Exploded views for providing rich regularized geometric transformations and interaction models on content for viewing, previewing, and interacting with documents, projects, and tasks

• US 8,707,204 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Horvitz, Eric J., Cheng, Lili, Wu, Jia-Chi
• Primary Examiner(s): SAX, STEVEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US12/258,809
• Publication Number:
  US 20090064024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,003 Days
• Field of Search: 715/205, 715712-713, 715744-747, 715734-736, 715/763, 715766-767, 715802-805, 715/821, 715853-855
• US Class Current: 715/804
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method to facilitate efficient and automated presentation of information to users. A decomposition component automatically decomposes an information item into sets of subcomponents in a two- or three-dimensional isometric space, and generates visualizations having interactive graphics that allow users to inspect respective subcomponents. Interface features are provided to enable hover, dwell, and clicking commands, for example, providing a variety of options to zoom in, or change configurations of the visualization in accordance with the users intentions or inferences about what they desire to see or inspect more closely. Beyond the use of decompositions into exploded views of the content of items typically viewed as singular documents, the methods can be applied to perform geometric transformations on visualizations of multiple windows and other resources based on content and activity to provide regularized visualizations of the multiple items. Such exploded views can provide visual geometric summaries of projects, and a set of handles into accessing more detail on the subcomponents of the project.

Claims

1. A data presentation system, comprising:

a task manager that enables sets of resources and associated displays of content in windows to be defined as a project and manipulated together as the project, wherein the windows can pertain to different applications including text applications, presentation applications, graphics applications, and email applications;

the task manager further enabling;

closing of the project such that the resources and associated displays of content in the windows are closed in a first single operation; and

opening of the project in a second single operation including a re-generation of the windows with the associated displays of content at locations the windows were in before the project was closed;

a decomposition component that automatically segregates information items into a collection of subcomponents relating to the project; and

an interface component to render the subcomponents in a graphical manner to facilitate user processing and interaction with the project.

2. The system of claim 1, the interface component provides an exploded view relating to project access.

3. The system of claim 1, the task manager is associated with a task management and recovery system that enables users to define projects with content from one or more applications.

4. The system of claim 3, the tasks or projects are defined implicitly based at least on linking tasks to particular applications.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising mixes of implicit or explicit definitions that include allowing a user to invoke a “

Save as Project”

operation that lists recently touched or opened resources, including windows and content rendered that is currently being displayed on a user'"'"'s screen.

6. The system of claim 1, the task manager includes a Save as Project operation that allows a user to add new resources or to remove resources that have been assumed as part of a task or a project.

7. The system of claim 1, the interface component enables for definitions of persistent projects that include one or more computational and associated display resources, that allow users to open, close, and swap projects.

8. The system of claim 1, the interface component provides an option to clean up and redisplay projects that are revisited—

or reconfigured and normalized with an explicit “

Clean up project,”

procedure.

9. The system of claim 1, the interface component including:

a component for viewing windows and other resources associated with a project, when the project is stored for later re-visitation.

10. The system of claim 1, the interface component provides an exploded view relating to project management.

11. The system of claim 1, the interface component provides an exploded view relating to minimization of information.

12. The system of claim 1, the interface component provides an exploded view relating to progressive shrinking of information.

13. The system of claim 1, the interface component provides an exploded view and a clean-up function for the exploded view.

14. The system of claim 3, the projects are defined explicitly based at least on a project definition procedure via an interface.

15. The system of claim 3, the tasks or projects are defined implicitly based at least on observing which resources and applications are used together.

16. The system of claim 1, the interface component including a component to regularize a view on the project when it has been swapped out of focus.

17. The system of claim 1, the interface component including a component that enables a user to focus one or more full screens of a computer display on a particular project by swapping, with simple gestures, the particular project, along with a geometric layout of resources associated with the particular project, into view and swapping out or minimizing other resources associated with other tasks or projects.

18. The system of claim 1, the interface component including a component for projects that allow review of multiple projects by users, when a user desires to view a list of stored projects.

19. A method comprising:

defining a project as sets of resources and windows displaying resource content being used together, wherein the windows can pertain to different applications including text applications, presentation applications, graphics applications, and email applications;

enabling manipulation of the project including;

closing, in a single closing operation of the project as defined by the sets of resources and the windows displaying the resource content being used together; and

opening, in a single opening operation of the project, the single opening operation including regenerating the windows displaying the resource content at locations the windows were in before the project was closed;

automatically segregating information items into a collection of subcomponents relating to the project; and

rendering the subcomponents as a visual summary in a graphical manner to facilitate user interaction with the project.

20. One or more computer storage devices having computer executable instructions encoded thereon, the computer executable instructions, upon execution by a processor configuring a computer to perform operations comprising:

defining a project as sets of resources and windows displaying resource content being used together, wherein the windows can pertain to different applications including text applications, presentation applications, graphics applications, and email applications;

enabling manipulation of the project including;

closing, in a closing operation of the project as defined by the sets of resources and the windows displaying the resource content being used together; and

opening, in an opening operation of the project, the opening operation including regenerating the windows displaying the resource content at locations the windows were in before the project was closed;

automatically segregating information items into a collection of subcomponents relating to the project;

rendering the subcomponents to facilitate user interaction with the project; and

presenting, the project as a visual summary in a graphical manner for viewing, when the project is minimized into a small, iconic representation of the windows and other resources associated with the project.