MULTI-DIMENSIONAL INTERFACE

• US 20130091462A1
• Filed: 04/09/2012
• Published: 04/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: White, Jeffrey A., Privett, Mark R., Donsbach, Aaron Michael, Gray, Timothy T., Stein, Robert K. III
• Granted Patent: US 9,880,640 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A device can display content on a page associated with a dimension. A user can adjust an orientation of the device to adjust a displayed orientation of the page, enabling pages for additional dimensions to be displayed. A user can select one of these dimensions, and adjust an orientation of the device to enable the user to access content for the selected dimension. The change in orientation can be a tilt or flick of the device in a first direction to select a dimension, and then a user could tilt or flick the device in another direction to view pages, sub-dimensions, or other groupings of content among that dimension. Such an approach can enable a user to quickly locate content corresponding to a sub-dimension without having to scroll down a long page of content or otherwise manually navigate to specific content.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

displaying a first section of a page on an interface of a portable computing device, the page including a plurality of objects categorically organized into a plurality of sections, each of the plurality of sections including a respective portion of the plurality of objects;

detecting a rotation of the portable computing device about a determined axis;

in response to detecting the rotation, animating a collapse of the page to display a plurality of section titles on the interface, the plurality of section titles corresponding to the plurality of sections;

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of section titles for a second section of the plurality of sections; and

in response to the selection, animating an expansion of the page to display a portion of the plurality of objects included in the second section on the interface.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the collapse of the page includes at least a portion of the first section translating or rotating in a determined direction with respect to the interface of the portable computing device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the interface is provided through a touch screen display and wherein the selection is provided through contact with the section title of the second section displayed on the touch screen display.

4. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

displaying, on an interface of a computing device, a first subset of a plurality of subsets of content;

detecting a change in orientation of the computing device; and

in response to detecting the change in orientation, displaying a set of content identifiers, each of the content identifiers being associated with one of the plurality of subsets of content, each of the content identifiers further being selectable by a user to cause a respective one of the plurality of subsets to be displayed on the interface of the computing device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the change in orientation corresponds to a tilt or a flick of the computing device in the determined direction for at least one of a minimum amount of time or a minimum amount of change in orientation.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the change in device orientation is determined using at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or image information captured using at least one camera of the computing device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a selection from the user for a content identifier corresponding to a second subset of content;

detecting a second change in orientation of the computing device, the second change in orientation being substantially opposite to the determined direction; and

in response to detecting the second change in orientation, displaying the second subset of the content on the interface of the computing device.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the content includes a plurality of application icons.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the content identifiers are arranged by a type of the content.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

displaying a first subset of a plurality of icons on an interface of a computing device;

detecting a rotation of the computing device about a determined axis; and

in response to detecting the rotation, displaying a second subset of the plurality of icons on the interface of the computing device.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of icons include utility icons on a status bar.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the rotation is associated with one of a flick or a tilt of the computing device in a specified direction.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of icons are provided on a plurality of electronic pages, and wherein each subset of icons is organized by category on a respective one of the plurality of electronic pages.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

enabling a user to navigate through the plurality of electronic pages by at least one of flicking or tilting the computing device.

15. The computer implemented method of 13, wherein the interface is provided through a touch screen display and wherein navigation is performed in response to detecting a swipe or other such motion on the touch screen display.

16. A computing device, comprising:

a display screen;

a processor; and

a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to;

display, on the display screen, a first subset of a plurality of subsets of content;

detect a rotation about a determined axis; and

in response to detecting the rotation, display a set of content identifiers, each content identifier being associated with one of the plurality of subsets of content, each of the content identifiers further being selectable by a user to cause a respective one of the plurality of subsets to be displayed on the display screen.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the display screen is provided through a touch screen display and wherein selection to display a subset of content is provided through contact with a respective content identifier on the touch screen display.

18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the rotation is detected using at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or image information captured using at least one camera of the computing device.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions for displaying content, the instructions when executed by a processor of a portable computing device causing the portable computing device to:

display, on a display screen, a first subset of a plurality of subsets of content;

detect a rotation about a determined axis; and

in response to detecting the rotation, display a set of content identifiers, each content identifier being associated with one of the plurality of subsets of content, each of the content identifiers further being selectable by a user to cause a respective one of the plurality of subsets to be displayed on the display screen.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the portable computing device to:

receive a selection from the user for a content identifier corresponding to a second subset of the content; and

display the second subset of the content on the display screen of the portable computing device.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the portable computing device to:

receive a selection from the user for a content identifier corresponding to a second subset of the content;

detect a second rotation of the portable computing device, the second rotation being substantially opposite to the determined direction; and

in response to detecting the second rotation, display the second subset of the content on the display screen.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the rotation corresponds to a tilt or a flick of the portable computing device in the determined direction for at least one of a minimum amount of time or a minimum amount of change in orientation and wherein the rotation is detected using at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or image information captured using at least one camera of the portable computing device.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the content is provided on a page and the plurality of subsets of the content are organized on the page by category.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the portable computing device to:

in response to detecting the rotation, animating a collapse of the page to display the set of content identifiers.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the collapse of the page includes at least a portion of the first subset translating or rotating in a determined direction with respect to the display screen of the portable computing device.