U.S. patent application number 10/774797 was filed with the patent office on 2004-08-19 for speed dependent automatic zooming interface.
Invention is credited to Hineklev, Kenneth P., Horvitz, Eric, Igarashi, Takeo.
Application Number | 20040160458 10/774797 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32326719 |
Filed Date | 2004-08-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040160458 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Igarashi, Takeo ; et
al. |
August 19, 2004 |
Speed dependent automatic zooming interface
Abstract
Speed-dependent automatic zooming through content such as
documents and images is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method
first receives an input, such as a user input on an input device,
like a joystick, a mouse, a trackball, or other pointing device.
The input is mapped to either speed of navigation through a content
space, or scale of the content space while being navigated. The
other of speed or scale to which the input was not mapped is then
determined, based on the relationship that scale times speed equals
a constant. The content space is then navigated, based on the speed
or scale mapped from the input, and the scale or speed
determined.
Inventors: |
Igarashi, Takeo; (Chigasaki,
JP) ; Horvitz, Eric; (Kirkland, WA) ;
Hineklev, Kenneth P.; (Kirkland, WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
AMIN & TUROCY, LLP
24TH FLOOR, NATIONAL CITY CENTER
1900 EAST NINTH STREET
CLEVELAND
OH
44114
US
|
Family ID: |
32326719 |
Appl. No.: |
10/774797 |
Filed: |
February 9, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10774797 |
Feb 9, 2004 |
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09460028 |
Dec 13, 1999 |
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6747680 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
345/660 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 2203/04806
20130101; G06F 3/04855 20130101; G06F 3/0485 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
345/660 |
International
Class: |
G09G 005/00 |
Claims
1. A navigation system comprising: a display for displaying an area
of a map; a component that receives speed information relating to
movement of a vehicle; and a navigation component that modifies a
scale of the map display area as a function of the speed
information.
2. The system of claim 1, the display is a graphical user interface
within the vehicle.
3. The system of claim 1, the speed information is based at least
in part on force exerted on an accelerator.
4. The system of claim 1, the speed information is based at least
in part on speedometer information.
5. The system of claim 1, the speed information is based at least
in part on odometer information comprising distance traveled over a
period of time.
6. The system of claim 1, the scale of the map display area is
inversely proportional to the speed of the vehicle.
7. The system of claim 6, the product of the speed of the vehicle
and the scale of the map display area are equal to a constant.
8. The system of claim 1, the navigation component modifies the
scale of the map display area as an exponential function of the
speed information.
9. The system of claim 1, the navigation component modifies the
scale of the map display area as a linear function of the speed
information.
10. The system of claim 1, the rate at which the scale of the map
display area is modified is a function of a rate of change of the
speed information.
11. The system of claim 1, the map is at least one of a road map, a
topographical map, and an aerial map.
12. A method for automatically zooming a map area display
comprising: displaying a map area to a user in a vehicle;
selectively indicating position of the vehicle on the map area
display; determining speed information related to movement of the
vehicle; and modifying scale of the map area display as a function
of the speed information of the vehicle.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising modifying the scale
of the map area display as a function of intervals of speeds of the
vehicle.
14. The method of claim 13, the scale of the map area display is
modified when the speed of the vehicle crosses an interval
boundary.
15. The method of claim 12, further comprising modifying the scale
of the map area display at a rate that is dependent on the rate of
change of the speed information.
16. The method of claim 15, the rate at which the scale of the map
area display is modified has a maximum limit.
17. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining a base
scale at which to display the map area.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising increasing or
decreasing the scale of the map display area from the base scale as
a function of the speed information of the vehicle.
19. The method of claim 12, further comprising positioning the
vehicle at the center of the map display area while displaying the
map area to the user in the vehicle.
20. The method of claim 12, the scale of the map area display is
equal to a constant divided by the speed of the vehicle.
21. The method of claim 20, the scale of the map area display and
the speed of the vehicle are linearly related.
22. The method of claim 20, the scale of the map area display and
the speed of the vehicle are exponentially related.
