Direct manipulation of content

• US 9,262,071 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2009
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Drislane, Helen E., Matthews, David A., Markiewicz, Jan-Kristian, Morgan, Bruce A., Manthos, Brian E., Singh, Prashant, Cutsinger, Paul L. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAPANESE, WILLIAM C
• Application Number:
  US12/405,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20100235733A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,528 Days
• Field of Search: 715/702
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Various embodiments provide techniques for direct manipulation of content. The direct manipulation of content can provide an intuitive way for a user to access and interact with content. In at least some embodiments, content manipulation is “direct” in that content displayed in a user interface (e.g., one or more Web pages in a Web browser interface) can be moved in and/or out of the user interface in a direction that corresponds to user-initiated physical movements, such as the user dragging or flicking the content with the user'"'"'s finger or some other type of input device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving an indication of a directional manipulation of a current instance of content in a user interface of a computing device;

if the directional manipulation is towards a right side of the user interface;

accessing a cached snapshot that is stored locally on the computing device;

responsive to the accessing, causing the cached snapshot of a previous instance of content to be displayed in the user interface in a same panel along with the current instance of content;

loading an updated version of the previous instance of content while at least partially displaying the cached snapshot of the previous instance of content; and

replacing the cached snapshot of the previous instance of content with the updated version in the user interface; and

if the directional manipulation is towards a left side of the user interface, causing a representation of a subsequent instance of content to be displayed in the user interface.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the directional manipulation is caused via touch contact with a display screen that displays the user interface.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, the method further comprises causing the current instance of content to move towards the right side of the user interface and leave the user interface.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein causing the cached snapshot of the previous instance of content to appear in the user interface comprises causing the cached snapshot of the previous instance of content to slide into the user interface from the left side of the user interface.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein if the directional manipulation is towards the left side of the user interface, the method further comprises causing the current instance of content to move towards the left side of the user interface and leave the user interface.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein causing the representation of the subsequent instance of content to appear in the user interface comprises causing the representation of the subsequent instance of content to slide into the user interface from the right side of the user interface.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the representation of the subsequent instance of content comprises a snapshot of a Web page.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the previous instance of content comprises a Web page and the updated version of the previous instance of content comprises an updated version of the Web page.

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

if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, causing the current instance of content to move towards the right side of the user interface and leave the user interface; and

wherein causing the cached snapshot of the previous instance of content to be displayed in the user interface comprises causing the cached snapshot of the previous instance of content to appear in the user interface as a static image underneath the current instance of content.

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

if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, causing the current instance of content to move towards the right side of the user interface, and wherein causing the cached snapshot of the previous instance of content to be displayed in the user interface comprises causing the cached snapshot of the previous instance of content to appear in the user interface as a static image underneath the current instance of content; and

if the directional manipulation is towards the left side of the user interface, causing the representation of the subsequent instance of content to appear in the user interface comprises causing the representation of the subsequent instance of content to slide into the user interface from the right side of the user interface.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving an indication of a directional manipulation of a current instance of content in a user interface of a computing device;

if the directional manipulation is towards a right side of the user interface;

causing one or more cached snapshots of one or more previous instances of content to be revealed in the user interface as one or more static images in a same panel as the current instance of content is manipulated according to the directional manipulation;

loading, in response to at least one of the cached snapshots of the one or more previous instances of content being at least partially displayed, an updated version of the one or more previous instances of content; and

replacing the at least one of the cached snapshots with the updated version; and

if the directional manipulation is towards the left side of the user interface, causing one or more images of one or more subsequent instances of content to slide into the user interface from the right side of the user interface.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein one or more of the previous instances of content comprises a Web page, and wherein at least one of the cached snapshots comprises a previously-captured snapshot of the Web page.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the indication of the directional manipulation is caused via a user contact with a display screen that displays the user interface.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, the method further comprises causing a plurality of the static images of the previous instances of content to slide into the user interface from the left side of the user interface, one or more of the plurality of the static images being selectable to cause an updated version of one or more of the previous instances of content to be loaded.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, the method further comprises causing one or more of the static images of the previous instances of content to appear underneath the current instance of content as one or more static images according to a stack representation.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, the method further comprising:

receiving an indication of a selection of one of the static images;

responsive to the selection, causing an updated version of a Web page associated with a selected image to be loaded; and

when the Web page is loaded, causing the Web page to be displayed in the user interface.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable storage media storing a travel log comprising a plurality of entries, and computer-executable instructions that are executable to;

receive an indication of a touch manipulation of one of the plurality of entries that is displayed on a user interface;

if the touch manipulation is towards a first side of the user interface;

cause one or more cached snapshots of previous entries from the plurality of entries to be retrieved via the travel log and be displayed in the user interface in a same panel along with the one of the plurality of entries indicated by the touch manipulation;

automatically load an updated version of a previous entry in response to the one or more cached snapshots of the previous entries being displayed; and

visually transition from the cached snapshots of the previous entries to the updated version of the previous entry; and

if the touch manipulation is towards a second side of the user interface, cause a representation of a subsequent entry from the plurality of entries to appear in the user interface.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first side of the user interface is a left side of the user interface, and the second side of the user interface is a right side of the user interface.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further executable to:

if the touch manipulation is towards the first side of the user interface, cause the cached snapshot of the previous entry to slide into the user interface from the second side of the user interface; and

if the touch manipulation is towards the second side of the user interface, cause the representation of the subsequent entry to slide into the user interface from the first side of the user interface.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further executable to:

if the touch manipulation is towards the second side of the user interface, cause an entry associated with the representation of the subsequent entry to be loaded and displayed.