Scene transitions in a zoomable user interface using a zoomable markup language

• US 8,924,889 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2006
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: IDHL Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hillcrest Laboratories Incorporated (CEVA Incorporated)
• Inventors: Hunleth, Frank A., Scheirey, Stephen, Gritton, Charles W. K.
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, THANH T
• Application Number:
  US11/633,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20070192739A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,948 Days
• Field of Search: 715/781, 715800-801, 715/719, 715/720, 715/798
• US Class Current: 715/800
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• 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

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for allowing a user to interface with a system. More particularly, in one exemplary embodiment, a zoomable user interface (ZUI) generated by a processor includes a collection of scenes displayable on the ZUI including a first scene and a second scene, each of the scenes being implemented using software written in a programming language. The ZUI also includes an event capture mechanism for identifying user inputs to the ZUI, including a user input for requesting a change from the first scene to the second scene; and a transition between the first scene and the second scene in the collection of scenes, the transition conveying a spatial relationship between the first scene and the second scene within the ZUI.

Claims

1. A zoomable user interface (ZUI) apparatus, comprising:

a data storage configured to store a collection of scenes displayable on a ZUI, each of said scenes being implemented using software written in a programming language;

an event capture mechanism configured to identify user inputs related to said ZUI, including a user input for requesting a change from a first scene to a second scene different from said first scene in said collection of scenes; and

a controller configured to control the ZUI to display a transition from said first scene to said second scene, said transition conveying a spatial relationship between said first scene and said second scene within said ZUI,

wherein a manner in which said transition is displayed is implemented by at least one ZUI attribute or element included in said software written in said programming language and associated with said first scene or said second scene.

2. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said programming language is one of SVG, HTML, XML and Flash.

3. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a metadata attribute added to at least one of a hyperlink tag and an image tag.

4. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a duration attribute added to a hyperlink tag.

5. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a layer attribute added to at least one of a grouping tag and an image tag, a rectangle tag, said layer attribute associating an element with a layer in a scene.

6. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is an internal node attribute added to at least one of a grouping tag and an image tag, rectangle tag, said internal node attribute specifying a destination for placement swap effects.

7. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a cursor attribute added to at least one of a grouping tag and an image tag, rectangle tag, said cursor attribute identifying a cursor image.

8. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is an informational attribute added to at least one of a grouping tag, an image tag, and a rectangle tag, said informational attribute indicating whether said ZUI should ignore a particular node.

9. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a top attribute added to a script element, said top attribute indicating whether said ZUI should bypass a particular scene when navigating to a top scene in said ZUI.

10. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a transition attribute added to a view element, said transition attribute specifying a manner in which a transition into a view of said ZUI will occur.

11. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a background transition element which specifies a manner in which a background will transition from a first background associated with a current scene to a second background associated with a scene to which the ZUI is zooming.

12. The ZUI apparatus of claim 11, wherein said background transition element includes at least one of:

an effect attribute which specifies an effect to run during a background transition,

an effect start attribute which specifies when said effect is to begin during said background transition,

an effect end attribute which specifies when said effect is to end during said background transition,

a start attribute which specifies when said first background is to begin being swapped with said second background,

an end attribute which specifies when said first background is to end being swapped with said second background and

an inherits attribute which specifies which element the background transition is to inherit behavior from.

13. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a brick tag element, said brick tag element indicating that another file is to be inserted into a scene at a specified location.

14. The ZUI apparatus of claim 13, wherein said brick tag element includes at least one of:

a width attribute, a height attribute, a transform attribute, a pointer-events attribute, a visibility attribute, a link attribute, a layer attribute and a cursor attribute.

15. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a clip rectangle element, said clip rectangle element specifying that child scenes are clipped to said clip rectangle element'"'"'s bounds.

16. The ZUI apparatus of claim 15, wherein said clip rectangle element includes at least one of:

an x position attribute, a y position attribute, a width attribute, a height attribute, a transform attribute, a pointer-events attribute, a visibility attribute, a layer attribute, an informational attribute and an internal node attribute.

17. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a scene element, said scene element specifying that said ZUI is to place a scene as a child of a current scene.

18. The ZUI apparatus of claim 17, wherein said scene element includes at least one of:

an x position attribute, a y position attribute, a width attribute, a height attribute, a link attribute and a transition attribute, wherein said transition attribute specifies a type of transition effect to use for a subscene.

19. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a scene swap element, said scene swap element sets up transition effects between a first scene and a second scene of said ZUI.

20. The ZUI apparatus of claim 19, wherein said scene swap element includes at least one of:

a cover attribute which identifies an element to use in a scene swap effect, a start attribute which specifies when said first scene is to begin being swapped with said second scene, an end attribute which specifies when said scene background is to finish being swapped with said second scene and an inherits attribute which specifies which element the scene swap transition is to inherit behavior from.

21. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a text rectangle element, said text rectangle element specifying bounds in which to render text in said ZUI.

22. The ZUI apparatus of claim 21, wherein said text rectangle element includes at least one of:

an x position attribute, a y position attribute, a width attribute, a height attribute, a font-family attribute, a fill attribute, a font-size attribute, a pointer-events attribute, a visibility attribute, a preserve aspect ratio attribute, a metadata attribute, a layer attribute, an informational attribute, an internal node attribute, a text justification attribute, a text allcaps attribute, a minimum font size attribute and a cursor attribute.

23. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a transition element, said transition element specifies a parent node for transition parameter elements.

24. The ZUI apparatus of claim 23, wherein said transition element includes at least one of:

a duration attribute, a history attribute, a background-zoom attribute, and an inherits attribute.

25. The ZUI apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a video element, said video element specifies a node capable of playing video and other multimedia content.

26. The ZUI apparatus of claim 25, wherein said video element includes at least one of:

an x position attribute, a y position attribute, a width attribute, a height attribute, a state attribute, a playback rate attribute, a feed attribute, a pointer-events attribute, a visibility attribute, a layer attribute, an informational attribute, an internal node attribute, a preserve aspect ration attribute, a metadata attribute, a link attribute and a cursor attribute.

27. A method for displaying scenes on a zoomable user interface (ZUI) comprising:

providing a collection of scenes for display on said ZUI, each of said scenes being implemented using software written in a programming language;

identifying user inputs related to said ZUI, including a user input for requesting a change from a first scene to a second scene; and

transitioning from said first scene to said second scene, while conveying a spatial relationship between said first scene and said second scene within said ZUI,

wherein a manner in which said transitioning step is performed is implemented by at least one ZUI attribute or element included in said software written in said programming language and associated with said first scene or said second scene.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said programming language is one of SVG, HTML, XML and Flash.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a metadata attribute added to at least one of a hyperlink tag and an image tag.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a duration attribute added to a hyperlink tag.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a layer attribute added to at least one of a grouping tag and an image tag, a rectangle tag, said layer attribute associating an element with a layer in a scene.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is an internal node attribute added to at least one of a grouping tag and an image tag, rectangle tag, said internal node attribute specifying a destination for placement swap effects.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a cursor attribute added to at least one of a grouping tag and an image tag, rectangle tag, said cursor attribute identifying a cursor image.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is an informational attribute added to at least one of a grouping tag, an image tag, and a rectangle tag, said informational attribute indicating whether said ZUI should ignore a particular node.

35. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a top attribute added to a script element, said top attribute indicating whether said ZUI should bypass a particular scene when navigating to a top scene in said ZUI.

36. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a transition attribute added to a view element, said transition attribute specifying a manner in which a transition into a view of said ZUI will occur.

37. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a background transition element which specifies a manner in which a background will transition from a first background associated with a current scene to a second background associated with a scene to which the ZUI is zooming.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein said background transition element includes at least one of:

an effect attribute which specifies an effect to run during a background transition, an effect start attribute which specifies when said effect is to begin during said background transition, an effect end attribute which specifies when said effect is to end during said background transition, a start attribute which specifies when said first background is to begin being swapped with said second background, an end attribute which specifies when said first background is to end being swapped with said second background and an inherits attribute which specifies which element the background transition is to inherit behavior from.

39. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a brick tag element, said brick tag element indicating that another file is to be inserted into a scene at a specified location.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said brick tag element includes at least one of:

a width attribute, a height attribute, a transform attribute, a pointer-events attribute, a visibility attribute, a link attribute, a layer attribute and a cursor attribute.

41. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a clip rectangle element, said clip rectangle element specifying that child scenes are clipped to said clip rectangle element'"'"'s bounds.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein said clip rectangle element includes at least one of:

an x position attribute, a y position attribute, a width attribute, a height attribute, a transform attribute, a pointer-events attribute, a visibility attribute, a layer attribute, an informational attribute and an internal node attribute.

43. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a scene element, said scene element specifying that said ZUI is to place a scene as a child of a current scene.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein said scene element includes at least one of:

an x position attribute, a y position attribute, a width attribute, a height attribute, a link attribute and a transition attribute, wherein said transition attribute specifies a type of transition effect to use for a subscene.

45. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a scene swap element, said scene swap element sets up transition effects between a first scene and a second scene of said ZUI.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein said scene swap element includes at least one of:

a cover attribute which identifies an element to use in a scene swap effect, a start attribute which specifies when said first scene is to begin being swapped with said second scene, an end attribute which specifies when said scene background is to finish being swapped with said second scene and an inherits attribute which specifies which element the scene swap transition is to inherit behavior from.

47. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a text rectangle element, said text rectangle element specifying bounds in which to render text in said ZUI.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein said text rectangle element includes at least one of:

an x position attribute, a y position attribute, a width attribute, a height attribute, a font-family attribute, a fill attribute, a font-size attribute, a pointer-events attribute, a visibility attribute, a preserve aspect ratio attribute, a metadata attribute, a layer attribute, an informational attribute, an internal node attribute, a text justification attribute, a text allcaps attribute, a minimum font size attribute and a cursor attribute.

49. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a transition element, said transition element specifies a parent node for transition parameter elements.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein said transition element includes at least one of:

a duration attribute, a history attribute, a background-zoom attribute, and an inherits attribute.

51. The method of claim 27, wherein said at least one ZUI attribute or element is a video element, said video element specifies a node capable of playing video and other multimedia content.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein said video element includes at least one of:

an x position attribute, a y position attribute, a width attribute, a height attribute, a state attribute, a playback rate attribute, a feed attribute, a pointer-events attribute, a visibility attribute, a layer attribute, an informational attribute, an internal node attribute, a preserve aspect ration attribute, a metadata attribute, a link attribute and a cursor attribute.

53. A system for displaying scenes on a zoomable user interface (ZUI) comprising:

means for providing a collection of scenes for display on said ZUI, each of said scenes being implemented using software written in a programming language;

means for identifying user inputs related to said ZUI, including a user input for requesting a change from a first scene to a second scene in said collection of scenes; and

means for transitioning from said first scene to said second scene by a transition conveying a spatial relationship between said first scene and said second scene within said ZUI,

wherein said means for transitioning perform said transition in a manner which is implemented by at least one ZUI attribute or element included in said software written in said programming language and associated with said first scene or said second scene.

54. A computer-readable medium containing instructions which, when executed on a computer, perform the steps of:

providing a collection of scenes for display on a zoomable user interface (ZUI), each of said scenes being implemented using software written in a programming language;

identifying user inputs related to said ZUI, including a user input for requesting a change from a first scene to a second scene in said collection of scenes; and

transitioning from said first scene to said second scene, while conveying a spatial relationship between said first scene and said second scene within said ZUI,

wherein a manner in which said transitioning is performed is implemented by at least one ZUI attribute or element included in said software written in said programming language and associated with said first scene or said second scene.