23. The method of claim 12, further comprising selectively
modifying the scale of the map area display as a function of the
complexity of the map, the scale of the map area display is
directly proportional to the complexity of the map
24. A method for automatically zooming map area display scale,
comprising; means for displaying a map to a user in a vehicle;
means for determining speed information related to the vehicle; and
means for adjusting scale of the map based at least in part on
speed information related to the vehicle.
25. The method of claim 24, further comprising means for
selectively indicating the position the vehicle on the map area
display.
26. The method of claim 24, the product of the scale of the map
area display and the speed of the vehicle equals a constant.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates generally to interfaces for viewing
content, and particularly to a speed-dependent automatic zooming
interface for viewing content.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] A commonplace application for computers and computerized
devices is the viewing of content such as web pages, graphic
images, maps, word processing documents, etc. For most documents
and images, their size is too large to view them in their entirety
on a display at full scale, even on relatively large displays. For
example, a document of more than one or two pages in length, or an
image file having a width greater than 1,024 pixels and a height
greater than 768 pixels, is typically not completely viewable at
full scale on a typical seventeen-inch monitor.
[0003] Most operating systems and application programs therefore
have instituted scroll bar and zoom mechanisms for navigating such
large documents and images. Scroll bars allow a user to change what
part of a document or image is currently viewable on the display.
For example, a vertical scroll bar allows a user to navigate a
document or image in the vertical direction, while a horizontal
scroll bar allows a user to navigate the document or image in the
horizontal direction. A user thus is able to change what portion of
the document or image is currently viewable on the display by
scrolling through the document or image. One common input device, a
mouse having a wheel, is particularly well suited for scrolling
through the document or image in one direction at a time, by using
its wheel.
[0004] Using scroll bars to navigate a document or image does not
change how much of the document or image is currently viewable on
the display, though. The scale of the document remains constant.
Therefore, in order to see more or less of a document or
image--that is, to change the scale of the document or
image--zooming is used. For example, an image may be "zoomed out"
so that the entire image is viewable on a display at one time. The
trade-off, however, is a loss of visible detail of the image, since
the resolution of the display itself remains constant. Thus, at
100% scale, full detail of the image may be visible on the display,
but only part of the image is typically viewable, whereas at 25%
scale, the entire image may be viewable on the display, but with a
loss of visible detail.
[0005] Therefore, to quickly navigate a long document or a large
image, a common approach is to first zoom out so that the entire
document or image is viewable at reduced visible detail, locate the
general part of the document or image that is of interest, zoom in
on that part, and finally navigate that part to find the exact
point of interest. This requires much user input: the user first
has to manually invoke a zoom mechanism to zoom out, then perhaps
use scroll bars to locate the general part of interest, again use
the zoom mechanism to zoom in on this general part, and finally
again use the scroll bars to find exactly the point of interest
within the document or image.
[0006] Many users may therefore simply opt to just stay at full
scale, and quickly scroll through the document or image vertically
and/or horizontally to locate the exact point of interest by trial
and error. For example, within a word processing document, the user
may know that the point of interest is located somewhere in the
middle of the document. Therefore, the user may scroll down very
quickly through the document, such that the document is not
readable because of the speed at which the user is moving through
it, and occasionally slow down or stop scrolling to determine if
further scrolling in the same direction is needed, or if the
desired point has in fact been overshot. If overshot, then the user
must begin scrolling in the opposite direction. All this continues
until the desired point of interest is finally reached.
[0007] These and other prior art approaches for navigating a long
document or large image thus leave much be desired. They do not
allow easy and precise navigation through a long document or large
image to quickly locate a desired point within the document or
image. For this and other reasons, there is a need for the present
invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The invention relates to speed-dependent automatic zooming
through content such as documents and images. In one embodiment, a
method first receives an input, such as a user input on an input
device like a mouse or a trackball. Other input devices amenable to
an embodiment of the invention include self-centering input
devices, such as self-centering joysticks, levers, etc. The input
is mapped to either speed of navigation through a content space, or
scale of the content space while being navigated. The other of
speed or scale to which the input was not mapped is then
determined, based on the relationship that scale times speed equals
a constant. The content space is then navigated, based on the speed
or scale mapped from the input, and the scale or speed
determined.
