Viewport panning feedback system

• US 7,274,377 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Issued: 09/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: 138 East LCD Advancements Limited (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Rasmussen, Jamie C., Ivashin, Victor
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung; Kee M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARRISON, CHANTE E
• Application Number:
  US11/260,963
• Publication Number:
  US 20070097150A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 345/619, 345/648, 345/672, 345/680, 345/684, 345/589, 345/592, 345687-689, 345/629, 715784-787, 715/764, 715/768
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A graphical user interface (GUI) displaying a viewport includes a panning control region defined within an outer boundary of the viewport within the GUI. The panning control region includes multiple segments, each of the multiple segments corresponding to a panning direction, wherein a panning rate is indicated by a level of translucency of the multiple segments. A panning available region defined along the outer boundary of the viewport within the GUI is included. The panning available region indicates whether a source image extends beyond an edge of the viewport, and the panning available region is a subset of the panning control region. A method for panning an image through a viewport and a computing device are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for panning an image through a viewport, comprising method operations of:

indicating available panning directions visually on the viewport;

positioning a visual marker within a panning region of the viewport;

triggering movement of the viewport through the image in a direction associated with the panning region in response to the positioning of the visual marker; and

displaying within the panning region a relative amount of available panning in the direction contemporaneously with the triggering;

wherein the method operation of indicating available panning directions visually on the viewport includes displaying a border at least one pixel wide at an outermost edge of the viewport, and adjusting a visible characteristic of the border to indicate an amount of panning available in the panning direction.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the relative amount of available panning by adjusting a display intensity of the panning region as the image moves.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the visible characteristic of the border comprises an intensity of a color of the border.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method operation of displaying within the panning region a relative amount of available panning in the direction contemporaneously with the triggering includes,

displaying a directional marker indicating the direction of movement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method operation of triggering movement of the viewport through the image in a direction associated with the panning region includes,

indicating a rate of the movement by adjusting a degree of translucency of visual indicators within the panning region.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the image is desktop image data of a remote computing device retrieved through a sharing application of a computing device displaying the viewport.

7. The method of claim 1, further including:

enabling adjustment of a size of the panning region.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the adjustment of the size of the panning region is synchronized with other panning regions thereby triggering size adjustment of each panning region in response to the adjustment of the panning region.

9. A medium or waveform containing executable program instructions, which, when executed, are adapted to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A graphical user interface (GUI) displaying a viewport through which an image can be viewed, the GUI comprising:

a panning control region defined within an outer boundary of the viewport within the GUI, the panning control region having multiple segments, each of the multiple segments corresponding to a panning direction, wherein a panning rate is indicated by a level of translucency of the multiple segments; and

a panning available region defined along the outer boundary of the viewport within the GUI, the panning available region indicating whether a source image extends beyond an edge of the viewport, wherein the panning available region is a subset of the panning control region;

wherein the panning available region is configured so that a visible characteristic of image data within the panning available region is adjustable according to an amount of the source image extending beyond the edge of the viewport.

11. The GUI of claim 10, further comprising:

panning control region margin markers configured to enable adjustment of the multiple segments defining the panning control region.

12. The GUI of claim 10, wherein the source image is associated with a remote computing device, the source image obtained through a sharing application associated with a computing device controlling the viewport being displayed on the GUI.

13. The GUI of claim 11, wherein the panning control region margin markers are synchronized so that adjustment of one of the panning control region margin markers causes corresponding adjustment of each of the margin markers.

14. The GUI of claim 10, wherein the visible characteristic of image data within the panning available region comprises an intensity of image data within the panning available region.

15. A graphical user interface (GUI) displaying a viewport through which an image can be viewed, the GUI comprising:

a panning control region defined within an outer boundary of the viewport within the GUI, the panning control region having multiple segments, each of the multiple segments corresponding to a panning direction, wherein a panning rate is indicated by a level of translucency of the multiple segments; and

a panning available region defined along the outer boundary of the viewport within the GUI, the panning available region indicating whether a source image extends beyond an edge of the viewport, wherein the panning available region is a subset of the panning control region;

wherein the panning control region includes a panning directional indicator indicative of the panning direction, a level of translucency of the panning directional indicator corresponding to the level of translucency of the corresponding segment, wherein the panning control region and the panning directional indicator are visible only during active panning.

16. A computing device configured to interact with another computing device, the computing device comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU);

a memory configured to store a sharing application, the sharing application enabling the computing device to create a virtual link with the other computing device so that input devices of the computing device are operable on the other computing device;

a display screen configured to display a first portion of image data from the other computing device within a viewport of the computing device;

viewport logic configured to provide multiple visual indicators within the viewport revealing availability of panning the image data, availability of a panning direction, a relative location of the first portion of the image data, and a panning rate when moving from the first portion of image data along a panning path to a second portion of the image data, wherein the visual indicator for revealing the availability of a panning direction chances its visual appearance as the amount of panning available in the panning direction changes; and

a bus enabling communication between the CPU, the memory, the display screen, and the viewport logic.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the multiple visual indicators include,

a panning control region defined within an outer boundary of the viewport within the GUI, the panning control region having multiple segments, each of the multiple segments corresponding to a panning direction, wherein a panning rate is indicated by a level of translucency of the multiple segments;

a panning available region defined along the outer boundary of the viewport within the GUI, the panning available region indicating whether a source image extends beyond an edge of the viewport, wherein the panning available region is a subset of the panning control region; and

panning control region margin markers configured to enable adjustment of the multiple segments defining the panning control region.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the viewport logic is further configured to synchronize the panning control region margin markers so that adjustment of one of the margin markers causes corresponding adjustment of each of the margin markers.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the panning control region is associated with one of a triangle shape or a rectangular shape.

20. The device of claim 17, wherein the panning available region is visible only when the source image extends beyond the edge of the view port and the panning control region is visible only during panning operations in the panning direction.