Interface cube for mobile device

• US 8,677,277 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2012
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• 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., Relyea, Donald H. Jr., Hwang, Sok Y., Angelo, Orland I.
• Primary Examiner(s): PITARO, RYAN F
• Application Number:
  US13/364,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20120133652A1
• Time in Patent Office: 775 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 method comprising:

presenting, by a computing device, a multi-surface interface for display,

at least one surface, of the multi-surface interface, including a representation of contacts associated with the device, and

the representation including a plurality of regions associated with respective subsets of the contacts;

receiving, by the computing device, a communication associated with a particular contact of the contacts,

the particular contact being associated with a particular subset of the respective subsets of the contacts, and

the particular subset being associated with a particular region of the plurality of regions;

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

presenting, by the computing device, the graphic for display at a location in the particular region,

the location corresponding to a position of the particular contact within a sequence of the particular subset;

receiving, by the computing device, another communication associated with the particular contact;

creating, by the computing device, another graphic based on the other communication; and

presenting, by the computing device, the other graphic at the location,

the graphic and the other graphic being included in a stack, and

an order of the graphic and the other graphic in the stack corresponding to an order in which the communication and the other communication are received.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the graphic with a link to an application,

where a selection of the graphic causes the application to be initiated.

3. The method of claim 2, where the graphic is color-coded to designate at least one of:

an application type associated with the application, or

a communication type associated with the communication.

4. The method of claim 2, 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.

5. The method of claim 1, where the plurality of regions correspond to an alphabetical sequence of blocks.

6. The method of claim 1, where the multi-surface interface comprises respective graphical images.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a user input associated with a selection of one of the respective graphical images; and

presenting an enlarged view of a corresponding surface, of the multi-surface interface, for display.

8. The method of claim 1, where the multi-surface interface corresponds to a rotatable cube.

9. A device comprising:

a memory; and

a processor to;

present, on a display, an interface that includes a representation of contacts associated with the device,

the representation including a plurality of regions associated with respective subsets of the contacts;

receive a communication,

the communication being associated with a particular contact of the contacts,

the particular contact being associated with a particular subset of the respective subsets of the contacts, and

the particular subset being associated with a particular region of the plurality of regions,

create a graphic associated with the communication;

present, on the display, the graphic at a location in the particular region,

the location corresponding to a position of the particular contact within a sequence of the particular subset;

receive another communication associated with the particular contact;

create another graphic based on the other communication; and

present the other graphic at the location,

the graphic and the other graphic being included in a stack, and

an order of the graphic and the other graphic in the stack corresponding to an order in which the communication and the other communication are received.

10. The device of claim 9, where the communication is received from an application, and

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.

11. The device of claim 9, where the display includes a touch-sensitive display to receive a user input related to the representation.

12. The device of claim 9, where the processor is further to:

associate the graphic with an application,

detect a selection of the graphic, and

launch the application based on detecting the selection of the graphic.

13. The device of claim 9, where the interface includes a rotatable multi-surface interface, and

where the processor is further to:

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

anchor the rotatable multi-surface interface based on receiving the user input.

14. The device of claim 9, where the plurality of regions correspond to an alphabetical sequence of blocks.

15. The device of claim 9, where the interface includes a rotatable multi-surface interface, and

where the processor is further to:

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

rotate the rotatable multi-surface interface based on receiving the user input.

16. The device of claim 15, where the rotatable multi-surface interface corresponds to a 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 rotatable multi-surface interface that includes a representation of contacts associated with a device,

the representation being displayed on at least one surface of the rotatable multi-surface interface, and

the representation including 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 first communication and a second communication,

the first communication and the second communication being associated with a particular contact of the contacts;

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

one or more instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to display a stack that includes the first graphic and the second graphic,

the stack being positioned 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.

18. The non-transitory storage device of claim 17, the instructions further comprising:

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

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

one or more instructions to launch the application based on the selection of the first graphic.

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

one or more instructions to receive a user input;

one or more instructions to determine whether the user input is associated with a first position on the display or a second position on the display, the first position being different from the second position;

one or more instructions to anchor the rotatable multi-surface interface based on determining that the user input is associated with the first position; and

one or more instructions to rotate the rotatable multi-surface interface based on determining that the user input is associated with the second position.