[0009] Embodiments of the invention provide for advantages not
found within the prior art. In one embodiment, a single input, such
as movement of a mouse, ultimately controls both speed of
navigation through a content, and the scale of that content while
being navigated. For example, while content is being navigated
quickly, the scale of the content is reduced, so the user can still
easily get a sense for where he or she is navigating within the
content. Then, when the user slows down navigation, the scale of
the content automatically is increased, so the user is able to
easily particularly locate an exact desired point within the
content. This is as compared with the prior art, which requires
separate user inputs to control scale of the content while being
navigated and speed of navigation through the content.
[0010] Furthermore, it is noted that in one embodiment, perceptual
benefits are provided for the user. For example, within the prior
art, if the user scrolls too fast, the perceptual scrolling speed,
which is the visual speed of the document across the screen,
becomes too fast to read the document, and the user can become
disoriented. However, in an embodiment of the invention, the
perceptual scrolling speed remains constant, by controlling the
zooming level based on the relationship that scale times speed
equals a constant. Thus, the user does not become disoriented
within the document.
[0011] The invention includes computer-implemented methods,
machine-readable media, computerized systems, and computers of
varying scopes. Other aspects, embodiments and advantages of the
invention, beyond those described here, will become apparent by
reading the detailed description and with reference to the
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an operating environment in
conjunction with which embodiments of the invention can be
practiced;
[0013] FIGS. 2-4 are diagrams illustrating an example of navigation
through content in accordance with an embodiment of the
invention;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a diagram of an indicator that can be used with an
embodiment of the invention;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a diagram of a graph showing the relationship
between scale and speed as affected by input such as a change in
position of an input device, such as a pointing device, according
to one embodiment of the invention;
[0016] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment
of the invention; and,
[0017] FIG. 8 is a diagram of a system according to an embodiment
of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0018] In the following detailed description of exemplary
embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying
drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of
illustration specific exemplary embodiments in which the invention
may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient
detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the
invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be
utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical and other changes
may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the
present invention. The following detailed description is,
therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of
the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.
[0019] Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are
presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of
operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic
descriptions and representations are the means used by those
skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the
substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm
is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence
of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring
physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not
necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or
magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,
compared, and otherwise manipulated.
[0020] It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons
of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values,
elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It
should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar
terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities
and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities.
Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following
discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present
invention, discussions utilizing terms such as processing or
computing or calculating or determining or displaying or the like,
refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar
electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data
represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer
system's registers and memories into other data similarly
represented as physical quantities within the computer system
memories or registers or other such information storage,
transmission or display devices.
Operating Environment
[0021] Referring to FIG. 1, a diagram of the hardware and operating
environment in conjunction with which embodiments of the invention
may be practiced is shown. The description of FIG. 1 is intended to
provide a brief, general description of suitable computer hardware
and a suitable computing environment in conjunction with which the
invention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention
is described in the general context of computer-executable
instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a
computer, such as a personal computer. Generally, program modules
include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures,
etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular
abstract data types.
[0022] Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
invention may be practiced with other computer system
configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor
systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,
network PC's, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The
invention may also be practiced in distributed computing
environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices
that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed
computing environment, program modules may be located in both local
and remote memory storage devices.
[0023] The exemplary hardware and operating environment of FIG. 1
for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing
device in the form of a computer 20, including a processing unit
21, a system memory 22, and a system bus 23 that operatively
couples various system components include the system memory to the
processing unit 21. There may be only one or there may be more than
one processing unit 21, such that the processor of computer 20
comprises a single central-processing unit (CPU), or a plurality of
processing units, commonly referred to as a parallel processing
environment. The computer 20 may be a conventional computer, a
distributed computer, or any other type of computer; the invention
is not so limited.
[0024] The system bus 23 may be any of several types of bus
structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a
peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus
architectures. The system memory may also be referred to as simply
the memory, and includes read only memory (ROM) 24 and random
access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input/output system (BIOS) 26,
containing the basic routines that help to transfer information
between elements within the computer 20, such as during start-up,
is stored in ROM 24. The computer 20 further includes a hard disk
drive 27 for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a
magnetic disk drive 28 for reading from or writing to a removable
magnetic disk 29, and an optical disk drive 30 for reading from or
writing to a removable optical disk 31 such as a CD ROM or other
optical media.
