Outline view

• US 8,977,978 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2011
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inkling Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Inkling Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Cho, Peter S., Halsall, Anne K., Haney, Aaron, Scott, Robert Benjamin, Wight, Jonathan, Cromwell, Robert, MacInnis, Charles M., Forman, Joshua John
• Primary Examiner(s): Chow, Doon
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOI, DAVID E
• Application Number:
  US13/323,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20130151974A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,184 Days
• Field of Search: 715/733, 715/781, 715/784, 715/799, 715/798
• US Class Current: 715/776
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces

Abstract

Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, and machine readable mediums for creating and presenting an outline view, the outline view including a first user navigable graphical panel, the first panel displaying first organizational elements corresponding to a first outline level of an electronic content work; a second user navigable graphical panel, the second panel displaying one or more child organizational elements of a selected first organizational element, the child organizational elements corresponding to a second outline level of the electronic content work; and one or more content previews of content within the electronic content work in the first or second panel, the content previews corresponding to the first or second outline levels of the electronic content work, respectively.

Claims

1. A method of presenting an outline view of an electronic document, the method comprising:

displaying, on a display of a client device, first ones of a plurality of organizational elements of the electronic document in a first user navigable graphical panel, said first ones of said organizational elements corresponding to a first outline level of the electronic document;

displaying, on the display of the client device and responsive to user selection of one of the first organizational elements corresponding to the first outline level of the electronic document, one or more child organizational elements of the selected first organizational element in a second user navigable graphical panel, the child organizational elements corresponding to a second outline level of the electronic document;

displaying, on the display of the client device and responsive to user navigation interactions with the child organizational elements in the second user navigable graphical panel, one or more content previews of content within the electronic document, the content previews being displayed within the second user navigable graphical panel according to currently displayed ones of the organizational elements of the second outline levels of the electronic document, wherein the content previews include summaries of one or more social features associated with the electronic document;

responsive to user navigation actions involving the first organizational elements in the first user navigable graphical panel, reconfiguring display of one or more of the child organizational elements in the second user navigable graphical panel, but preserving layout and configuration of the first outline level of the electronic document as displayed in the first user navigable graphical panel; and

responsive to a user swiping the second user navigable graphical panel in a first direction, hiding the first user navigable graphical panel under the second user navigable graphical panel and displaying the second user navigable graphical panel and a third user navigable graphical panel, the third user navigable graphical panel being displayed in a space formerly occupied by the second user navigable graphical panel and displaying therein electronic content of the electronic document associated with the selected child organizational element in the second user navigable graphical panel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein responsive to a change in the selected first organizational element to a newly selected first organizational element, causing to be displayed one or more child organizational elements of the newly selected first organizational element in the second user navigable panel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second user navigable graphical panels are independently scrollable.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a user moving the second user navigable panel in a second direction, the second direction being opposite of the first direction, hiding the third user navigable panel and displaying the first and second user navigable panels.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a user dragging the third user navigable panel in the first direction again, hiding the second user navigable panel and displaying a full screen version of the third user navigable panel on the client device.

6. A method of presenting an outline view of an electronic document, comprising

displaying, on a screen of an electronic device, an outline view of an electronic document, said electronic document composed of interactive electronic content organized into a directed graph structure, said outline view being displayed as a plurality of organizational levels, each organizational level containing one or more organizational elements, each respective organizational element describing one instance of a division of the electronic document within a respective parent organizational level, the organizational levels thereby being defined such that the associated organizational elements within each successive organizational level divide the electronic document into narrower and narrower portions;

displaying on the screen of the electronic device, as part of said outline view, a first panel of a graphical user interface, the first panel including a plurality of organizational elements of a first organizational level of the plurality of organizational levels, the first panel occupying a first column of the screen of the electronic device and being vertically scrollable by a user interacting with the electronic device through the graphical user interface;

responsive to selection of a first one of the plurality of organizational elements in the first panel, displaying on the screen of the electronic device, as part of said outline view, a second panel, the second panel including a plurality of child organizational elements of the first organizational element of the plurality of organizational elements of the first organizational level, the second panel occupying a second column adjacent the first column on the screen and being vertically scrollable by a user interacting with the electronic device through the graphical user interface; and

responsive to selection of a first one of the plurality of child organizational elements in the second panel, displaying on the screen of the electronic device, as part of said outline view, a third panel, the third panel including content of the electronic document associated with the selected first one of the plurality of child organizational elements, the third panel occupying a third column adjacent the second column on the screen and being vertically scrollable by a user interacting with the electronic device through the graphical user interface,

wherein, the content includes summaries of one or more social features associated with the electronic document, the first, second and third panels are each independent elements of the graphical user interface, the first and second panels each contain one or more previews of content of the electronic document, the previews being displayed adjacent the organizational elements in which they are contained in the electronic document, and each panel being responsive to user interactions with the outline view such that user selection actions concerning organizational elements in the first panel cause reconfigurations of the display of the second panel, and user selection actions concerning organizational elements in the second panel cause reconfiguration of the display of the third panel, but layouts and configuration of a respective panel in which the user selection actions are performed are preserved across said user selection actions.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein scrolling in a first direction within the graphical user interface reveals panels including organizational elements narrower in scope than those organizational elements displayed on the screen of the electronic device prior to said scrolling and hides panels including organizational elements of broader scope than those subsequently displayed on the screen, and scrolling within the graphical user interface in a second direction opposite the first direction hides the panels including organizational elements of narrower scope and shows the panels including organizational elements of broader scope.