Render transform based scrolling and panning for smooth effects

• US 8,595,640 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2010
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shatalin, Mikhail, Shah, Gunjan A., Oster, Shawn T., Sheller, Jonathan D., Michail, Ashraf A., Kaza, Akhilesh, Liu, Alan C. T.
• Primary Examiner(s): HO, RUAY L
• Application Number:
  US12/958,418
• Publication Number:
  US 20120144333A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• Field of Search: 715200-277, 715700-867, 700701-866, 709201-229, 345 30-111
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

An information display system is described herein that separates rendering of information from receiving that information so that the rendering portion can be quickly displayed to the user and the data can arrive as it is available to provide further detail. The rendering portion creates a hardware surface measured to fill the area to be consumed by the list box or other control. Independently, the information retrieval portion queries information from a server or other source and processes the information as it is received. The system can then perform a transformation on the previously created hardware surface to insert the information in the rendered control without re-laying out the entire control or recreating user interface elements. Moving a surface is a cheaper operation for a CPU and can easily be accelerated using a GPU.

Claims

1. A computing device-implemented method for displaying a user interface on the computing device, the method comprising:

receiving layout information for a user interface to be at least partially displayed by the computing device, wherein the user interface includes a visible area and a precached area, wherein the user interface is associated with each of a plurality of user interface items, and wherein the plurality of user interface items includes at least one user interface item that has yet to be received by the computing device;

rendering, based at least in part on the received layout information, the user interface before receipt of the at least one user interface item that has yet to be received by the computing device;

displaying, by the computing device, a first portion of the rendered user interface, the first portion being within an area of the user interface defined by a surface;

receiving a request to display a second portion of the rendered user interface; and

in response to the received request, displaying, by the computing device, the second portion of the rendered user interface, including;

performing a move transform to the surface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the layout information includes descriptions of sizes for portions of the user interface that are to be allocated to each of the plurality of user interface items.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the layout information comprises information describing a size of a screen of the computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the user interface comprises determining screen coordinates for the user interface, a size of the user interface, and a size of the first portion and of the second portion.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the user interface comprises rendering the precached area of the user interface, the precached area being larger than the first portion.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the move transform to the surface includes performing the move transform with a graphics processing unit (GPU) associated with the computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the user interface includes a fixed number of reusable user interface elements, and wherein

the method further comprises;

reusing, in response to a scrolling of user interface items into a visible area, the fixed number of user interface elements to display user interface items of the plurality of user interface items.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of user interface items including a greater number of user interface items than are to be simultaneously displayed by the computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the request represents user input, the user input including a swipe.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the second portion comprises displaying the second portion without rerendering the user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the move transform to the surface includes moving the surface by an amount based on the request.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the received request, submitting a retrieval request for retrieval of user interface items that are within the precached area, wherein the precached area is adjacent to the second portion.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein for performing operations that display a user interface on a computing device, the operations comprising:

receiving layout information for a user interface to be at least partially displayed by the computing device, wherein the user interface includes a visible area and a precache area, wherein the user interface is associated with each of a plurality of user interface items, and wherein the plurality of user interface items includes at least one user interface item that has yet to be received by the computing device;

rendering, based at least in part on the received layout information, the user interface before receipt of the at least one user interface item that has yet to be received by the computing device;

displaying, by the computing device, a first portion of the rendered user interface, the first portion being within an area of the user interface defined by a surface;

receiving a request to display a second portion of the rendered user interface; and

in response to the received request, displaying, by the computing device, the second portion of the rendered user interface, including;

performing a move transform to the surface.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the layout information includes descriptions of sizes for portions of the user interface that are to be allocated to each of the plurality of user interface items.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein rendering the user interface comprises rendering the precache area of the user interface, the precache area being larger than the first portion.

16. A computing device for displaying a user interface, the computing device comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the stored instructions, wherein execution of the stored instructions causes the computing device to;

receive layout information for a user interface to be at least partially displayed by the computing device, wherein the user interface includes a visible area and a precache area, wherein the user interface is associated with each of a plurality of user interface items, and wherein the plurality of user interface items includes at least one user interface item that has yet to be received by the computing device;

render, based at least in part on the received layout information, the user interface before receipt of the at least one user interface item that has yet to be received by the computing device;

display a first portion of the rendered user interface, the first portion being within an area of the user interface defined by a surface;

receive a request to display a second portion of the rendered user interface; and

in response to the received request, display the second portion of the rendered user interface, including;

perform a move transform to the surface.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the layout information includes descriptions of sizes for portions of the user interface that are to be allocated to each of the plurality of user interface items.

18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein execution of the stored instructions that cause the computing device to render the user interface also cause the computing device to render the precache area of the user interface, the precache area being larger than the first portion.

19. The computing device of claim 16, wherein:

the user interface includes a fixed number of reusable user interface elements, and wherein

execution of the stored instructions also causes the computing device to;

reuse, in response to a scrolling of user interface items into a visible area, the fixed number of user interface elements to display user interface items of the plurality of user interface items.

20. The computing device of claim 16, execution of the stored instructions also causes the computing device to:

in response to the received request, submit a retrieval request for retrieval of user interface items that are within the precache area, and wherein the precache area is adjacent to the second portion.