[0025] The hard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, and optical
disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk
drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface 33, and an
optical disk drive interface 34, respectively. The drives and their
associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of
computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules
and other data for the computer 20. It should be appreciated by
those skilled in the art that any type of computer-readable media
which can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as
magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks,
Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only
memories (ROMs), and the like, may be used in the exemplary
operating environment.
[0026] A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk,
magnetic disk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24, or RAM 25, including an
operating system 35, one or more application programs 36, other
program modules 37, and program data 38. A user may enter commands
and information into the personal computer 20 through input devices
such as a keyboard 40 and pointing device 42. Other input devices
(not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite
dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often
connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface
46 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other
interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port, or a universal
serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type of display device is
also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as a
video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor, computers typically
include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as
speakers and printers.
[0027] The computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using
logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote
computer 49. These logical connections are achieved by a
communication device coupled to or a part of the computer 20; the
invention is not limited to a particular type of communications
device. The remote computer 49 may be another computer, a server, a
router, a network PC, a client, a peer device or other common
network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements
described above relative to the computer 20, although only a memory
storage device 50 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical
connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local-area network (LAN)
51 and a wide-area network (WAN) 52. Such networking environments
are commonplace in office networks, enterprise-wide computer
networks, intranets and the Internal, which are all types of
networks.
[0028] When used in a LAN-networking environment, the computer 20
is connected to the local network 51 through a network interface or
adapter 53, which is one type of communications device. When used
in a WAN-networking environment, the computer 20 typically includes
a modem 54, a type of communications device, or any other type of
communications device for establishing communications over the wide
area network 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which may be
internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the
serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program
modules depicted relative to the personal computer 20, or portions
thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It is
appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and
other means of and communications devices for establishing a
communications link between the computers may be used.
Operation
[0029] In this section of the detailed description, an example of
how an embodiment of the invention operates is presented. The
invention itself, however, is not limited to this example, and it
is presented herein for illustrative purposes only. Specific
methods and systems according to varying embodiments of the
invention are presented in proceeding sections to describe how an
embodiment can achieve the operation described in this section.
[0030] In one embodiment of the invention, a singular user input
affects both speed of navigation through content, as well as the
scale of the content while it is being navigated. Navigation as
used herein means movement through the content as viewable on a
display. For example, at full scale, only a portion of the content
may be viewable on the display, whereas at 25% scale, the entire
content may be viewable on the display, or at least more of the
content than when it is being viewed at full scale, but with less
visible detail.
[0031] The speed of navigation refers to the speed at which a
visible portion of the content is moved through on the display. In
one embodiment, the speed of navigation can be likened to scrolling
speed. When content is navigated through very quickly, it is
difficult for a user to discern details of the content as they move
on the display; conversely, when content is navigated through very
slowly, it is easier for a user to discern content details, and
much easier still when the content is not moving at all.
[0032] The scale of the content is indicative of how much of the
document is viewable on the display while it is being navigated. At
full scale, all the details of the content are typically visible on
the display; however, only a small part of the document is viewable
on the display. Reducing scale increases the portion of the
document that is viewable on the display, but with a reduction in
the visible detail. For example, at full scale, one paragraph of a
text document may be viewable on the display, such that all the
words of the paragraph are visible. At a lesser scale, one page of
the text document may be viewable, but such that the words of the
page are smaller, and thus more difficult to discern. At a least
scale, all the pages of the text document may be viewable, but
likely such that only chapter headings and other larger indicia of
the text document are visible. Scale can in one embodiment be
likened to resolution of the content; however, that term is not
used universally herein so as not to create confusion with the
resolution of the display itself, which typically remains constant
for a given display.
