Fast scrolling in a graphical user interface

• US 20050257166A1
• Filed: 06/22/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tu, Edgar A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,681,141 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/787
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A method of scrolling in a graphical user interface includes: receiving a command to scroll a plurality of contents icons displayed in the graphical user interface; and retrieving an appropriate number of additional contents icons from a contents icon database to provide a scrolled display in the graphical user interface, wherein the contents icon database is divided into a plurality of entries, each entry of the plurality of entries including at least data for a contents icon of the plurality of contents icons and a link to a contents file, each entry of the database is configured to be fixed in size so that the data for the contents icon can be quickly accessed, and the contents icon can be scrolled in the graphical user interface at a relatively high speed.

Claims

1. A method of scrolling in a graphical user interface, comprising:

receiving a command to scroll a plurality of contents icons displayed in the graphical user interface; and

retrieving an appropriate number of additional contents icons from a contents icon database to provide a scrolled display in the graphical user interface,

wherein the contents icon database is divided into a plurality of entries, each entry of the plurality of entries including at least data for a contents icon of the plurality of contents icons and a link to a contents file, each entry of the database is configured to be fixed in size so that the data for the contents icon can be quickly accessed, and the contents icon can be scrolled in the graphical user interface at a relatively high speed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the relatively high speed indicates a scroll speed that is fast enough to scroll and visually smoothly display the contents icons in the graphical user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring each entry to be fixed in size includes configuring every entry of the plurality of entries to be a particular size.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein

the database has a cache for storing data from the database.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising

retrieving a first plurality of entries from the database and storing the entries in the cache.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising

retrieving a second plurality of entries from the database;

and

overwriting data in the cache with the second plurality of entries without updating the first plurality of entries in the database unless a change has been made to at least one entry of the first plurality of entries stored in the cache.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the contents icon includes a thumbnail image representative of data in the contents file.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the contents icon includes a sequence of thumbnail images representative of data in the contents file.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the sequence of thumbnail images forms an animation sequence.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising

configuring the contents icon in every entry of the plurality of entries to be a particular size.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface includes a menu screen for a multimedia processing system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the menu screen is configured as a series of icon arrays.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein configuring a series of icon arrays includes

arranging a medium icon array in a horizontal direction.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the medium icon array includes a plurality of medium icons.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of medium icons includes a photograph icon, a music icon, a moving image icon, a broadcast icon, an optical disk icon, a web icon, and a game icon.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the medium icon array includes a center area.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein configuring a series of icon arrays includes

arranging a contents icon array in a vertical direction for a particular medium icon that is scrolled into the center area.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the contents icon array includes a plurality of contents icons and an attention area.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising

accessing the contents file of a contents icon scrolled into the attention area, wherein the contents file is accessed using the link in a database entry of the contents icon scrolled into the attention area.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the database is stored in a multimedia processing apparatus.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is implemented in a multimedia processing apparatus.

22. A contents icon database, comprising:

a plurality of entries, each entry of the plurality of entries including at least data for a contents icon and a link to a contents file,

wherein each entry is fixed in size such that the data for the contents icon can be quickly accessed to allow the contents icon to be scrolled in a graphical user interface at a relatively high speed.

23. The database of claim 22, wherein the relatively high speed indicates a scroll speed that is fast enough to scroll and visually smoothly display the contents icons.

24. The database of claim 22, further comprising

a cache configured to store data from the database.

25. The database of claim 24, wherein the cache is configured to be overwritten without updating to the database unless changes have been made to the cache.

26. The database of claim 22, wherein the contents icon includes a thumbnail image representative of data in the contents file.

27. The database of claim 22, wherein the contents icon includes a sequence of thumbnail images representative of data in the contents file.

28. The database of claim 27, wherein the sequence of thumbnail images forms an animation sequence.

29. The database of claim 22, wherein a size of the contents icon in every entry of the plurality of entries is same.

30. The database of claim 22, wherein the database is stored in a multimedia processing apparatus.

31. The database of claim 22, wherein the graphical user interface is implemented in a multimedia processing apparatus.

32. A graphical user interface accessible to a user suitable for receiving user-supplied inputs that facilitate selecting a multimedia icon, comprising:

a medium icon array arranged in a first direction, and including a plurality of user selectable medium icons; and

a contents icon array arranged in a second direction, and including a plurality of user selectable contents icons,

wherein the plurality of user selectable contents icons is accessed from a database divided into a plurality of entries, each entry configured to be fixed in size and including at least data for each contents icon of the plurality of user selectable contents icons, such that the contents icons can be quickly accessed and scrolled in the graphical user interface at a relatively high speed.

