System and method for streamlining user interaction with electronic content

• US 8,577,957 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2009
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LiTL LLC (TRI Ventures, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LiTL LLC (TRI Ventures, Inc.)
• Inventors: Behar, Yves, Morenstein, Joshua, Hibmacronan, Christopher, Edahiro, Naoya, Day, Matthew David, Guyot, Noah Bruce, Kuo, Daniel, Hayes, Jenea Boshart, Tang, Aaron, Fischer, Donald Francis, Fore, David Livingstone, Chuang, John, Pennington, Robert Sanford Havoc, Bambacus, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): CHRISTENSEN, SCOTT B
• Application Number:
  US12/416,503
• Publication Number:
  US 20090300511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,679 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/162 changing, e.g. reversing, the face orientation of the screen with a two degrees of freedom mechanism, e.g. for folding into tablet PC like position or orienting towards the direction opposite to the user to show to a second user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1677 for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts

Abstract

Various aspects and embodiments are directed to a graphical user interface that organizes interface elements into views of computer content for presentation to a user. Different views of are used to provide an interface that is responsive to configurations of the device and responsive to activity being performed by the user. Aspects include permitting the user to transition the device from one configuration to another during its use, for example from easel to laptop modes. Further the elements that comprise the graphical user interface are configured to present a summarized view of available actions and content, in order to simplify user interaction. The different views present different organizations of the interface elements and in some example display only certain ones of the modes of content in order to reduce the number of options a user must navigate to accomplish an objective. According to another aspect, methods and systems for streamlining user interaction with computer content are provided. In some embodiments, streamlining includes pre-configuring a user device based on received information. Other embodiments include presenting consistent visual representations used to navigated to views that present computer content.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for interpreting on-line executable operations into streamlined operations, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, electronic content through a communication interface, wherein the electronic content is hosted online by a server system;

presenting, by the computer system, the electronic content to a user of the computer system through a graphical user interface;

receiving, by the computer system, selection of at least one executable operation provided within the electronic content through the graphical user interface, wherein the at least one executable operation includes an executable operation hosted by the server system;

determining that the at least one executable operation includes a local access operation on the computer system;

transforming, based on the determining, the at least one executable operation into a remote access operation, the transforming comprising;

identifying at least one characteristic of the at least one executable operation;

accessing a profile to retrieve information on at least one available remote services responsive to the at least one identified characteristics of the executable operation;

selecting an available remote service from the at least one available remote service;

retrieving the service access information for the selected remote service;

transforming, based on the at least one characteristic of the at least one executable operation and the service access information, the at least one executable operation into the remote access operation to utilize the remote service; and

transmitting the remote access operation to the server system.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the local access operation hosted by the server system is configured to be executed by an operating system on the computer system to request local storage of electronic content on the computer system prior to transformation.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic content presented to the user through a graphical user interface includes a web page and the at least one executable operation is contained with the web page.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the local access operation includes executable instructions that cause a computer system to download electronic content to local memory including a mass storage device.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein transforming the at least one executable operation into a remote access operation includes redirecting the executable operation into a request for access to remote service hosted by a third party provider.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising identifying a remote service stored in at least one of a device profile and a user profile.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

configuring access to a remote service on the computer system, wherein the act of configuring access to the remote service includes establishing an account name and password for the remote service; and

storing the account name and the password as part of at least one of a device profile and a user profile.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein configuring access includes defining one or more types of electronic content associated with the remote service;

and

storing the one or more types of electronic content associated with the remote service as part of at least one of a device profile and a user profile.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a type of electronic content associated with the local access operation; and

selecting a remote service based at least in part on the identification of the type of the electronic content.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing a remote service profile including at least one type of electronic content associated with at least one remote service; and

identifying the at least one type of electronic content associated with the at least one remote service.

11. The method according to claim 10, includes providing a default remote service profile, wherein the default remote service profile is associated with all file content types, and is further associated with a data storage capability;

and

selecting the default profile in response to determining no matches to at least one of the remote service profile, a device profile, and a user profile .

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising associating a computer based operation with a remote service responsive to user selection of the remote service during operation of the computer system.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein transforming the at least one executable operation into a remote access operation, in response to identification of the at least one executable operation includes:

accessing at least one of a device profile, a remote profile, and a user profile; and

identifying at least one remote service based on at least one of the requested at least one executable operation and a content type referenced by the executable operation.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

selecting at least one remote service;

redirecting the at least one executable operation to the remote service.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein selecting at least one remote service includes:

displaying a plurality of remote services to the user in an interface; and

permitting selection of one of the plurality of remote services by the user through the interface.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining that the function that would be performed meets transformation criteria includes accessing a size threshold associated with the at least one executable operation that performs a local access operation, wherein accessing the size threshold includes accessing at least one of a user profile, a device profile, a remote service profile, and a default profile to obtain a file size limitation.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein transforming the at least one executable operation into a remote access operation includes:

creating a navigational link to content associated with the at least one executable operation; and

transmitting the navigational link through an electronic message instead of performing the at least one executable operation, in response to a determination that the size threshold has been exceeded.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein selection of the at least one executable operation includes at least one of resolving computer focus within the graphical user interface on the at least one executable operation and hovering a visual pointer in the graphical user interface over a visual indicator of the at least one executable operation.