[0033] The invention is not limited to a particular type of content
that can be navigated in accordance therewith. Typical types of
content include word processing documents, including those
containing images and other objects in addition to text, text
documents, images in various formats, maps (which are a particular
type of image), web pages, etc. Other typical types of documents
include spreadsheets, drawings and illustrations, such as those
utilizing vector graphics, as well as three-dimensional virtual
spaces. That is, embodiments of the invention are applicable to any
content that has one or more of a one-dimensional, two-dimensional,
or three-dimensional spatial nature.
[0034] Some types of documents may have built-in levels of
abstraction that are viewable at different scales. For example, a
word processing document created using an outline feature of a word
processing program may at its highest (full, or 100%) scale have
all the words of the document displayed. At a lower scale, chapter
and section headings of the document may only be displayed. At a
lower scale still, only chapter headings may be displayed. As
another example, a map may at full scale have all roads and small
towns indicated. At a lower scale, only larger cities and major
roads may be indicated. At the lowest scale, only boundaries
between states and countries may be shown. Embodiments of the
invention are amenable to content that have such built-in levels of
abstraction, as well as content which does not. For content which
does not, words of a text document may simply appear smaller at
lower scales as compared to higher scales, while an image may lose
detail as it is displayed at lower scales.
[0035] Reference to the diagrams of FIGS. 2-4 is now made. In FIG.
2, on a display 200 a text document is shown as being navigated
within a window 202. For purposes of this example, it is assumed
that the document is shown at full resolution in FIG. 2. Thus, only
a part of the text document is displayed within the window 202; in
particular, only the phrase "Chapter 1" and some lines of text are
viewable on the window 202 at one time. The user is scrolling
slowly through the document. As the user increases the speed of
navigation, the scale of the document is automatically reduced, so
that more of the document is viewable. This is shown in FIG. 3,
where within the window 202 on the display 200 the scale of the
text document has been reduced, such that both the phrases "Chapter
1" and "Chapter 2", and more lines of text, are viewable. However,
the size of the text has been decreased. When the user increased
the speed of navigation even more, the scale of the document is
even further automatically reduced. This is shown in FIG. 4, where
within the window 202 on the display 200 the scale of the text
document has been reduced so that the three phrases "Chapter 1",
"Chapter 2" and "Chapter 3", and still more lines of text, are
viewable. The size of the text is even smaller, however, so that
still more of the document is able to be viewed. That is, the
detail of the document has decreased.
[0036] Thus, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the
scale of content as it is being navigated is related to the speed
at which the content is being navigated. When the content is being
navigated slowly, the scale is higher, such that less of the
document is viewable on the display, but at greater detail. When
the content is being navigated quickly, the scale is lower, such
that more of the document is viewable on the display, but at less
detail. For example, a user may navigate very quickly through a
text document to find the chapter in which a desired point of
interest (a particular paragraph within that chapter, for example)
is located. Therefore, the scale automatically is reduced so that
more than one chapter heading ("Chapter 1", "Chapter 2", etc.) is
viewable on the display at one time--although the text itself of
the chapters is likely difficult to discern, as a result of the
lost of detail. Once the user has found the chapter in which the
desired point of interest is located, he or she can decrease the
speed of navigation, causing the scale to automatically be
increased. This enables the user to easily discern the text of the
desired chapter, to easily locate the desired point of interested
therein.
[0037] In one embodiment, the user controls either speed or the
scale by providing an input, such that the other of the speed or
the scale is determined by the relationship speed times scale
equals a constant. For example, the user may control either speed
or scale via an input device, such as a mouse. When the user
presses down on a mouse button, this indicates that the user wishes
to activate the automatic zooming interface according to an
embodiment of the invention. Thereafter, when the user moves the
mouse forward or backward, the scrolling speed of the document
changes in accordance with how far the user has moved the mouse.
Moving the mouse only a little, for example, corresponds to a slow
scrolling speed; moving the mouse a lot corresponds to a fast
scrolling speed. Moving the mouse forward as opposed to backward
controls the direction of scrolling. Ultimately, the user has
affected both speed and scale by his or her singular input. In this
example, the user's movement of the mouse a particular distance
directly controls the speed of navigation, from which the scale of
the document while being navigated is dependently determined. It is
noted, however, and as can be appreciated by those of ordinary
skill within the art, that the specific use of a mouse pointing
device as described herein is only an example of operation of an
embodiment of the invention, and the invention itself is not
limited to this example.
