Visual Selection and Grouping

• US 20140298219A1
• Filed: 03/29/2013
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Whytock, John C., Garside, Adrian J., Kuehnle, Holger, Gomez, Harold S., Steinglass, Alice P., Zaman, Nazia, Leonard, Chantal M., Kapur, Ishita, Machalani, Henri-Charles, Taylor, Marina Dukhon, Kreiseder, Peter J., Berger, Roy H., Mishkin, Bryan J., Ku, Hui-Chun
• Application Number:
  US13/854,017
• Publication Number:
  US 20140298219A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/765
• 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 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Techniques for visual selection and grouping are described. In at least some embodiments, multiple visuals can be selected and grouped such that visuals can be manipulated as a group and various actions can be applied to visuals as a group. For example, in response to a user placing a group of visuals in a display region, the visuals can be arranged in the display region based on a specific arrangement order. According to one or more embodiments, visuals can be rearranged to reduce gaps between visuals, such as to present a consolidated view of visuals and to conserve display space. Visuals can be grouped together (e.g., based on user selection), and selectable options presented that are selectable to apply various actions to the grouped visuals.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, cause the device to perform operations including;

grouping visuals selected from a first region of a display area and responsive to a user selection of the visuals;

receiving an indication of user placement of the group of visuals in a second region of the display area; and

repositioning individual visuals of the group of visuals in the second region of the display area based on at least one of an order in which the individual visuals were arranged in the first region of the display area, or an order in which the visuals were selected.

2. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein said grouping causes the visuals to be visually distinguished as a group from other visuals not selected as part of the group.

3. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein said grouping comprises displaying a group visualization that represents the group of visuals, and the user placement comprises a user placement of the group visualization in the second region of the display area.

4. A device as recited in claim 3, wherein the group visualization includes a visual indication of a number of visuals in the group of visuals.

5. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein said repositioning comprises placing the visuals of the group of visuals in the second region of the display area such that the order in which the individual visuals were arranged in the first region of the display area is preserved in the second region of the display area.

6. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein said repositioning comprises one or more of:

placing the visuals of the group of visuals in the second region of the display area such that the order in which the individual visuals were selected in the first region of the display area is used to arrange the visuals in the second region of the display area;

placing the visuals of the group of visuals in the second region of the display area based on respective sizes of the visuals;

or

placing the visuals of the group of visuals in the second region of the display area based on a user interaction-based ranking of the respective visuals.

7. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise repositioning one or more other visuals displayed in the second region of the display area and not included in the group of visuals such that the order in which the individual visuals of the group of visuals were arranged in the first region of the display area is preserved.

8. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise repositioning one or more other visuals displayed in the second region of the display area to accommodate the repositioning of the group of visuals and such that a visual order of the one or more other visuals in the second region is preserved.

9. A device as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting a gap between the visuals of the group of visuals displayed in the second region of the display area; and

moving one or more of the visuals of the group of visuals to fill the gap.

10. A device as recited in claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting one or more other gaps between the visuals of the group of visuals displayed in the second region of the display area; and

moving one or more other visuals of the group of visuals to fill the one or more other gaps until no additional fillable gaps are detected.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media comprising instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

grouping visuals into a visual group based on a user selection of the visuals;

filtering available actions based on attributes of the visuals included in the visual group;

receiving a selection of an action from the filtered group of actions; and

applying the action to the individual visuals of the visual group.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein said filtering comprises ascertaining that a particular action is not applicable to one of the visuals included in the visual group, and omitting the particular action from the filtered group of actions.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein said filtering comprises ascertaining that at least one of the visuals included in the visual group cannot be resized to a smaller size, and omitting an action from the filtered group of actions that is selectable to cause the visuals of the visual group to be resized to a smaller size.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein said filtering comprises ascertaining that at least one of the visuals included in the visual group cannot be resized to a larger size, and omitting an action from the filtered group of actions that is selectable to cause the visuals of the visual group to be resized to a larger size.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein at least some of the visuals included in the visual group represent respective applications, and wherein said applying causes an associated action to be applied to the respective applications.

16. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

detecting a gap between visuals displayed in a group of visuals;

moving a visual of the group of visuals to fill the gap by traversing through the visuals until a visual is located to fill the gap;

ascertaining whether one or more other gaps remain between the visuals of the group of visuals; and

in an event that one or more other gaps remain, moving at least one other visual of the group of visuals to fill the one or more other gaps.

17. A method as described in claim 16, wherein said detecting comprises identifying the gap as a space between visuals that is large enough to accommodate at least one visual.

18. A method as described in claim 16, wherein said detecting occurs in response to a user-initiated movement of the group of visuals between regions of a display area.

19. A method as described in claim 16, wherein the group of visuals is displayed in a display region that includes one or more other visuals, and wherein the one or more other visuals are not considered when traversing through the visuals to locate a visual to fill the gap.

20. A method as described in claim 16, wherein said traversing comprises skipping one or more visuals that are too large to fit in the gap.