Thumbnail zoom

• US 9,721,324 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2011
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Voegele, Drew, Milan, Joseph, Huang, Wei, Hancock, John, Baumgartner, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Cobb, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US13/229,719
• Publication Number:
  US 20130063495A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,152 Days
• Field of Search: 345666
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/04 Context-preserving transformations, e.g. by using an importance map panospheric to cylindrical image transformations G06T3/12

Abstract

File exploration is facilitated by enabling zoom with respect to a thumbnail as a function of an identified point of interest. More particularly, a scaled thumbnail of the same size as a thumbnail can be presented as a function of an identified point of interest. Furthermore, navigation, among other things, is enabled to allow panning with respect to a scaled thumbnail, for instance.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating file exploration, comprising:

employing at least one processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in memory to perform the following acts;

receiving user input specifying a point of interest within a thumbnail caused to be displayed on a display device;

automatically determining a focal point within the thumbnail based on thumbnail content, wherein the focal point, corresponding to an object within the thumbnail content, is offset from the center of the thumbnail by a distance greater than zero;

generating an adjusted point of interest using a location of the focal point to shift the point of interest toward the focal point, wherein the point of interest and the focal point are different in location;

identifying a scaled thumbnail of same size as the thumbnail based on the adjusted point of interest; and

replacing the thumbnail with the scaled thumbnail for display on the display device.

2. The method of claim 1, identifying the scaled thumbnail with a different view and unchanged scale.

3. The method of claim 1 comprises determining the focal point based on historically specified points of interest.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprises acquiring an alteration of content of a file represented by the thumbnail with respect to the scaled thumbnail.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprises notifying a program to open a file associated with the thumbnail in a view corresponding to the scaled thumbnail.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprises replacing the scaled thumbnail with the thumbnail.

7. The method of claim 1, determining the focal point comprises recognizing a face and identifying the center of the face.

8. A system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory, the processor configured to execute machine-executable instructions stored in the memory that when executed perform acts comprising;

receiving a point of interest specified within a thumbnail caused to be displayed on a display device;

automatically determining a focal point within the thumbnail based on thumbnail content, wherein the focal point, corresponding to an object within the thumbnail content, is offset from the center of the thumbnail by a distance greater than zero; and

identifying a scaled thumbnail of same size as the thumbnail based on an adjusted point of interest, wherein the adjusted point of interest is generated using a location of the focal point to shift the point of interest toward the focal point, wherein the point of interest and focal point are different in location; and

causing the thumbnail to be replaced with the scaled thumbnail on the display device.

9. The system of claim 8, the acts further comprises initiating loading of a file associated with the scaled thumbnail with a view that matches the scaled thumbnail.

10. The system of claim 8, the acts further comprise accepting a change with respect to underlying content represented by the thumbnail.

11. The system of claim 8, the acts further comprise determining the focal point based on historically specified points of interest.

12. The system of claim 11, the acts further comprise replacing the scaled thumbnail with the thumbnail.

13. The system of claim 8, the focal point is determined by recognition of a face and identification of the center of the face.

14. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon that enable at least one processor to perform a method upon execution of the instructions, the method comprising:

receiving user input specifying a point of interest within a thumbnail caused to be displayed on a display device;

automatically determining a focal point within the thumbnail based on thumbnail content, wherein the focal point, corresponding to an object within the thumbnail content, is offset from the center of the thumbnail by a distance greater than zero;

generating an adjusted point of interest using a location of the focal point to shift the point of interest toward the focal point, wherein the point of interest and the focal point are different in location;

identifying a scaled thumbnail of same size as the thumbnail based on the adjusted point of interest; and

replacing the thumbnail with the scaled thumbnail for display on the display device.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, the method further comprises identifying the scaled thumbnail with a different view and unchanged scale.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, the method further comprises determining the focal point based on historically specified points of interest.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, the method further comprises acquiring an alteration of content of a file represented by the thumbnail with respect to the scaled thumbnail.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, the method further comprises notifying a program to open a file associated with the thumbnail in a view corresponding to the scaled thumbnail.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14, the method further comprises replacing the scaled thumbnail with the thumbnail.