[0038] In one embodiment, an indicator appears on the display when
the user has activated the automatic zooming interface. Such an
indicator is shown in the diagram of FIG. 5. The height of the
indicator 500 corresponds to the length of the content being
navigated. The bar 502 within the indicator 500 indicates the
relative position within the document that is currently being shown
on the display. Using an indicator is not required, but is useful
in that it provides visual indication when the automatic zooming
interface has been activated, as well as to allow the user to see
where the viewable part of the document is in relation to the
document as a whole.
[0039] Furthermore, it is noted that while the example presented
herein has been made with reference to one-dimensional
content--text which can be navigated from beginning to end and
vice-versa--the invention itself is not so limited. For example, in
the context of two-dimensional content such as an image, an
automatic zooming interface can be activated in accordance with an
embodiment of the invention to provide for the inter-relation of
scale and speed via a singular user input simultaneously in both
the x and y directions. Because an input device such as a mouse or
a joystick provides for movement across two dimensions, such an
input device is well suited for use with embodiments of the
invention providing for navigation of two-dimensional content such
as images.
[0040] It is also noted that embodiments of the invention can be
applied to a variety of computers and computerized devices. A
description of a computer has been provided in the previous section
of the detailed description. Types of computers include laptop
computers, desktop computers, and handheld computers, also known as
personal digital assistants (PDA's). Electronic book devices and
other computerized devices are amenable to the invention. A
navigation system within a car in which a map is shown on a display
is amenable to the invention. In such an embodiment, for example,
the input provided can be the speed at which the driver is driving,
which is typically under control of the driver by virtue of the
force exerted on the gas pedal. Still other computers and
computerized devices in addition to those referred to herein are
also amenable to embodiments of the invention.
Relating Speed and Scale to an Input
[0041] In this section of the detailed description, a specific
manner by which speed and scale are inter-related, and affected by
an input, such as a user input provided on an input device, such as
a pointing device, is described, according to one embodiment of the
invention. The invention is not limited, however, to the specific
manner described in this section. As has been described in the
previous section, the input directly controls one of speed and
scale, such that the other is determined based on the relationship
that speed times scale equals a constant. This ensures that the
perceptual navigation speed remains constant, regardless of the
actual navigation speed within the content.
[0042] That the input directly controls one of the speed and the
scale can be stated that one of the speed and the scale is a
function of the input. In one embodiment, the input is a change in
position of an input device, such as a pointing device, upon
activation of the speed-dependent automatic zooming interface,
which can be stated as dy=[y coordinate of the current input device
position]-[y coordinate of the position when the interface was
activated]. Speed is navigation speed through the content, and
scale is the zoom level, where 1 corresponds to the full-scale
view, such that the smaller the scale becomes, the smaller the
content is on the display (i.e., more of the content is viewable on
the display). In one embodiment, either speed or scale is linearly
related to the change in position of the input device within a
specific range of change in position, whereas in another
embodiment, either speed or scale is exponentially related to the
change in position of the input device within a specific range.
[0043] Referring now to FIG. 6, a diagram of a graph 600 showing
the relationship among speed, scale, and the change in position of
the input device, according to one specific embodiment, is shown.
The solid line 602 corresponds to scale, while the dotted line 604
corresponds to speed. The range 606 indicates the range in which
changes of position affects speed and scale, that is, between d0
and d1. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, scale is specifically directly
controlled by the changed in position of the input device when in
the range 606, according to the relationship 1 scale = s0 y - 0 1 -
0 ,
[0044] such that the speed is determined from the scale when within
the range 606 according to the relationship 2 speed = v0 scale
,
[0045] where s0 is the starting scale at the beginning of the range
606 (i.e., when dy=d0), and v0 is the starting speed at the
beginning of the range 606.
[0046] Therefore, as can be seen from the graph 600 of FIG. 6, once
the speed-dependent automatic zooming interface is activated, and
the user has caused a change in the position of the input device
greater than d0, the scale of the content being navigated,
identified by the solid line 602, decreases, while the speed of
navigation, identified by the dotted line 604, increases. As the
user increases movement of the input device away from its initial
position, such that its change in position continues to increase,
the scale continues to decrease, and the speed continues to
increase, until the change in position reaches d1, after which
scale and speed remain constant.
