Navigating through content

• US 20090100380A1
• Filed: 10/12/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Flynt, David Wayne, Joshi, Nisheth Pinakin, Lim, Li Chen, Shrivastava, Aditya, Selcuk, Alper, Ongg, Jay, Gardner, Grant Christopher, Tuck, Jason Robert, Raghavan, Malti, Sundling, Rebecca, Lam, Arthur Ka Tsuen
• Application Number:
  US11/871,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20090100380A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/854
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Navigating among content data via a navigation interface includes receiving navigational input including category input and/or page input. The category input and page input each can be selected regardless of what page is currently selected. The selected page fills a substantial portion of the display space. A navigation bar including display elements of available categories also can be displayed. Touch support can be implemented using at least two different systems: Tap and Gesture. Gesture navigation can be inverted to suit the style of a particular user.

Claims

1. A user interface implemented on a computing system, the user interface comprising:

a display space for displaying a selected page associated with a selected category of a sequence of categories, the selected page filling a substantial portion of the display space, each of the categories being associated with at least one page, each of the pages being associated with one of the categories;

a category input configured to cycle through the categories to select a new category as the selected category when the category input is selected, wherein a default page associated with the selected category is selected as the selected page when the new category is selected; and

wherein the category input can be selected regardless of what page is the selected page; and

a page input configured to cycle through the pages associated with the selected category to select a new page to become the selected page when the page input is selected.

2. The interface of claim 1, wherein the category input includes an increment option and a decrement option, wherein selection of the increment option of the category input increments through the categories to select a next category as the selected category;

and wherein selection of the decrement option of the category input decrements through the categories to select a previous category as the selected category.

3. The interface of claim 1, further comprising a navigation bar arranged adjacent the selected page in the display space, the navigation bar including a display element representing each category.

4. The interface of claim 3, wherein the display element that represents the selected category is differentiated in the display space from the display elements representing other categories.

5. The interface of claim 3, wherein only a subset of the display elements is visible within the navigation bar in the display space.

6. The interface of claim 5, wherein each display element becomes visible when an animation cycling through the display elements is displayed.

7. The interface of claim 1, wherein the display space is presented on a touch sensitive screen.

8. A method for navigating among content data stored on an electronic device, the electronic device including a touch screen interface configured to display a selected page associated with a selected category of a sequence of categories, each of the categories being associated with at least one page, each of the pages being associated with one of the categories, the method comprising:

receiving a first navigational input, the first navigational input indicating when a tapping motion is performed;

determining a location at which the tapping motion is performed;

receiving a second navigational input, the second navigational input indicating whether a subsequent dragging motion is performed from the location at which the tapping motion is performed;

determining a navigation action associated with the tapping motion if a subsequent dragging motion is not performed;

determining a navigation action associated with the dragging motion if a subsequent dragging motion is performed; and

implementing the navigation action to navigate among the content data, wherein the navigation action includes one of cycling through the categories to select a new category as the selected category and cycling through the pages associated with the selected category to select a new page to become the selected page; and

wherein the first and second navigational inputs can be received regardless of which page is the selected page.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining a navigation action associated with the dragging motion comprises:

determining a navigational direction in which the dragging motion is performed; and

determining a navigational instruction associated with the navigational direction.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the navigation action associated with the tapping motion comprises determining the navigation action based on the location at which the tapping motion occurs.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein implementing the navigation action to navigate among the content data comprises displaying the selected page of the selected category after completing the navigation action.

12. A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for performing a method of scrolling through a plurality of display elements arranged on a navigation bar displayed to a user, each display element being associated with one of a plurality of categories, the method comprising:

displaying a first content page and the navigation bar to the user, the first content page being associated with one of the categories;

receiving a first navigational input indicating a tapping gesture is performed within the navigation bar with a tapping implement;

determining a location within the navigation bar at which the tapping gesture is performed;

dividing the navigation bar into a plurality of zones including a stall zone, an increment zone, and a decrement zone based on the location at which the tapping gesture is performed;

receiving a second navigational input indicating the tapping implement is dragged from the location at which the tapping gesture is performed to one of the stall zone, the increment zone, and the decrement zone;

continuously cycling through selection of the display elements incrementally when the tapping implement is dragged from the location at which the tapping gesture is performed to the increment zone, wherein selection of the display elements during the continuous incremental cycling does not present a content page associated with each display element to the user when the respective display element is selected;

continuously cycling through selection the display elements decrementally when the tapping implement is dragged from the location at which the tapping gesture is performed to the decrement zone, wherein selection of the display elements during the continuous decremental cycling does not present a content page associated with each display element to the user when the respective display element is selected; and

halting cycling of the display elements on a currently selected display element when the tapping implement is dragged only within the stall zone, wherein halting cycling of the display elements on a currently selected display element includes continuing to display the first content page to the user.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, further comprising dragging the tapping implement from one of the increment zone and the decrement zone to the stall zone to halt cycling of the display elements.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a third navigational input, the third navigational input indicating the scrolling is finalized; and

accessing the category associated with the currently selected display element.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein receiving a third navigational input comprises receiving the third navigational input indicating the tapping implement has been lifted from the navigation bar.

16. A computer system comprising:

a display configured to present content and to receive input;

a system memory communicatively coupled to the display, the system memory being configured to store;

a drag module configured to receive a signal indicating a dragging motion has been performed using the display, the drag module being further configured to determine a direction in which the dragging motion is performed;

a processing module configured to ascertain a navigation instruction based on the direction in which the dragging motion is performed, the navigation instruction including one of at least two navigation types and one of at least two navigation directions associated with the direction in which the dragging motion is performed;

an invert module configured to selectively invert which of the at least two navigation directions is associated with the direction in which the dragging motion is performed; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the system memory, the processor being configured to process each of the modules stored in the system memory to implement the navigation instruction to modify the content presented on the display.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the invert module is configured to selectively invert which of the at least two navigation types is associated with the direction in which the dragging motion is performed.

18. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the navigation types include category navigation and page navigation.

19. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the invert module is implemented as a toggle element arranged on a content page that can be presented on the display.

20. The computer system of claim 16, further comprising:

a tap module configured to receive a signal indicating a tapping motion has been performed, the tap module further configured to determine a location at which the tapping motion occurred, wherein the drag module determines a direction in which the dragging motion is performed based on the location at which the tapping motion occurred.