Graphical interface having adjustable borders

• US 10,067,559 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2014
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wheeler, Aaron, Chi, Liang-Yu (Tom), Thrun, Sebastian, Raffle, Hayes Solos, Patel, Nirmal
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Anil N
• Application Number:
  US14/288,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20140258902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,561 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

Methods and systems involving navigation of a graphical interface are disclosed herein. An example system may be configured to: (a) cause a head-mounted display (HMD) to provide a graphical interface, the graphical interface comprising (i) a view port having a view-port orientation and (ii) at least one navigable area having at least one border, the at least one border having a first border orientation; (b) receive input data that indicates movement of the view port towards the at least one border; (c) determine that the view-port orientation is within a predetermined threshold distance from the first border orientation; and (d) based on at least the determination that the view-port orientation is within a predetermined threshold distance from the first border orientation, adjust the first border orientation from the first border orientation to a second border orientation.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to;

cause a graphic display of a head-mountable device (HMD) to provide a graphical interface comprising (i) a graphical interface area comprising a portion of interest and another portion that is not of interest, (ii) a navigable area that occupies a portion of the graphical interface area and corresponds to the portion of interest within the graphical interface area, and (iii) a view port that occupies a portion of the navigable area, wherein, initially, the navigable area is fixed within the graphical interface area and the view port is movable within the navigable area, and wherein the view port corresponds to a viewing area provided by the graphic display, wherein the graphical interface area spans 360 degrees, a span of the navigable area is less than 360 degrees, and a span of the view port is less than the span of the navigable area;

subsequently receive movement data indicating a movement of the HMD;

based on the movement data, cause the view port to move, relative to the navigable area, towards a border of the navigable area with a movement speed;

determine that the movement speed exceeds a predetermined movement-speed threshold; and

based at least on the determination that the movement speed exceeds the predetermined movement-speed threshold, move both the navigable area and the view port within the graphical interface area such that the border of the navigable area maintains a predetermined difference in spacing from the view port.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein (i) the graphical interface area is a recursive graphical interface area, (ii) the navigable area comprises a navigable span of 180 degrees, and (iii) the view port comprises a viewing span of less than 180 degrees.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to:

provide a continuous visual indication of the moving of the navigable area.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined movement-speed threshold is a first predetermined movement-speed threshold, the system further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to:

determine that the movement speed exceeds a second predetermined movement speed threshold that is greater than the first predetermined movement-speed threshold.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the predetermined difference is a first predetermined difference, the system further comprising program instructions stored on the nontransitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to:

based at least on the determination that the movement speed exceeds the second predetermined movement-speed threshold, move the navigable area within the graphical interface such that the border is an additional second predetermined difference from the view port.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising program instructions stored on the nontransitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to:

provide a continuous visual indication of the moving of the navigable area.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the second predetermined difference is greater than the first predetermined difference.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the navigable area is a first navigable area, the graphical interface further comprises a second navigable area that occupies a portion of the graphical interface area that is different from the portion of the graphical interface area occupied by the first navigable area.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the predetermined movement-speed threshold is a first predetermined movement-speed threshold, the system further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to:

determine that (i) the movement speed exceeds a second predetermined movement-speed threshold and (ii) the view port is within a predetermined threshold distance from the border of the first navigable area; and

based on at least the determination that (i) the movement speed exceeds the second predetermined movement-speed threshold and (ii) the view port is within the predetermined threshold distance from the border of the first navigable area, cause the view port to enter the second navigable area.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the graphical interface comprises a soft border that separates the first navigable area and the second navigable area.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions, that when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

causing a graphic display of a head-mountable device (HMD) to provide a graphical interface comprising (i) a graphical interface area comprising a portion of interest and another portion that is not of interest, (ii) a navigable area that occupies a portion of the graphical interface area and corresponds to the portion of interest within the graphical interface area, and (iii) a view port that occupies a portion of the navigable area, wherein, initially, the navigable area is fixed within the graphical interface area and the view port is movable within the navigable area, and wherein the view port corresponds to a field of view provided in the graphic display, and wherein the graphical interface area spans 360 degrees, a span of the navigable area is less than 360 degrees, and a span of the view port is less than the span of the navigable area;

subsequently receiving movement data indicating a movement of the HMD;

based on the movement data, causing the view port to move, relative to the navigable area, towards a border of the navigable area with a movement speed;

determining that the movement speed exceeds a predetermined movement-speed threshold; and

based at least on the determination that the movement speed exceeds the predetermined movement-speed threshold, moving both the navigable area and the view port within the graphical interface area such that the border of the navigable area maintains a predetermined difference in spacing from the view port.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the predetermined movement-speed threshold is a first predetermined movement-speed threshold, the functions further comprising:

determining that the movement speed exceeds a second predetermined movement-speed threshold that is greater than the first predetermined movement-speed threshold.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the predetermined difference is a first predetermined difference, the functions further comprising:

based at least on the determination that the movement speed exceeds the second predetermined movement-speed threshold, moving the navigable area within the graphical interface such that the border is an additional second predetermined difference from the view port.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the second predetermined difference is greater than the first predetermined difference.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein (i) the graphical interface area is a recursive graphical interface area, (ii) the navigable area comprises a navigable span of 180 degrees, and (iii) the view port comprises a viewing span of less than 180 degrees.

16. A method comprising:

causing a graphic display of a head-mountable device (HMD) to provide a graphical interface comprising (i) a graphical interface area comprising a portion of interest and another portion that is not of interest, (ii) a navigable area that occupies a portion of the graphical interface area and corresponds to the portion of interest within the graphical interface area, and (iii) a view port that occupies a portion of the navigable area, wherein, initially, the navigable area is fixed within the graphical interface area and the view port is movable within the navigable area, and wherein the view port corresponds to a field of view provided in the graphic display, and wherein the graphical interface area spans 360 degrees, a span of the navigable area is less than 360 degrees, and a span of the view port is less than the span of the navigable area;

subsequently receiving movement data indicating a movement of the HMD;

based on the movement data, causing the view port to move, relative to the navigable area, towards a border of the navigable area with a movement speed;

determining that the movement speed exceeds a predetermined movement-speed threshold; and

based at least on the determination that the movement speed exceeds the predetermined movement-speed threshold, moving both the navigable area and the view port within the graphical interface area such that the border of the navigable area maintains a predetermined difference in spacing from the view port.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining that the movement speed exceeds a second predetermined movement-speed threshold that is greater than the first predetermined movement-speed threshold.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

based at least on the determination that the movement speed exceeds the second predetermined movement-speed threshold, moving the navigable area within the graphical interface such that the border is an additional second predetermined difference from the view port.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the navigable area is a first navigable area, the graphical interface further comprises a second navigable area that occupies a portion of the graphical interface area that is different from the portion of the graphical interface area occupied by the first navigable area.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the predetermined movement-speed threshold is

a first predetermined movement-speed threshold, the method further comprising:

determining that (i) the movement speed exceeds a second predetermined movement speed threshold and (ii) the view port is within a predetermined threshold distance from the border of the first navigable area; and

based on at least the determination that (i) the movement speed exceeds the second predetermined movement-speed threshold and (ii) the view port is within the predetermined threshold distance from the border of the first navigable area, causing the view port to enter the second navigable area.