[0047] It is noted that one drawback of the interface as described
in conjunction with the graph of FIG. 6 is that the zoom level
(i.e., scale level) substantially changes when the user changes the
navigation direction in order to go back to a position that has
been passed. That is, in the process of moving the input device to
the opposite side of the position where the speed-dependent
automatic zooming interface was activated, dy gets closer to 0,
causing a sudden zooming effect.
[0048] To prevent this situation, in one embodiment a delayed
zooming effect is utilized. Zoom level changes at most at a
specific maximum rate. If the user moves the input device quickly,
thereby requesting a sudden change of zoom (that is, scale) level,
the zoom level changes with delay to achieve a smoother transition.
In one embodiment, this delay effect is applied only when the
target scale as determined by dy is smaller than the current scale.
This delay mechanism can also be referred to as a "controlled
return" to the target scale.
[0049] Furthermore, in one embodiment, speed is set based on dy-a
change in distance mapped from the input device, and scale is set
as a constant divided by speed. However, this can result in a
sudden zoom change at first, and slow change thereafter. Therefore,
in one embodiment, scale is set to e.sup.dy (that is, the
exponential constant e to the dy power), and speed is set to
constant divided by scale, to cause a more user-pleasing automatic
zooming effect. Furthermore, in another embodiment, this can be
expanded to 3 scale = C0 C1 dy speed = C2 scale sign ( dy )
[0050] where sign is +1 if dy is non-negative (i.e., positive or
zero), and is -1 if dy is negative. In this embodiment of the
invention, scale times speed equals a function of dy, that is, a
function of movement of the input device. The invention is not
limited to the function listed above, however. That is, more
generally,
scale.multidot.speed =.function.(dy)
[0051] in some embodiments of the invention. It is noted that this
reduces to the specific case already described, where scale times
speed equals a constant, where the function of dy is a constant.
That is, .function.(dy)=k, where k is the constant.
Methods
[0052] In this section of the detailed description, methods
according to varying embodiments of the invention are described.
The methods can be utilized to achieve a speed-dependent automatic
zooming interface as has been described in a preceding section of
the detailed description, in accordance with, for example, the
graph described in the immediately previous section, in one
embodiment. In some embodiments, the methods are
computer-implemented. The computer-implemented methods can be
realized at least in part as one or more programs running on a
computer--that is, as a program executed from a computer-readable
medium such as a memory by a processor of a computer, such as the
computer shown in and described in conjunction with FIG. 1. The
programs are desirably storable on a machine-readable medium such
as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM, for distribution and installation and
execution on another computer.
[0053] Referring to FIG. 7, a flowchart of a method according to an
embodiment of the invention is shown. In 700, an input is received.
For example, the input can be a user input, such as a user input as
asserted via an input device, such as a pointing device. The input
device can be any type of input device, such as a self-centering
joystick, a mouse, a mouse wheel, a joystick, a trackball, a
touchpad, and a pointstick, although the invention itself is not
limited to the list of input devices recited herein.
[0054] In 702, either speed of navigation through a content
space--that is, through content--or scale of the content space
while being navigated is mapped from the input. This can be in
accordance with the graph of FIG. 6, as described in the previous
section of the detailed description. In one embodiment, the input
is mapped to scale, either linearly or exponentially; in another
embodiment, the input is mapped to speed, also either linearly or
exponentially. The invention is not limited to a particular type of
content space; that is, it is not limited to a particular type of
content. Types of content include word processing documents, maps,
text documents, images, and web pages, although the invention
itself is not limited to the list of content space recited herein.
In one embodiment, the input is mapped to either scale or speed
such that the scale or speed has a maximum rate of change in
reflecting the input, as described in the previous section of the
detailed description.
[0055] In 704, the other of speed and scale to which the input was
not mapped is determined based on the relationship speed times
scale equals a constant. For example, where speed was mapped
directly from the input in 702, then in 704 the scale is determined
based on this relationship. As another example, where scale was
mapped directly from the input in 702, then in 704 the speed is
determined based on this relationship. Finally, in 706, the content
space is navigated, based on the speed and scale as mapped and
determined in 702 and 704.
