Three-dimensional active file explorer

• US 7,725,839 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2005
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Michaels, Joshua M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu; Tadesse
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ulrich; Nicholas S
• Application Number:
  US11/273,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20070124699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,652 Days
• Field of Search: 715/767, 715/849, 715/823, 715/836
• US Class Current: 715/836
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04802 3D-info-object: information is displayed on the internal or external surface of a three dimensional manipulable object, e.g. on the faces of a cube that can be rotated by the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

A three-dimensional object that represents computer data and methods and computer-readable media for presenting same. The object has a first, active side and a second, inactive side. The active side may contain information relating to the computer data.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

associating each of a plurality of file system elements with a respective icon, wherein the file system elements comprise a computer file and/or a computer file directory, wherein each icon is associated with a plurality of sides representing a three-dimensional structure, wherein one of the sides comprises an option to modify a configuration of the three-dimensional structure and an option to apply the configuration to at least one other three-dimensional structure associated with a same type of file system element;

receiving respective information for each of at least one new side associated with each icon, wherein each respective information comprises at least one function available via a respective side;

in response to a first user interaction with a file system, determining a current state, the current state comprising at least a current directory path, and wherein the first user interaction comprises navigating a directory structure or requesting metadata regarding a file system element;

determining a first view of the three-dimensional structure, wherein the first view comprises at least one current icon and respective display information based on the current state, wherein the display information includes a selection status for the at least one current icon and either an active status or an inactive status for each of the plurality of sides associated with the at least one current icon, wherein a selected side is associated with an active status;

displaying on a display device the first view of the three-dimensional structure;

upon receiving a first signal;

determining a second view of the three-dimensional structure, wherein the second view represents a rotation of the three-dimensional structure such that information not viewable in the first view is viewable in the second view; and

displaying the second view of the three-dimensional structure while simultaneously maintaining the selected side as having an active status; and

upon receiving a second signal, displaying a selected new side and providing for the invocation of a selected respective function described by the associated respective information for the selected new side.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein an active side is displayed as facing a user and an inactive side is displayed in at least one of a recessed and non-viewable manner.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein a selected icon is displayed larger than an unselected icon.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the first user interaction is one of opening a computer file or folder, modifying a computer file or folder, changing, deleting, requesting information regarding a computer file or folder and adding information relating to a computer file or folder.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further having computer executable instructions for performing the steps comprising:

detecting a second user interaction;

updating the at least one current icon and respective display information as a function of the second user interaction;

displaying on the display device the updated at least one current icon and respective display information.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein updating the at least one current icon comprises causing a first side of a selected icon previously having an inactive status to have an active status and a second side of the selected icon previously having an active status to have to an inactive status.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein updating at least one current icon further comprises causing the first side to be displayed as facing a user and the second side to be displayed in a recessed manner using a rotation process.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the second user interaction is a mouse click on a selectable portion of an icon.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the mouse click is a right mouse button click, and updating the at least one current icon further comprises displaying at least one action that may be taken with respect to a computer file or folder on an active side of a selected icon.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein updating the at least one current icon further comprises causing a first icon previously having an unselected status to have a selected status and a second icon previously having an selected status to have an unselected status.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein updating the at least one current icon further comprises causing the first icon to be displayed so that it is larger than the second icon.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein updating the at least one current icon further comprises causing the first side to be displayed as facing a user and the second side to be displayed in a non-viewable manner using a rotation process.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising displaying an emblem on an icon, wherein a user action with respect to the emblem causes a predefined action to occur.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the predefined action is to rotate the icon such that a first side associated with the icon is in an inactive position and a second side associated with the icon is in an active position.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first view comprises a plurality of current icons, further having computer executable instructions for performing the steps comprising:

associating an manipulation object with the plurality of current icons; and

in response to a second user interaction with the manipulation objection, displaying a third view of the plurality of current icons, wherein the third view represents a rotation of the three-dimensional structures of the current icons in the same direction.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the received respective information is specified by an application associated with the file system element, and the received respective information comprises at least one function specific to the application.

17. A display device having rendered thereon a file explorer view, comprising:

a current representation of a state associated with a file system, the state updated upon a user interaction with the file system, wherein the current representation comprises at least one three-dimensional object that represents computer file or folder data, wherein the three-dimensional object has a first and at least a second side, wherein, when one side has an active status and a remainder of the sides have an inactive status, the side having the active status is displayed in a manner to indicate it is active and the remainder of the sides are displayed in a manner to indicate they are inactive, and wherein one of the sides comprising an option to modify a configuration of the three-dimensional object and an option to apply the configuration to at least one other three-dimensional object associated with a same type of file system element;

extensibility information comprising respective information for each of at least one new side associated with a modified three-dimensional object, wherein each respective information comprises at least one function available via a respective side;

wherein the display device;

displays the current representation of the modified three-dimensional object;

upon receiving a first signal;

determines a temporary representation of the three-dimensional object, wherein the temporary representation represents a rotation of the three-dimensional object whereby information not viewable in the current representation may be viewable in the temporary representation; and

displays the temporary representation of the three-dimensional object while simultaneously maintaining the selected side as having an active status; and

upon receiving a second signal, displays a selected new side and provides for the invocation of a selected respective function described by the associated respective information for the selected new side.

18. The display device of claim 17, further comprising a selectable region associated with the three-dimensional object, wherein a user action with respect to the selectable region causes the representation of the three-dimensional object to display the second side as the active side and the first side as the inactive side, and wherein the second side displays a set of information relating to the computer file or folder data represented by the second side.

19. In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display device and a user interface selection device, a method of providing a representation of computer file or folder data, the method comprising the steps of:

associating each of a plurality of file system elements with a respective three-dimensional object, wherein the file system elements comprise a computer file and/or folder data, wherein each three-dimensional object has a first side and at least a second side, and wherein one of the sides comprises an option to modify a configuration of the three-dimensional object and an option to apply the configuration to at least one other three-dimensional object associated with the same type of file system element;

receiving respective information for each of a at least one new side associated with each respective three dimensional object, wherein each respective information comprises at least one function available via a respective side;

displaying on the display device each three-dimensional object that represents the computer file or the folder data;

determining a user selected side from a first user input with a file system;

assigning an active status to said user selected side;

assigning an inactive status to one or more unselected sides;

displaying a first set of information pertaining to computer file or folder data represented by the user selected side;

upon receiving a first signal;

determining a second set of information pertaining to computer file or folder data, wherein the second set of information is not viewable via the displaying of the first set of information;

displaying the second set of information while simultaneously maintaining the selected side as having an active status; and

upon receiving a second signal, displaying a selected new side and providing for the invocation of a selected respective function described by the associated respective information for the selected new side.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

displaying the first set of information proximate the first side of the three-dimensional object;

detecting a second user input with respect to the first set of information and

performing an immediate action according to the second user input.