Techniques for representing and navigating information in three dimensions

• US 8,972,898 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2007
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Novell Intellectual Properties Incorporated
• Inventors: Carter, Stephen R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shih, Haoshian
• Application Number:
  US11/671,660
• Publication Number:
  US 20080186305A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,947 Days
• Field of Search: 345/419, 715/751, 715/753, 715/759, 715/760, 715/764, 715/766, 715/782, 715/848, 715/850, 715/851, 715/852, 715/854, 715/757, 715/765, 715/863, 713165-167, 709/204
• US Class Current: 715/850
• 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: G06T 15/04 Texture mapping
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/20 Perspective computation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/003 Navigation within 3D models or images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts

Abstract

Techniques for representing and navigating information in three dimensions are provided. Information content is rendered to at least one side of a three-dimensional representation of a graphical shape. Summary information is link to the information from a top of the shape. The information also links to background information housed on a bottom of the shape. Links can be activated and the shape can be rotated in any direction to navigate the information, the summary information, and the background information within the shape.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

rendering information to at least one side of a three-dimensional graphical shape, the information rendered to the three-dimensional graphical shape maintains a context of where the information was placed in a real world meeting room when rendered to the three-dimensional graphical shape relative to other pieces of the information rendered to the three-dimensional graphical shape that were also situated in the real world meeting room and the information is received dynamically and in real time as the information is captured and streamed to the method;

obtaining summary information on a top of the three-dimensional graphical shape, wherein selective portions of the summary information map to selective portions of the information, and mapping at least one icon associated with the summary information to a portion of the information;

linking background information to the information on a bottom of the three-dimensional graphical shape, and linking a description of a manner associated with producing the information with a portion of the background information;

permitting proximity navigation of the at least one side, the top, and the bottom for a user to navigate the information with a three-dimensional perspective; and

maintaining proximally dependent content and metadata relationships in a self-contained manner within the three-dimensional graphical shape, and the proximally dependent content and metadata maintains proximity experienced in the real world meeting room for the information within the three-dimensional graphical shape with the rendered information of the three-dimensional graphical shape.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, representing the three-dimensional graphical shape as a cube having two or more sides that house the information, wherein the top houses the summary information as an index and the bottom houses the background information as discussions for the information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering further includes retaining context and proximity relationships between portions of the information.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, permitting the information, the summary information, and the background information of the three-dimensional graphical shape to be collaborated on or augmented by one or more multiple additional users.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, permitting different versions of the at least one side, the top, and the bottom to be linked and carried with the three-dimensional graphical shape.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising, enforcing access control policy on the different versions to manage secure viewing and navigation of the different versions.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, permitting an initial orientation of the three-dimensional graphical shape to be changed by the user or to be user-defined for purposes of navigation.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving a selection or definition for the three-dimensional graphical shape from the user.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, permitting the user to dynamically re-render the information, the summary information, and the background information from the three-dimensional graphic shape to a new user-defined or user-selected three-dimensional graphical shape.

10. A method comprising:

representing information within a cube;

retaining proximity and context dependencies for the information by selectively placing and ordering portions of the information within the cube, the proximity and context dependencies reflect where the information and proximity of the information is as the information existed in a real world meeting room and where the information was placed relative to other pieces of the information rendered to the cube that were also situated in the real world meeting room, the information within the cube is rendered to depict the proximity and context dependencies, the information captured and streamed to the method in real time for a meeting occurring in real time;

using one side of the cube as an index to selective pieces of the information represented on one or more walls of the cube, and including at least one icon that maps to a portion of the information;

using a last side of the cube to link from the selective pieces of the information to selective pieces of related information, and linking a description of a manner used for producing the information as background information for one of the selective pieces; and

dynamically altering versioning of the information in response to an identity of a user accessing the cube.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising, allowing the index, the information and the related information to be collaborated on by multiple users.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising, retaining one or more versions of the information, the index, and the related information and enforcing access policies to each of the versions.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising, permitting an initial orientation of the cube to be user-defined for cube navigation purposes.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising, including at least one index entry in the index that links to another wall of another cube having other information.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising, permitting a user to interact with the cube and navigate the information, the index, and the related information by activating links and by spinning or rotating the cube.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising, representing at east one portion of the information as spanning across more than one wall of the cube.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising, tilting or positioning the cube so that two or more sides or walls are simultaneously viewable on a display,

