User Interface Spaces

• US 20080034317A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hynes, Christopher, Brunner, Ralf, Peyton, Eric, Fard, Assana, Sheikh, Haroon, Louch, John O.
• Granted Patent: US 10,503,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/781
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]

Abstract

A user interface can have one or more spaces presented therein. A space is a grouping of one or more program windows in relation to windows of other application programs, such that the program(s) of only a single space is visible when the space is active. A view can be generated of all spaces and their contents.

Claims

1. A method for managing content in a user interface, the method comprising:

enabling several spaces for assigning thereto contents of a user interface such that the assigned contents are visible when any of the spaces is active, wherein the user interface is configured to generate a view where all the several spaces are presented separate from each other and having their assigned contents visible; and

registering an assignment of a first content portion to a first one of the spaces.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contents of the user interface include at least one selected from the group consisting of:

an application and a window.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring whether the first content portion is visible in the first space and, upon detecting that the first content portion is not visible, showing an indication associated with the first content portion in the first space.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the indication is at least one selected from the group consisting of a control tool for the first content portion, a heads-up display image for the first content portion, a branding associated with the first content portion, and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein a user moves the indication from the first space to the second space, further comprising reassigning the first content portion to the second space.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a second content portion to multiple ones of the several spaces, wherein the second content portion will be visible when any of the multiple spaces are active.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering that the first content portion is moved.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first content portion is moved within the first space.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the first content portion is moved from the first space to a second one of the several spaces, wherein the first content portion will be visible when the second space is active, and wherein the first content portion will not be visible when the first space is active.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein before the assignment the first content portion is assigned to a second one of the spaces, and wherein the assignment is performed upon registering an input made with a pointing device at a location in the second space associated with reassigning content to another space, and wherein the first space is identified as a target for the reassignment based on the location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the assignment comprises several content portions from the second space, the location being configured for performing reassignments of multiple content portions.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the multiple content portions are defined as at least one category from the group consisting of:

portions that have a common type, portions that belong to a common application, and combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the assignment is registered upon the first content portion being brought, in a currently active second space, to a location associated with reassigning content to another space, and wherein the first space is identified as a target for the reassignment based on the location.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the location is a corner of the second space.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein an order of the several spaces is defined, and wherein the assignment is made to the first space because it is a next space in the order.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the several spaces are defined in a geometrical relationship to each other, and wherein the corner indicates a direction of the assignment in the geometrical relationship.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content portion is associated with an application program that is being initiated, and wherein the first space is generated in response to the initiation.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content portion is assigned to the first space together with at least another content portion.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first and second content portions are reassigned together because they have previously been grouped.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the first and second content portions are reassigned together because they have a common type.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the several spaces are presented in a grid format in the view, the grid format including at least one row and at least one column for the several spaces.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising altering the grid format, in response to a user input, to add or remove at least one space.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising relocating at least one space in the grid format in response to a user input.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content portion is automatically assigned to the first space because the first portion has a type that has previously been assigned as belonging in the first space.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the assignment of the type as belonging in the first space is done based on tracking use of contents in the user interface.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the assignment is done at a configuration screen that includes visual representations of at least one space and an assignment area where content portions can be defined as belonging to at least one of the spaces.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the assignment is done upon a user dragging the first content portion to one of the visual representations that corresponds to the first space.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the first content portion is dragged to the corresponding visual representation from a screen location outside the configuration screen.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the first content portion is dragged to the corresponding visual representation from the assignment area, and wherein an earlier assignment that the first content portion had in the assignment area is replaced with the assignment being registered.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the view where all the several spaces are presented separate from each other is displayed, and wherein the user moves one of the spaces to a new location in the view, further comprising animating the move.

31. A computer program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for managing content in a user interface, the method comprising:

enabling several spaces for assigning thereto contents of a user interface such that the assigned contents are visible when any of the spaces is active, wherein the user interface is configured to generate a view where all the several spaces are presented separate from each other and having their assigned contents visible; and

registering an assignment of a first content portion to a first one of the spaces.

32. A method for managing content in a user interface, the method comprising:

displaying, in a user interface, a first subset of current user interface contents that is assigned to a first space, wherein a second subset of the current user interface contents that is assigned to a second space is currently not displayed; and

in response to an event, performing a transition, from the first space to the second space, which transition includes ceasing to display the first subset and displaying the second subset in the user interface.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the current user interface contents include at least one selected from the group consisting of an application and a window.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the event is a user input that requests the transition by identifying the second space.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the event is a user input that requests the transition by identifying a content portion and not by identifying the second space, further comprising determining which of the first and second spaces the identified content portion is assigned to, wherein the second subset is displayed following a determination that the identified content portion is assigned to the second space.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the event is a user input made with a pointing device at a location in the first space associated with transitioning to the second space.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein an order of the first and second spaces is defined, and wherein the transition is made to the second space because it is a next space in the order.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the transition is made to the second space because it is a most recently activated space before the first space.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the location is a corner of the first space.

40. The method of claim 32, wherein the second subset is associated with an application program that is being initiated, and wherein the transition is performed in response to the initiation.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the transition is conditioned on the application program meeting a criterion.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the criterion is that the application program has a type that implies user interface action.

