, and

change the at least the portion of the content from the two-dimensional state to the stereoscopic three-dimensional state in response to determination that the at least the portion of the content is obstructed by the boundary, wherein a stereoscopic depth effect of the stereoscopic three-dimensional view makes the at least the portion of the content appear closer to the user in the three-dimensional state than in the two-dimensional state, and wherein the stereoscopic depth effect causes the at least the portion of the content to no longer be obstructed by the boundary.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured to,

change the at least the portion of the content from the two-dimensional state to the stereoscopic three-dimensional state while simultaneously presenting at least one additional portion of the content in the two-dimensional state.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, said computer readable program code being further configured to,

determine that the at least the portion of the content changes in size while in the two-dimensional state,

determine, based on the change in size of the at least the portion of the content, that the at least the portion of the content is displayed incompletely within the area of the graphical user interface while the at least the portion of the content is in the two-dimensional state, and

change the at least the portion of the content from the two-dimensional state to the stereoscopic three-dimensional state in response to the determining, based on the change in size of the at least the portion of the content, that the at least the portion of the content is displayed incompletely within the area of the graphical user interface, wherein the change or the at least the portion of the content from the two-dimensional state to the stereoscopic three-dimensional state causes the at least the portion of the content to be displayed completely within the area of the graphical user interface without obstruction by the boundary.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the content comprises a text string, and wherein the computer readable program code is configured to change the at least the portion of the content from the two-dimensional state to the stereoscopic three-dimensional state being configured to add the stereoscopic depth effect to the text string causing at least a portion of the text string to appear closer to the user in the three-dimensional state than in the two-dimensional state.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program code is configured to change a kerning of characters in the text string.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a processing unit;

a display configured to present a graphical user interface; and

a three-dimensional controller operable to, via the processing unit,

detect a selection of a two-dimensional graphical depiction of an object presented via the graphical user interface,

detect that a portion of the two-dimensional graphical depiction of the object is obstructed by a boundary of the graphical user interface, and

change the two-dimensional graphical depiction of the object to a stereoscopic three-dimensional graphical depiction of the object in response to detecting that the portion of the two-dimensional graphical depiction of the object is obstructed by the boundary of the graphical user interface, wherein the change from the two-dimensional graphical depiction of the object to the stereoscopic three-dimensional graphical depiction of the object makes the stereoscopic three-dimensional graphical depiction of the object appear to exceed the boundary of the graphical user interface.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is a mobile device, and wherein the three-dimensional controller is operable to detect a rotational force applied to at least some part of the mobile device and cause the stereoscopic three-dimensional graphical depiction of the object to have a rotational movement in virtual space based proportionally on the rotational force applied to the at least some part of the mobile device.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the three-dimensional controller is further operable to:

detect that the rotational force is in a first direction, wherein the rotational force causes the rotational movement of the stereoscopic three-dimensional graphical depiction of the object to correspond to the first direction;

detect an additional rotational force applied to the at least some part of the mobile device, wherein the additional rotational force is in a second direction that is different from the first direction; and

cause a counter action to the rotational movement of the stereoscopic three-dimensional graphical depiction of the object proportional to the additional rotational force, wherein the counter action causes one or more of a reduction to the rotational movement and a reversal of the rotational movement.

19. A method comprising:

presenting content in a two-dimensional state via a graphical user interface;

detecting an operation to cause an increase in size to the content;

determining that the increase in size to the content would cause the content to be obscured by a border of the graphical user interface if the content were to be presented in the two-dimensional state; and

changing, via at least one of one or more processors, the content from the two-dimensional state to a stereoscopic three-dimensional state in response to the determining that the increase in size to the content would cause the content to be obscured by the border of the graphical user interface, wherein a stereoscopic depth effect of the stereoscopic three-dimensional state makes the content appear to extend beyond the border of the graphical user interface.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

detecting an interaction with the content; and

rotating the content, in the stereoscopic three-dimensional state, in response to detecting the interaction with the content.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

maintaining a first portion of the content relative to a second portion of the content during the rotating of the content in the stereoscopic three-dimensional state.