33. The graphical user interface of claim 32, wherein the medium icon array and the contents icon array are configured in a cross shape with an intersecting area.

34. The graphical user interface of claim 32, further comprising

a cache configured to store data from the database.

35. The graphical user interface of claim 34, wherein the cache is configured to be overwritten without updating to the database unless changes have been made to the cache.

36. The graphical user interface of claim 32, wherein the database is stored in a multimedia processing apparatus.

37. The graphical user interface of claim 32, wherein the graphical user interface is implemented in a multimedia processing apparatus.

38. A computer program, stored in a tangible storage medium, for fast scrolling in a graphical user interface, the program comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to:

receive a command to scroll a plurality of contents icons displayed in the graphical user interface; and

retrieve an appropriate number of additional contents icons from a contents icon database to provide a scrolled display in the graphical user interface,

wherein the contents icon database is divided into a plurality of entries, each entry of the plurality of entries including at least data for a contents icon of the plurality of contents icons and a link to a contents file, each entry of the database is configured to be fixed in size so that the data for the contents icon can be quickly accessed, and the contents icon can be scrolled in the graphical user interface at a relatively high speed.

39. The computer program of claim 38, wherein executable instructions that cause a computer to configure each entry to be fixed in size further includes executable instructions that cause a computer to

configure every entry of the plurality of entries to be a particular size.

40. The computer program of claim 38, wherein

the database has a cache for storing data from the database.

41. The computer program of claim 40, further comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to

retrieve a first plurality of entries from the database and store the entries in the cache.

42. The computer program of claim 41, further comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to

retrieve a second plurality of entries from the database;

and

overwrite data in the cache with the second plurality of entries without updating the first plurality of entries in the database unless a change has been made to at least one entry of the first plurality of entries stored in the cache.

43. The computer program of claim 38, wherein

a contents icon includes a thumbnail image representative of data in the contents file.

44. The computer program of claim 38, wherein

a contents icon includes a sequence of thumbnail images representative of data in the contents file.

45. The computer program of claim 38, further comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to

configure the contents icon in every entry of the plurality of entries to be a particular size.

46. A multimedia processing apparatus, comprising:

a memory configured as a contents icon database, including

a plurality of entries including data for a plurality of contents icons and links to multimedia contents,

wherein each entry of said plurality of entries is fixed in size such that the plurality of contents icons can be quickly accessed to allow the contents icons to be scrolled in a graphical user interface at a relatively high speed; and

a processor configured to load the plurality of contents icons to allow a user to scroll and select a particular contents icon from the plurality of contents icons.

47. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 46, further comprising a media source to provide the multimedia contents.

48. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 46, wherein the processor operates to receive and appropriately process the multimedia contents in response to the selection of the particular contents icon.

49. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 46, wherein the relatively high speed indicates a scroll speed that is fast enough to scroll and visually smoothly display the contents icons in the graphical user interface.

50. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 46, wherein every entry of the plurality of entries is configured to be a particular size.

51. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 46, further comprising

a cache configured to allow overwriting of data for a first plurality of entries retrieved from the contents icon database with data for a second plurality of entries retrieved from the contents icon database without updating the first plurality of entries unless changes have made to the first plurality of entries stored in the cache.

52. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 46, wherein a contents icon of the plurality of contents icons includes a thumbnail image representative of data in the multimedia contents.

53. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 46, wherein the graphical user interface includes a menu screen for a multimedia processing apparatus.

54. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 53, wherein the menu screen is configured as a series of icon arrays.

55. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 54, wherein the series of icon arrays includes a medium icon array arranged in a horizontal direction.

56. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 55, wherein the medium icon array includes a plurality of medium icons.

57. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 56, wherein the plurality of medium icons includes a photograph icon, a music icon, a moving image icon, a broadcast icon, an optical disk icon, a web icon, and a game icon.

58. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 55, wherein the medium icon array includes a center area.

59. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 58, wherein the series of icon arrays includes a contents icon array arranged in a vertical direction for a particular medium icon that is scrolled into the center area.

60. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 59, wherein the contents icon array includes a plurality of contents icons and an attention area.

61. The multimedia processing apparatus of claim 60, wherein the links in the plurality of entries are used to access multimedia contents of a contents icon scrolled into the attention area.