43. The method of claim 32, further comprising animating the transition to show the first subset being moved out of a viewable area and the second subset being moved into the viewable area.

44. The method of claim 32, wherein the first and second spaces are defined based on a matrix that is larger than a viewable area of the user interface, and wherein the transition comprises selecting a portion of the matrix for display that includes the second space.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising displaying an input control upon displaying the first subset, the input control illustrating the matrix and also being visible when the second subset is displayed, wherein the event is a user input that is made using the input control.

46. The method of claim 32, further comprising receiving an Expos&

command when the first subset or the second subset is being displayed, and rearranging the first or second subset in response to the Exposé

command.

47. The method of claim 32, wherein there is also displayed an inset pane representing the second space, the inset screen showing the second subset, and wherein the event is received upon user activation of the inset pane.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein several spaces, including the first and second spaces and also additional spaces, have been defined, and wherein the inset pane can present contents from any of the several spaces while any of the several spaces is active.

49. The method of claim 32, wherein the transition is done as part of reassigning a content portion of the first space to the second space.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein an indication of the content portion is presented in the first space because it is detected that the content portion is currently not visible in the first space, and wherein the reassignment is registered upon the indication being brought, in the first space, to a location associated with reassigning content to the second space.

51. The method of claim 49, wherein the reassignment is registered upon the content portion being brought, in the first space, to a location associated with reassigning content to the second space.

52. The method of claim 49, wherein the reassignment is defined to include any contents having a particular type.

53. The method of claim 32, wherein the transition is performed upon an application or window being initiated, the application or window being assigned to the second space and not to the first space.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein several spaces, including the first and second spaces and also additional spaces, have been defined, and wherein the application or window is assigned also to at least one of the additional spaces, further comprising sequentially activating the spaces to which the application or window is assigned, upon receiving repeated inputs with an activation control for the application or window.

55. The method of claim 32, wherein the first and second subsets correspond to respective first and second entries on a process list, further comprising rearranging at least one of the first and second entries in response to the event to generate a rearranged process list.

56. The method of claim 55, further comprising displaying a representation of the rearranged process list.

57. A computer program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method for managing content in a user interface, the method comprising:

displaying, in a user interface, a first subset of current user interface contents that is assigned to a first space, wherein a second subset of the current user interface contents that is assigned to a second space is currently not displayed; and

in response to an event, performing a transition, from the first space to the second space, which transition includes ceasing to display the first subset and displaying the second subset in the user interface.

58. A computer program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed, generate on a display device a graphical user interface for managing user interface content, the graphical user interface comprising:

a first view displayed in a non-space mode, the first view presenting current user interface contents wherein first and second subsets of the current user interface contents have been assigned to first and second spaces, respectively; and

a second view displayed in a space view mode, the second view presenting the first and second work spaces separately, each space including the respective assigned subset of the current user interface contents.

59. The computer program product of claim 58, wherein the current user interface contents include at least one selected from the group consisting of an application and a window.

60. The computer program product of claim 58, wherein several spaces, including the first and second spaces and also additional spaces, are presented in the space view mode, and wherein additional subsets of the current user interface contents can be assigned to the additional spaces.

61. The computer program product of claim 60, wherein the several spaces are presented in a grid format in the space view mode, the grid format including at least one row and at least one column for the several spaces.

62. The computer program product of claim 58, wherein a first content portion has been assigned to both the first and second spaces, and wherein, in the space view mode, the first content portion is presented in the first space and also in the second space.

63. The computer program product of claim 58, wherein a transition in the user interface to deactivate the first space and to activate the second work space is animated.

64. The computer program product of claim 63, wherein the transition is animated to show the first subset of the current user interface contents being moved out of a viewable area and the second subset being moved into the viewable area.

65. The computer program product of claim 58, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises a third view displayed when the first space is active and the second space is not active, the third view presenting the first subset of the current user interface contents and not the second subset.

66. The computer program product of claim 65, wherein the third view includes an input control that is associated with transitioning from the first space to the second space.

67. The computer program product of claim 65, wherein the third view includes a location associated with reassigning content to another space, wherein a user can initiate the reassignment by moving a subset to the location.

68. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein an order of the first and second spaces is defined, and wherein the reassignment is made to the second space because it is a next space in the order.

69. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein the location is configured to be highlighted to indicate that the subset can be automatically moved to the other space.

70. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein, in the second view displayed in the space view mode, the first and second spaces are presented in a grid format, and wherein the location in the third view corresponds to a direction from the first space to the other space in the grid format.

71. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein there are several spaces defined, including the first and second spaces, and wherein the third view includes several locations corresponding to the several spaces.

72. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein the third view includes a location where a pointing device can be brought to switch from the first space to the second space.

73. The computer program product of claim 72 wherein the location is configured for performing reassignments of multiple subsets.

74. The computer program product of claim 73, wherein the multiple subsets are defined as at least one category from the group consisting of subsets that have a common type, subsets that belong to a common application, and combinations thereof

75. The computer program product of claim 58, wherein a user moves one of the first and second spaces to a new location in the second view, and wherein the move is animated.