Systems and methods for co-axial navigation of a user interface

• US 7,698,654 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2004
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fong, Jeffrey, Abanami, Thamer, Franklin, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo; Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wong; William
• Application Number:
  US10/752,240
• Publication Number:
  US 20050149551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,290 Days
• Field of Search: 715/738, 715/700, 715716-721, 715810-845, 715/864, 715853-855, 707/102
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

Improved systems and methods for navigating media via a user interface, such as a user interface provided on a handheld or portable computing device, are provided. The methods for navigating media of the invention extend the navigation experience by allowing bi-axial context shifts, e.g., with respect to substantially orthogonal directions, allowing a user to conceptually preserve context associated with the navigation experience, context that is lost in one-dimensional hierarchical navigation experiences. In one embodiment, the bi-axial navigation mechanism of the invention includes a drill down twist, i.e., the transformation of a parent list of a parent screen from a vertical list to a horizontal band when moving from the parent screen to the child screen and a horizontal browsing mechanism allowing a user to browse multiple lists using a continuous band of headers.

Claims

1. A handheld media storage and retrieval device, comprising:

a display device displaying a display screen for viewing media content stored on the handheld media storage and retrieval device, the display screen displaying only a hierarchical menu comprising only two hierarchical levels of a plurality of hierarchical levels of the stored media content;

a user input mechanism on the handheld media storage and retrieval device, the user input mechanism accepting user commands and information;

a first input component for navigating initial headers representing a first one of the plurality of hierarchical levels and organized in a first orientation displayed on the display screen of the handheld media storage and retrieval device, wherein each of said initial headers includes an association with a child list, whereby said initial headers form a band of lists represented by the initial headers;

a second input component for navigating a first list of elements representing a second one of the plurality of hierarchical levels and organized in a second orientation different from the first orientation, the first list of elements associated with a currently selected header of the initial headers displayed as a child list for the currently selected header; and

a selection component for receiving a selection of one element of the first list of elements,

wherein, upon the selection of the one element of the first list of elements, the first list of elements become new headers and at least some of the first list of elements are displayed according to the first orientation as new headers of a new screen, the new headers including the one selected element as a new currently selected header of the new screen and displayed in an order determined by the selection, and a second list of elements representing a third one of the plurality of hierarchical levels is displayed in the second orientation, the second list associated with the new currently selected header as a child list for the new currently selected header, the new screen displaying only the new headers and the second list, and wherein navigating and selecting is repeated until a particular hierarchical level comprising atomic elements is displayed in the second orientation, wherein upon selection of an atomic element of the atomic elements, the display screen displays only the particular hierarchical level in the first orientation with the selected atomic element as an active header and an information display box containing information about the selected atomic element.

2. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein the currently selected header is emphasized.

3. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein said first orientation is substantially orthogonal to said second orientation.

4. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 3, wherein one of (A) said first orientation is horizontal and said second orientation is vertical and (B) said first orientation is vertical and said second orientation is horizontal.

5. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein for a header located to the left of the currently selected header, the beginning of the header is truncated.

6. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein said navigating initial headers with said first input component includes moving to a next initial header according to the first orientation and thereby displaying a child list for that next initial header.

7. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein said band of lists is arranged horizontally as a circular list.

8. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein when the selection of the one element of the first list of elements is received by the selection component, at least some of the first list of elements are displayed according to the first orientation as the new headers of the new screen, wherein text corresponding to the at least some of the first list of elements include nouns and verbs and wherein only nouns included in the text corresponding to the at least some of the first list of elements are displayed as the new headers.

9. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein said first input component receives LEFT and RIGHT inputs and said second input component receives UP and DOWN inputs and said selection component receives an OK input.

10. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 1, wherein an initial location of an input position of the second input component is determined based upon user browsing history.

11. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 10, wherein the initial location of the input position of the second input component is determined based upon most recent selection from the second list of elements.

12. The handheld media storage and retrieval device according to claim 10, wherein the user browsing history is reset when a root menu of a user interface is selected.