[0056] It is noted that other input devices that are amenable to
embodiments of the invention include self-centering input devices,
such as self-centering joysticks, and levers. For example, in such
devices, the position, or angle, of the device is mapped to either
speed or scaling, as has been described. When the user releases the
device, or otherwise returns the device to its center or original
position, the scrolling stops, and the zoom level returns to its
original level. Furthermore, speed can be made proportional to the
force exerted on a self-centering isometric joystick, for
example.
[0057] Such self-centering input devices provide for certain
advantages. For example, the user can feel the current speed and/or
scale, by touch, in that the device gives intuitive feedback, which
may not be possible with a device such as a mouse. Furthermore, the
user can stop scrolling and return to the original scale simply by
releasing the device, such as the stick of the joystick. The
physical set up for such devices is thus consistent with the
behavior of embodiments of the invention.
[0058] Other input devices that are amenable to embodiments of the
invention include device buttons, keyboard keys, etc. For example,
in such an embodiment, pressing and holding down a first button can
cause the speed to gradually increase, and the view to zoom out,
while releasing the button causes scrolling to stop, and the zoom
level to return to its original level. Such an embodiment may be
particularly useful for a personal-digital-assistant (PDA) or other
hand-held device, for example.
Systems
[0059] In this section of the detailed description, systems
according to varying embodiments of the invention described.
Referring to FIG. 8, a diagram of a system according to a specific
embodiment is shown. The system 800 includes an input device 802, a
display 804, and a computer program 806. The input device 802, such
as a pointing device, has at least an output based on a singular
user input. For example, the output may be based on the user moving
the input device 802 over a planar surface, which corresponds to a
singular user input, and which is the case when the input device
802 is a mouse. The output may also be based on a user rotating the
input device 802 on a fixed axis, which corresponds also to a
singular user input, and which is the case when the input device
802 is a wheel of a mouse. There may be more than one output of the
input device 802, such as is the case where a mouse can be moved
over a planar surface (first output), has a rotatable wheel (second
output), and two mouse buttons (third and fourth output). As
described in accordance with FIG. 8, the system is concerned only
with one output of the input device 802, based on a singular user
input. The display 804 can be a flat-panel display, for example, a
cathode-ray tube, etc.; the invention is not so limited. The
display 804 is such that navigation of a content space is shown
thereon.
[0060] The computer program 806 is designed to receive the singular
user input as output from the input device 804, and to show the
navigation of the content space on the display 804 such that it has
speed of navigation and scale while being navigated based only a
user input comprising the singular user input. That is, both the
speed and scale are based on the singular user input. For example,
in one specific embodiment, the scale can be mapped from the user
input to the scale of the content space while being navigated, and
the speed of navigation through the content space can be determined
based on the relationship that scale times speed equals a constant.
In the sense that the scale is mapped from the singular user input,
and the speed is determined from the scale, both the scale and the
speed are based on the singular user input. That is, one input does
not control only speed, while another input does not control only
scale; rather, a single input affects both speed and scale.
[0061] In one particular embodiment, the user input is mapped to
scale exponentially or linearly, while in another particular
embodiment, the user input is mapped to the scale such that it has
a maximum rate of change in reflecting the user input. In another
embodiment, speed of navigation is mapped from the user input, and
the scale is determined from the speed based on the relationship
that speed times scale equals a constant. The content space being
navigated is not limited by the invention, it can include, for
example, a word processing document, a map, a text document, an
image, a web page, etc. The computer program 806 in one embodiment
is executed from a computer-readable medium such as a memory or a
hard disk drive by a processor. In one particular embodiment, the
program 806 corresponds to a means for receiving the singular user
input, and for showing the navigation of the content space as
having speed of navigation and scale while being navigated based
only on the singular user input.
Conclusion
[0062] Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and
described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill
in the art that any arrangement which is calculated to achieve the
same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown.
This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations
of the present invention. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that
this invention be limited only by the claims and equivalents
thereof.
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