18. A system, comprising:

a three-dimensional representation of a graphical shape embodied in a machine medium on a machine and to be presented on a display associated with the machine; and

a rendering service implemented in the machine medium and to process on the machine, wherein the rendering service is to render information content on at least one side of the graphical shape and is to render summary information that proximity links to the content on a top of the graphical shape, the summary information including at least one icon that maps to a portion of the content, and rendering service is to further render background information the proximity links from the content to a bottom of the graphical shape, and proximity for the content is maintained for the information that is rendered within the graphical shape as the content existed and is represented in a real world situation, the background information including at least one link to a description for a manner in which the content was produced, and wherein the rendering service is to present the rendered content, the summary information, and the background information within the graphical shape on the display for subsequent navigation, and at least one side of the graphical shape includes locked portions of the information that is configured to be unlocked for view when a particular user with authorization selects the locked portions to reveal hidden information, the at least one side depicts a screen or wall paper with some information displayed thereon including a locked cabinet and when the particular user accesses the at least one side with the locked cabinet, the wall paper peels away to reveal the hidden information for the particular user, and the graphical shape enabled to permit free-text searching of a selected set of faces for the graphical shape.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising, a browser implemented in the machine medium and to process on the machine, wherein the browser is to provide navigation operations to permit a user to navigate the graphical shape within the display.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one of the navigation operations is to permit the user to rotate or spin the graphical shape from right to left, left to right, up and down, down and up, and into a tilt position that modifies an axis of rotation for the graphical shape.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one of the navigation operations is to permit a link to be activated from the at least one side, a portion of the summary information, and a portion of the background information, and wherein when the link is activated the graphical shape is rotated to a proper location automatically.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein at least one of the navigation operations is to permit a link to be activated that automatically traverses to a side of an entirely different graphical shape having other information, other summary information, and other background information.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein rendering service is to permit a user to have the information, the summary information, and the background information re-rendered to a different graphical shape selected or defined by the user.

24. A system, comprising:

a rendering service implemented in a machine medium and to process on a machine; and

a three-dimensional navigation service implemented in the machine and to process on the machine, wherein the rendering service is to render information content to a three-dimensional shape representation, and wherein the three-dimensional navigation service is to permit the information to be navigated by rotating the shape or accessing proximity based links embedded within sides of the shape and housing different aspects of the information or other metadata related to the information, some of the information on some portions of the shape only capable of being revealed by selection or action of an authorized user, the some portions of the shape depict a screen or wall paper with some information displayed thereon including a locked cabinet and when the authorized user accesses the some portions of the shape having the locked cabinet, the wall paper peels away to reveal hidden information for the authorized user, and the information content of the three-dimensional shape is dynamically collected and collaborated on by multiple users, and including on at least one side of the shape an icon that maps to a portion of the information and a particular link that links to a description for a manner in which the information was produced, and the proximity based links maintain proximity that existed between components in a real world situation for the components of the information rendered within the three-dimensional shape.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the three-dimensional navigation service is to manage different versions of one or more of the sides or is to manage different versions of the shape as a whole.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the three-dimensional navigation service is to enforce access policy against requestors that attempt to access the different versions of the one or more of the sides or of the shape as a whole.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the shape includes four sides to house the information, a top to house an index to the information, and a bottom to house discussions on the information, and wherein the index and the discussions are the metadata related to the information.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the three-dimensional navigation service is to traverse from the index of the shape in response to a link being activated to a different side of a different shape having different information.

29. The system of claim 24, wherein the three-dimension navigation service is to permit an orientation of and an axis for rotation of the shape to be user-defined for purposes of viewing and navigation.

30. The system of claim 24, wherein the shape is to be collaborated on by multiple users over the Internet in real-time, each user processes a version of the three-dimensional navigation service on each user'"'"'s machine.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the collaboration is associated with a brainstorming session occurring in a geographically disperse fashion over the Internet amongst the multiple users.