Organizing graphical representations on computing devices

• US 9,152,308 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2014
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kirkham, Stephen, Bilinski, Brandon
• Primary Examiner(s): SALOMON, PHENUEL S
• Application Number:
  US14/249,427
• Publication Number:
  US 20140223353A1
• Time in Patent Office: 544 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72472 wherein the items are sorted according to specific criteria, e.g. frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for identifying a current configuration of graphical representations displayed in a user interface presented by a computing device, each of the graphical representations being associated with a respective computer-executable application, determining at least one usage signal corresponding to each of the graphical representations, the usage signal reflecting user interaction with the respective associated computer-executable application, determining one or more success metrics indicative of an efficiency of the current configuration of graphical representations, generating, using an optimization technique, a modified configuration of graphical representations based on the usage signals and the one or more success metrics, and presenting, in the user interface, at least a portion of the modified configuration of graphical representations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

displaying, in a first arrangement on an electronic display of a computing device, at least a portion of a plurality of graphical representations of application programs, each respective graphical representation of the plurality of graphical representations being user selectable to execute a respective application program that corresponds to the respective graphical representation;

identifying that a first graphical representation of a first application program from among the plurality of graphical representations of application programs has been accessed one or more times from within the first arrangement of graphical representations;

determining a level of user input performed to access the first graphical representation the one or more times from within the first arrangement of graphical representations;

generating a second arrangement of graphical representations of application programs, wherein the first graphical representation is provided at a location in the second arrangement of graphical representations that is determined to reduce a level of user input required to access the first graphical representation from within the second arrangement of graphical representations as compared to the level of user input performed to access the first graphical representation the one or more times from within the first arrangement of graphical representations; and

displaying particular ones of the plurality of graphical representations of application programs, including the first graphical representation, on the electronic display of the computing device according to the second arrangement of graphical representations of application programs.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the level of user input is an average level of user input performed to access the first graphical representation multiple times from within the first arrangement of graphical representations.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the average level of user input indicates an average number of screen swipes performed to access the first graphical representation of the first application over the multiple times that the first graphical representation of the first application was accessed from within the first arrangement of graphical representations.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the average level of user input indicates an average number of times that the computing device, responsive to user input, enters or exits one or more folders to access a particular folder in which the first graphical representation of the first application is located.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each of one or more application programs on the computing device including the first application, identifying at least one usage signal that indicates a measure of user interaction with the application program;

determining, based on the at least one usage signal for the one or more application programs on the computing device, that at least one measure of user interaction with the first application is greater than at least one measure of user interaction with other ones of the one or more application programs; and

in response to determining that the at least one measure of user interaction with the first application is greater than the at least one measure of user interaction with the other ones of the one or more application programs, prioritizing the location of the first graphical representation in the second arrangement of graphical application programs over locations of other graphical representations that correspond to the other ones of the one or more application programs.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the at least one usage signal comprises a frequency of use signal that indicates a measure of how often a particular application corresponding to the at least one usage signal is accessed or opened over a period of time.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the at least one usage signal comprises an interaction time signal that indicates at least one of (i) an accumulated runtime for a particular application corresponding to the at least one usage signal over a period of time, and (ii) an average application runtime for the particular application over multiple uses of the particular application.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the at least one usage signal comprises an interaction frequency signal that indicates a measure of how often user input responds to notifications pushed out from a particular application corresponding to the at least one usage signal.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first arrangement of graphical representations of application programs on the computing device is determined based at least in part on one or more usage signals aggregated from a plurality of users that indicate respective measures of user interaction by the plurality of users with particular application programs that are graphically represented in the first arrangement of graphical representations.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the second arrangement of graphical representations of application programs comprises assigning priority scores to each of a plurality of application programs on the computing device, ranking the plurality of application programs based on the priority scores, and arranging the graphical representations in the second arrangement of graphical representations of application programs on the computing device based on the ranking.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the priority scores are determined based on one or more usage signals that indicate one or more measures of user interaction with the plurality of application programs.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining that one or more application programs that have a corresponding graphical representation in the first arrangement of graphical representations are interacted with by users less than a threshold amount, and in response, excluding the graphical representations of the one or more application programs from the second arrangement of graphical representations of application programs on the computing device so that the graphical representations of the one or more application programs are not displayed in the second arrangement of graphical representations.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the second arrangement of graphical representations of application programs on the computing device comprises determining that two or more application programs are assigned to a same or similar category of application programs, and in response, positioning graphical representations of the two or more application programs nearer each other in the second arrangement of graphical representations than if the two or more application programs were not assigned to the same or similar category of application programs.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising prompting a user to at least one of (i) confirm whether to display the particular ones of the plurality of graphical representations of application programs on the computing device according to the second arrangement of graphical representations, and (ii) confirm whether to maintain the display of the particular ones of the plurality of graphical representations of application programs on the computing device according to the second arrangement of graphical representations.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the location in the second arrangement of graphical representations at which the first graphical representation is provided is further selected based on a determination that providing the first graphical representation at the location is likely to minimize an interstitial time for a user to find the first graphical representation from among a display of multiple graphical representations of application programs.

16. One or more machine-readable storage devices having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

displaying, in a first arrangement on an electronic display of a computing device, at least a portion of a plurality of graphical representations of application programs, each respective graphical representation of the plurality of graphical representations being user selectable to execute a respective application program that corresponds to the respective graphical representation;

identifying that a first graphical representation of a first application program from among the plurality of graphical representations of application programs has been accessed one or more times from within the first arrangement of graphical representations;

determining a level of user input performed to access the first graphical representation the one or more times from within the first arrangement of graphical representations;

generating a second arrangement of graphical representations of application programs, wherein the first graphical representation is provided at a location in the second arrangement of graphical representations that is determined to reduce a level of user input required to access the first graphical representation from within the second arrangement of graphical representations as compared to the level of user input performed to access the first graphical representation the one or more times from within the first arrangement of graphical representations; and

displaying particular ones of the plurality of graphical representations of application programs, including the first graphical representation, on the electronic display of the computing device according to the second arrangement of graphical representations of application programs.

17. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein the level of user input is an average level of user input performed to access the first graphical representation multiple times from within the first arrangement of graphical representations.

18. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

for each of one or more application programs on the computing device including the first application, identifying at least one usage signal that indicates a measure of user interaction with the application program;

determining, based on the at least one usage signal for the one or more application programs on the computing device, that at least one measure of user interaction with the first application is greater than at least one measure of user interaction with other ones of the one or more application programs; and

in response to determining that the at least one measure of user interaction with the first application is greater than the at least one measure of user interaction with the other ones of the one or more application programs, prioritizing the location of the first graphical representation in the second arrangement of graphical application programs over locations of other graphical representations that correspond to the other ones of the one or more application programs.

19. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein the first arrangement of graphical representations of application programs is determined based at least in part on one or more usage signals aggregated from a plurality of users that indicate respective measures of user interaction by the plurality of users with particular application programs that are graphically represented in the first arrangement of graphical representations.

20. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein the location in the second arrangement of graphical representations at which the first graphical representation is provided is further selected based on a determination that providing the first graphical representation at the location is likely to minimize an interstitial time for a user to find the first graphical representation from among a display of multiple graphical representations of application programs.