User-application interface

• US 9,176,747 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2009
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Western Digital Israel Limited (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SanDisk IL Ltd. (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Rolston, Mark Edward, Ficklin, Jared Leigh, Nairn, Michael Andrew, Ligameri, Mark Richard, Everette, Neil Wade, Hahn, Judah Gamliel, Koren, David
• Primary Examiner(s): HAILU, TADESSE
• Application Number:
  US12/371,928
• Publication Number:
  US 20100211872A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,450 Days
• Field of Search: 715/790, 715/830, 715/838, 715/767, 715/837
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

A user interface apparatus includes a display device, display application, and processor. The display device includes a display area, and the display area includes an active area. The processor and display application are configured to display application stacks, each of which may be moved into and out of the active area in response to user input, and each of which contains one or more stack cards. Each application stack is associated with a computer application, and each stack card represents a content entity capable of being operated on by the computer application corresponding to its application stack. When an application stack is in the active area the application stack is activated such that its stack cards are displayed in sequence and at least one of them may be selected. Selecting a stack card causes the corresponding computer application to be executed and to operate on the corresponding content entity.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a display device including a display area, the display area including an active area, wherein an application stack in the display area is movable into and out of the active area, wherein the application stack being moved into the active area causes the application stack to be responsive to inputs received at a user interface to perform operations on stack cards of the application stack, and wherein the application stack being moved outside of the active area causes the application stack to be unresponsive to the inputs to perform operations on the stack cards; and

a processor, the processor configured to;

display at the display area a plurality of application stacks, each of the application stacks being movable into and out of the active area in response to user input, each of the application stacks including a corresponding plurality of stack cards and each of the application stacks having a corresponding stack card sequence, wherein each of the application stacks is associated with a corresponding computer application and each of the stack cards represents a corresponding content entity, and wherein each application stack is configured to be activated by selection of any one of the corresponding stack cards, conditioned on the corresponding application stack being in the active area;

display, in the display area, a first application stack and a second application stack of the plurality of application stacks such that the first application stack is displayed in its entirety and a portion of the second application stack is displayed proximate to an edge of the display area based on a first stacking policy rule of a plurality of stacking policy rules; and

display, in the display area, a stack card sequence of an application stack wherein the stack cards in the stack card sequence are ordered based on a second stacking policy rule of the plurality of stacking policy rules.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a sequential position of a particular stack card of the first application stack is alterable, while the first application stack is in the active area, by scrolling the particular stack card in the stack card sequence of the first application stack.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a particular stack card in the stack card sequence of the first application stack is removable from the stack card sequence, while the first application stack is in the active area, by scrolling among the plurality of stack cards in the stack card sequence of the first application stack.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is operable to update a display of the application stacks by removing from one of the application stacks a selected stack card representing a corresponding content entity in response to the content entity associated with the selected stack card ceasing to satisfy a first rule.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first application stack is deactivated in response to the first application stack being moved out of the active area, wherein deactivation prevents interaction with the first application stack.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in response to the first application stack being in the active area and prior to selection of a first particular stack card, the processor is configured to load a first background process via a first ancillary application associated with the first application stack, the first background process associated with preparing for user interaction with the first application stack.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein in response to the first application stack being in the active area, selection of a first particular stack card of the first application stack activates the first application stack causing the processor to execute a first computer application corresponding to the first application stack to process a first content entity associated with the first particular stack card.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to, prior to display at the display area of a particular application stack, interact with the particular application stack via the corresponding computer application to perform one of deleting a stack card of the particular application stack, adding a new stack card to the particular application stack, and updating content associated with a particular stack card of the particular application stack.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein deleting the stack card is performed in response to the corresponding content entity ceasing to satisfy at least one of the plurality of stacking policy rules.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of stacking policy rules is associated with a frequency of use of the corresponding computer application.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first stacking policy rule and the second stacking rule are a same stacking rule of the plurality of stacking rules.