13. A computer-implemented method for navigating a set of recordings stored on a handheld storage and retrieval device on a display of the handheld storage and retrieval device, comprising:

on the display of the handheld device, presenting an initial screen for displaying only a hierarchical menu comprising only two hierarchical levels of a plurality of hierarchical levels of the set of recordings, the initial screen having initial headers representing a first one of the plurality of hierarchical levels and oriented according to a first orientation, said initial headers providing top-level categories for filtering the set of recordings, wherein each of said initial headers includes an association with a child list, whereby said initial headers form a band of lists represented by the initial headers;

navigating the initial headers according to the first orientation;

presenting a list of elements representing a second one of the plurality of hierarchical levels oriented according to a second orientation different from the first orientation, the list of elements associated with a currently selected header of the initial headers as a child list for the currently selected header;

navigating the list of elements according to the second orientation;

selecting an element from the list of elements;

in response to said selecting the element, presenting a new screen having the list of elements as element headers displayed according to the first orientation, the element headers including the selected element as a new currently selected header of the element headers and displayed in an order determined by the selecting; and

presenting a second list of elements representing a third one of the plurality of hierarchical levels and associated with the new currently selected header of the element headers as a child list for the new currently selected header, the second list of elements displayed according to the second orientation, the new screen displaying only the element headers and the second list of elements; and

repeating navigating and selecting until a particular hierarchical level comprising atomic elements is displayed in the second orientation, wherein upon selection of an atomic element of the atomic elements, the display screen displays only the particular hierarchical level in the first orientation with the selected atomic element as an active header and an information display box containing information about the selected atomic element.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the currently selected header of the element headers of the new screen is the header based upon the selected element.

15. A method according to claim 13, wherein the currently selected header is emphasized relative to any unselected header.

16. A method according to claim 13, wherein said first orientation is substantially orthogonal to said second orientation.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein one of (A) said first orientation is horizontal and said second orientation is vertical and (B) said first orientation is vertical and said second orientation is horizontal.

18. A method according to claim 13, wherein said navigating the initial headers according to the first orientation includes moving to a next header according to the first orientation and thereby displaying a child list for that next header.

19. A method according to claim 13, wherein the navigating the list of elements includes inputting a location of an input position on the list of elements and wherein a starting location on the list of elements is determined based upon user browsing history.

20. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable modules having computer executable instructions that, when executed, carry out the method of claim 13.

21. A computing device comprising a display, an input mechanism, and means for performing the method of claim 13.

22. A handheld media storage and playback device, comprising:

a handheld display for selecting at least one stored media for playback; and

a computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable modules comprising computer executable instructions which when executed by a processor perform the method of claim 13.

23. A handheld media storage and playback device according to claim 22, wherein the currently selected header is emphasized relative to any unselected header.

24. A handheld media storage and playback device according to claim 22, wherein said first orientation is substantially orthogonal to said second orientation.

25. A handheld media storage and playback device according to claim 22, wherein the initial headers are navigated according to the first orientation and said navigating the initial headers includes moving from the currently selected header to a next initial header according to the first orientation and thereby displaying a child list for that next header, which is the new currently selected header.

26. A handheld media storage and playback device according to claim 22, wherein said selecting the element from the list of elements includes navigating the list of elements by inputting a location of an input position on the list elements, wherein a starting location on the list of elements is determined based upon user browsing history.

27. A handheld recording storage and retrieval device for navigating a set of stored recordings of on a display of the handheld recording storage and retrieval device, comprising:

a handheld display for presenting a display screen for initially displaying only two hierarchical levels of a plurality of hierarchical levels of the set of stored recordings, the display screen having initial headers representing a first one of the plurality of hierarchical levels and oriented according to a first orientation, said initial headers providing top-level categories for filtering the set of stored recordings, wherein each of said initial headers includes an association with a child list, whereby said initial headers form a band of lists represented by the initial headers;

means for navigating the initial headers according to the first orientation;

the handheld display presenting a list of elements representing a second one of the plurality of hierarchical levels oriented according to a second orientation different from the first orientation, the list of elements associated with a currently selected header of the initial headers as a child list for the currently selected header;

means for navigating the list of elements according to the second orientation;

means for selecting an element from the list of elements;

means for presenting a new screen having the list of elements as element headers displayed according to the first orientation in response to said selecting the element from the list of elements, the element headers including the selected element as a new currently selected header of the element headers and displayed in an order determined by the selecting;

means for presenting a second list of elements representing a third one of the plurality of hierarchical levels and associated with the new currently selected header of the element headers as a child list for the new currently selected header, the second list of elements displayed according to the second orientation, the new screen displaying only the element headers and the second list of elements; and

means for repeating navigating and selecting until a particular hierarchical level comprising atomic elements is displayed in the second orientation, wherein upon selection of an atomic element of the atomic elements, the display screen displays only the particular hierarchical level in the first orientation with the selected atomic element as an active header and an information display box containing information about the selected atomic element.

28. A handheld recording storage and retrieval device according to claim 27, wherein said first orientation is substantially orthogonal to said second orientation.

29. A handheld recording storage and retrieval device according to claim 27, further including means for navigating the initial headers according to the first orientation and said means for navigating the initial headers includes means for moving to a next header according to the first orientation and corresponding means for displaying a child list for that next header.