DIRECT MANIPULATION OF CONTENT

• US 20100235733A1
• Filed: 03/16/2009
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Morgan, Bruce A., Cutsinger, Paul L. JR., Matthews, David A., Singh, Prashant, Drislane, Helen E., Manthos, Brian E., Markiewicz, Jan-Kristian
• Granted Patent: US 9,262,071 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/702
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

Various embodiments provide techniques for direct manipulation of content. The direct manipulation of content can provide an intuitive way for a user to access and interact with content. In at least some embodiments, content manipulation is “direct” in that content displayed in a user interface (e.g., one or more Web pages in a Web browser interface) can be moved in and/or out of the user interface in a direction that corresponds to user-initiated physical movements, such as the user dragging or flicking the content with the user'"'"'s finger or some other type of input device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving an indication of a directional manipulation of a current instance of content in a user interface;

if the directional manipulation is towards a right side of the user interface, causing a representation of a previous instance of content to be displayed in the user interface; and

if the directional manipulation is towards a left side of the user interface, causing a representation of a subsequent instance of content to be displayed in the user interface.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the directional manipulation is caused via touch contact with a display screen that displays the user interface.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, the method further comprises causing the current instance of content to move towards the right side of the user interface and leave the user interface.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein causing the representation of the previous instance of content to appear in the user interface comprises causing the representation of the previous instance of content to slide into the user interface from the left side of the user interface.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein if the directional manipulation is towards the left side of the user interface, the method further comprises causing the current instance of content to move towards the left side of the user interface and leave the user interface.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein causing the representation of the subsequent instance of content to appear in the user interface comprises causing the representation of the subsequent instance of content to slide into the user interface from the right side of the user interface.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the representation of the previous instance of content or the representation of the subsequent instance of content comprises a snapshot of a webpage.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the previous instance of content comprises a Web page, and wherein if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, the method further comprises:

causing the Web page to be loaded; and

when the Web page is loaded, causing the representation of the previous instance of content to be replaced with the Web page.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, causing the current instance of content to move towards the right side of the user interface and leave the user interface; and

wherein causing the representation of the previous instance of content to appear in the user interface comprises causing the representation of the previous instance of content to appear in the user interface as a static image underneath the current instance of content.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, causing the current instance of content to move towards the right side of the user interface, and wherein causing the representation of the previous instance of content to appear in the user interface comprises causing the representation of the previous instance of content to appear in the user interface as a static image underneath the current instance of content; and

if the directional manipulation is towards the left side of the user interface, causing the representation of the subsequent instance of content to appear in the user interface comprises causing the representation of the subsequent instance of content to slide into the user interface from the right side of the user interface.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving an indication of a directional manipulation of a current instance of content in a user interface;

if the directional manipulation is towards a right side of the user interface, causing one or more images of one or more previous instances of content to slide into the user interface from a left side of the user interface; and

if the directional manipulation is towards the left side of the user interface, causing one or more images of one or more subsequent instances of content to slide into the user interface from the right side of the user interface.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein one or more of the previous instances of content comprises a Web page, and wherein one or more of the images of the one or more previous instances of content comprises a previously-captured snapshot of the Web page.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the indication of the directional manipulation is caused via a user contact with a display screen that displays the user interface.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein if the directional manipulation is towards the right side of the user interface, the method further comprises causing a plurality of the images of the previous instances of content to slide into the user interface from the left side of the user interface, one or more of the plurality of the images being selectable to cause an updated version of one or more of the previous instances of content to be loaded.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein one or more of the plurality of the images of the previous instances of content comprises a previously-captured snapshot of a Web page.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, the method further comprising:

receiving an indication of a selection of one of the plurality of images of the previous instances of content;

responsive to the selection, causing an updated version of a Web page associated with a selected image to be loaded; and

when the Web page is loaded, causing the Web page to be displayed in the user interface.

17. One or more computer-readable storage media storing:

a travel log comprising a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries corresponding to one of a plurality of Web page instances to which a user has navigated; and

computer-executable instructions that are executable to;

receive an indication of a touch manipulation of one of the plurality of Web page instances that is displayed on a user interface;

determine a direction of the touch manipulation;

if the touch manipulation is towards a first side of the user interface, cause a representation of a previous Web page instance from the plurality of Web page instances to appear in the user interface; and

if the touch manipulation is towards a second side of the user interface, cause a representation of a subsequent Web page instance from the plurality of Web page instances to appear in the user interface.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the first side of the user interface is a left side of the user interface, and the second side of the user interface is a right side of the user interface.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further executable to:

if the touch manipulation is towards the first side of the user interface, cause the representation of the previous Web page instance to slide into the user interface from the second side of the user interface; and

if the touch manipulation is towards the second side of the user interface, cause the representation of the subsequent Web page instance to slide into the user interface from the first side of the user interface.

20. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further executable to:

if the touch manipulation is towards the first side of the user interface, cause a Web page associated with the representation of the previous Web page instance to be loaded and displayed;

or

if the touch manipulation is towards the second side of the user interface, cause a Web page associated with the representation of the subsequent Web page instance to be loaded and displayed.