12. A computer device comprising:

an application stack generator;

a storage interface configured to interface with computer applications and content entities stored in a storage, wherein the application stack generator is operable to create application stacks and to associate each of the application stacks with a corresponding computer application wherein each of the stack cards represents a corresponding content entity; and

a display device including a display area, the display area including an active area, wherein an application stack in the display area is movable into and out of the active area, wherein the application stack being moved into the active area causes the application stack to be responsive to inputs received at a user interface to perform operations on stack cards of the application stack, and wherein the application stack being moved outside of the active area causes the application stack to be unresponsive to the inputs to perform operations on the stack cards;

a processor configured to;

display the application stacks at the display area, each of the application stacks being movable into and out of the active area in response to user input, each of the application stacks including a corresponding plurality of stack cards and each of the application stacks having a corresponding stack card sequence, wherein each of the stack cards represents a corresponding content entity, and wherein each application stack is configured to be activated by selection of any one of the corresponding stack cards, conditioned on the corresponding application stack being in the active area;

display, in the display area, a first application stack and a second application stack of the plurality of application stacks such that the first application stack is displayed in its entirety and a portion of the second application stack is displayed proximate to an edge of the display area based on a first stacking policy rule of a plurality of stacking policy rules;

display, in the display area, a stack card sequence of an application stack wherein the stack cards in the stack card sequence are ordered based on a second stacking policy rule of the plurality of stacking policy rules.

13. A method of facilitating interaction with content on a display device having a display area, the method comprising:

displaying on the display area of the display device a first application stack that is movable into and out of an active area of the display area, wherein the first application stack being moved into the active area causes the first application stack to be responsive to inputs received at a user interface to perform operations on first stack cards of the first application stack, and wherein the first application stack being moved outside of the active area causes the application stack to be unresponsive to the inputs to perform operations on the stack cards;

displaying, in the display area, the first application stack and a second application stack such that the first application stack is displayed in its entirety and a portion of the second application stack is displayed proximate to an edge of the display area based on a first stacking policy rule of a plurality of stacking policy rules; and

displaying, in the display area, a particular plurality of stack cards in a particular application stack wherein the particular plurality of stack cards are ordered in the particular application stack based on a second stacking policy rule of the plurality of stacking policy rules.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising changing a displayed position of a first particular stack card in a first stack card sequence of the first application stack in the active area in accordance with a scrolling of the first particular stack card.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising ceasing to display, on the display area, a first particular stack card associated with the first application stack in accordance with a scrolling of the first particular stack card among the plurality of stack cards.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the first stacking policy rule and the second stacking rule are a same stacking rule of the plurality of stacking rules.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein each application stack in the active area is displayed with a high resolution on a display screen and each application stack that is not in the active area is displayed with a low resolution.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising deactivating the first application stack in response to the first application stack being moved out of the active area, wherein deactivation prevents interaction with the first application stack.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising in response to the first application stack being in the active area and prior to selection of a first particular stack card, loading a first background process via a first ancillary application associated with the first application stack, the first background process associated with preparing for user interaction with the first application stack.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising interacting with the particular application stack via a corresponding computer application to perform one of deleting a stack card of the particular application stack, adding a new stack card to the particular application stack, and dynamically updating content associated with a particular stack card of the particular application stack.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the first application stack and the second application stack are concatenated so that in response to the first application stack being dragged within the display area the second application stack is dragged within the display area.

22. A method comprising:

displaying, on a display area including an active area of a display device, an application stack that is movable into and out of the active area, wherein the application stack being moved into the active area causes the application stack to be responsive to inputs received at a user interface to perform operations on stack cards of the application stack, and wherein the application stack being moved outside of the active area causes the application stack to be unresponsive to the inputs to perform operations on the stack cards, and wherein, for each of a plurality of application stacks, each of the application stacks includes a corresponding plurality of stack cards and each application stack has a corresponding stack card sequence, each application stack of the application stacks being associated with a corresponding computer application that is activated by selecting any one of the plurality of stack cards of the application stack, wherein selection of a first stack card of a first application stack causes a processor to execute a first computer application to process a first content entity represented by the first stack card;

displaying, in the display area, a first application stack and a second application stack of the plurality of application stacks such that the first application stack is displayed in its entirety and a portion of the second application stack is displayed proximate to an edge of the display area based on a first stacking policy rule of a plurality of stacking policy rules; and

displaying, in the display area, a particular application stack of the plurality of application stacks wherein the corresponding stack card sequence is ordered based on a second stacking policy rule of the plurality of stacking policy rules.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising in response to the first application stack being in the active area and prior to selection of the first stack card of the first application stack, loading a first background process via a first ancillary application associated with the first application stack, the first background process associated with preparing for user interaction with the first application stack.