Automatically arranging of icons on a user interface

• US 8,930,839 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2011
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: He, Li, Liu, Peng
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chowdhury, Rayeez
• Application Number:
  US13/301,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20130132874A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,141 Days
• Field of Search: 715/765
• US Class Current: 715/765
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34

Abstract

Automatically arranging icons on a user interface is provided. A plurality of icons associated with items are received and displayed on the user interface. An importance score for each icon of the plurality of icons and a similarity score between two or more of the plurality of icons are determined. Further, a user interface coordinate is assigned to at least a portion of the plurality of icons based on the importance and similarity scores. The user interface is then displayed with the at least a portion of the plurality of icons according to the user interface coordinate.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically arranging icons on a user interface, comprising:

receiving a plurality of icons associated with items and displayed on the user interface, wherein user interface comprises a hierarchical user interface having a top grid layer and one or more partition layers in which an icon on the top grid layer represents multiple lower level icons on one of the partition layers;

determining an importance score for each icon of the plurality of icons;

determining a similarity score between two or more of the plurality of icons;

assigning first user interface coordinates to a first portion of the plurality of icons based on the similarity scores, wherein the first user interface coordinates are assigned by iteratively assigning the first portion of icons along a rectangular grid of the top grid layer so that the icons sharing most similar functions are located closest to each other on the top grid layer;

assigning second user interface coordinates to a second portion of the plurality of icons based on the importance scores, wherein the second user interface coordinates are assigned by iteratively assigning the second portion of icons along a rectangular grid of a partition layer so that the icons are arranged in decreasing order of importance on the partition layer; and

displaying the user interface with the first and second portions of the plurality of icons displayed according to the first and second user interface coordinates, such that the first portion of the plurality of icons are displayed when the top grid layer is displayed and the second portion of the plurality of icons are displayed when the partition layer is displayed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the importance score comprises:

receiving information concerning user interactions with the plurality of icons.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the importance score comprises:

determining a frequency that an item associated with an icon is accessed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the similarity score comprises:

receiving properties associated with the plurality of icons.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the similarity score comprises:

performing a semantic analysis on an item associated with an icon.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically updating the display of the user interface responsive to receiving an updated importance score or receiving an updated similarity score.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of icons are associated with at least one or a combination of:

an application, a mobile application, a file, a shortcut, a hyperlink, a URL, and a widget.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein a partition layer of the one or more partition layers is displayed in response to a user selecting a top grid layer icon displayed on the top grid layer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the displayed partition layer contains multiple lower level icons that are all related to the selected top grid layer icon.

8. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium that when executed by a processor, performs a method for automatically arranging icons on a user interface, comprising:

receiving a plurality of icons associated with items and displayed on the user interface, wherein the user interface comprises a hierarchical user interface in which a top level icon on a grid layer represents multiple lower level icons on a partition layer;

determining an importance score for each icon of the plurality of icons;

determining a similarity score between two or more of the plurality of icons;

assigning first user interface coordinates to a first portion of the plurality of icons based on the similarity scores, the assigning done so that icons sharing most similar functions are located closest to each other along a rectangular grid on the grid layer;

assigning second user interface coordinates to a second portion of the plurality of icons based on the importance scores, the assigning done so that icons having the highest importance score are displayed first along a rectangular grid on the partition layer; and

displaying the user interface with the at least a portion of the plurality of icons displayed according to the first and second user interface coordinates, such that the first portion of the plurality of icons are displayed when the grid layer is displayed and the second portion of the plurality of icons are displayed when the partition layer is displayed.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the importance score comprises:

receiving information concerning user interactions with the plurality of icons.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the importance score comprises:

determining a frequency that an item associated with an icon is accessed.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the similarity score comprises:

receiving properties associated with the plurality of icons.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the similarity score comprises:

performing a semantic analysis on an item associated with an icon.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

automatically updating the display of the user interface responsive to receiving an updated importance score or receiving an updated similarity score.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of icons are associated with at least one or a combination of:

an application, a mobile application, a file, a shortcut, a hyperlink, a URL, and a widget.

15. A device for automatically arranging icons on a user interface, comprising:

a receiving module to receive a plurality of icons associated with items and displayed on the user interface having an upper level and multiple lower levels;

an icon analyzer to determine an importance score for each icon of the plurality of icons and a similarity score between two or more of the plurality of icons;

a mapping module to assign an upper level user interface coordinate to at least a first portion of the plurality of icons based on similarity scores and a lower level user interface coordinate to a least a second portion of the plurality of icons based on the importance scores, wherein the upper level and lower level user interface coordinates are defined according to a two-dimensional coordinate system, and the assigning is done by iteratively assigning the icons along a rectangular grid so that the icons sharing most similar functions are located closest to each other on the upper level and the icons are ordered based on highest importance on the lower levels; and

an output module to display the user interface with the at least a portion of the plurality of icons according to the upper level and lower level user interface coordinates, such that the first portion of the plurality of icons are displayed when the upper level is displayed and the second portion of the plurality of icons are displayed when the lower level is displayed.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein determining the importance score comprises:

receiving information concerning user interactions with the plurality of icons.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein determining the similarity score comprises:

receiving properties associated with the plurality of cons.

18. The device of claim 15, wherein a top level icon displayed on the upper level represents multiple lower level icons displayed on one of the lower levels.