19. A streamlined computer device, the device comprising:

at least one processor operatively connected to a memory, the processor when executing is configured to cause the device to;

receive electronic content hosted by a server system;

render electronic content to a user in a graphical user interface;

receive selection through the graphical user interface, by the user, of at least one executable operation provided by the server system within the electronic content;

determine that the at least one executable operation performs a local access operation, and

transform the at least one executable operation into a remote access operation, wherein transforming includes;

identifying at least one characteristic of the at least one executable operation;

accessing a profile to retrieve information on at least one available remote services responsive to the at least one identified characteristics of the executable operation;

selecting an available remote service from the at least one available remote service;

retrieving the service access information for the selected remote service;

wherein transforming is executed based on the at least one characteristic of the at least one executable operation and the service access information; and

transmit the remote access operation to the server system.

20. The device according to claim 19,

wherein identifying includes:

evaluating a function that would be performed by executing the at least one operation, and

determining that the function that would be performed meets transformation criteria.

21. The device according to claim 19, wherein the local access operation provided by the server system is configured to be executed by an operating system to request local storage of electronic content prior to transformation.

22. The device according to claim 19, wherein the electronic content presented to the user through the graphical user interface includes a web page and the at least one executable operation is contained with the web page.

23. The device according to claim 19, wherein the local access operation includes executable instructions that cause download of electronic content to local memory including a mass storage device.

24. The device according to claim 19, wherein the device is further caused to identify a remote service stored in at least one of a device profile and a user profile.

25. The device according to claim 19, wherein the device is further caused to:

configure access to a remote service on the computer system, wherein the act of configuring access to the remote service includes establishing an account name and password for the remote service; and

store the account name and the password as part of at least one of a device profile and a user profile.

26. The device according to claim 19, wherein configuring access includes defining one or more types of electronic content associated with the remote service and

storing the one or more types of electronic content associated with the remote service as part of at least one of a device profile and a user profile.

27. The device according to claim 19, wherein the device is caused to:

identify a type of electronic content associated with the local access operation; and

select a remote service based at least in part on the identification of the type of the electronic content.

28. The device according to claim 19, wherein the device is caused to:

provide a remote service profile including at least one type of electronic content associated with at least one remote service; and

identify the at least one type of electronic content associated with the at least one remote service.

29. The device according to claim 28, wherein the device is caused to:

provide a default remote service profile, wherein the default remote service profile is associated with all file content types, and is further associated with a data storage capability; and

select the default profile in response to determining no matches to at least one of the remote service profile, a device profile, and a user profile.

30. The device according to claim 19, wherein the device is caused to associate a computer based operation with a remote service responsive to user selection of the remote service during operation of the computer system.

31. The device according to claim 19, wherein transforming the at least one executable operation into a remote access operation includes:

accessing at least one of a device profile, a remote profile, and a user profile; and

identifying at least one remote service based on at least one of the requested at least one executable operation and a content type referenced by the executable operation.

32. The device according to claim 31, wherein the device is caused to:

select at least one remote service;

redirect the at least one executable operation to the remote service.

33. The device according to claim 32, wherein selecting at least one remote service includes:

displaying a plurality of remote services to the user in an interface; and

permitting selection of one of the plurality of remote services by the user through the interface.

34. The device according to claim 20, wherein determining that the function that would be performed meets transformation criteria includes accessing a size threshold associated with the at least one executable operation that performs a local access operation, wherein accessing the size threshold includes accessing at least one of a user profile, a device profile, a remote service profile, and a default profile to obtain a file size limitation.

35. The device according to claim 34, wherein transforming the at least one executable operation into a remote access operation includes:

creating a navigational link to content associated with the at least one executable operation; and

transmitting the navigational link through an electronic message instead of performing the at least one executable operation, in response to a determination that the size threshold has been exceeded.

36. The device according to claim 19, wherein selecting of the at least one executable operation includes at least one of resolving computer focus within the graphical user interface on the at least one executable operation and hovering a visual pointer in the graphical user interface over a visual indicator of the at least one executable operation.