U.S. patent application number 15/275185 was filed with the patent office on 2017-12-14 for dynamically adjusting style of display area for presenting information associated with a displayed map.
The applicant listed for this patent is Apple Inc.. Invention is credited to Cedric Bray, Simon Capern, Jae Woo Chang, Sean P. O'Brien.
Application Number | 20170358113 15/275185 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 60572680 |
Filed Date | 2017-12-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170358113 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Bray; Cedric ; et
al. |
December 14, 2017 |
Dynamically Adjusting Style of Display Area for Presenting
Information Associated with a Displayed Map
Abstract
Some embodiments of the invention provide a map application with
novel map exploration tools. In some embodiments, the map
application executes on a mobile device (e.g., a handheld
smartphone, a tablet, etc.) with a touch sensitive screen. The map
application of some embodiments has a first display area to display
a map of a region, and second and third display areas to display
information about items displayed on the map in the first display
area. In some embodiments, the second display area slides over the
first display area to overlap at least a portion of the first
display area. After the second display area slides over the first
display area, the third display area in some embodiments slides
over the first display area to overlap at least a portion of the
first display area. In some embodiments, the second and third
display areas slide over the first display area from one side of
the first display area. This side is the bottom of the first
display area in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the bottom
side is expected to be closer to a position for resting the mobile
device in a hand of a user than a top side of the first display
area. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the second and third
display areas slide up from the bottom side of the first display
area so that information and/or controls that are provided in these
display areas are more accessible for one handed operations (e.g.,
thumb-based touch operations) of the user as the user hold and
interacts with the device with one hand.
Inventors: |
Bray; Cedric; (Sunnyvale,
CA) ; Capern; Simon; (Mountain View, CA) ;
Chang; Jae Woo; (San Jose, CA) ; O'Brien; Sean
P.; (San Francisco, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Apple Inc. |
Cupertino |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
60572680 |
Appl. No.: |
15/275185 |
Filed: |
September 23, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62358083 |
Jul 4, 2016 |
|
|
|
62349014 |
Jun 12, 2016 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06T 3/40 20130101; G06F
3/0482 20130101; G06F 3/04883 20130101; G01C 21/3667 20130101; G06F
2203/04806 20130101; G06F 2203/04803 20130101; G09G 2320/08
20130101; G09G 2340/12 20130101; G06F 3/0346 20130101; G06F 3/04847
20130101; G06F 3/0488 20130101; G01C 21/3664 20130101; G09G 5/377
20130101; G06T 11/60 20130101; G06F 3/0485 20130101; G06F 3/14
20130101; G01C 21/367 20130101; G09G 5/346 20130101; G06F 2200/1637
20130101; G06T 2200/24 20130101; G09G 5/14 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06T 11/60 20060101
G06T011/60; G09G 5/377 20060101 G09G005/377; G09G 5/14 20060101
G09G005/14; G01C 21/36 20060101 G01C021/36 |
Claims
1. A mobile device comprising: a display screen for displaying a
map; a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a map
application comprising sets of instructions for: analyzing a set of
contextual attributes to specify a first display-area style or a
second display-area style; when the specified style is the first
display-area style, displaying a set of information about a set of
items displayed on the map in a first display area having the first
display-area style; and when the specified style is the second
display-area style, displaying the set of information about the set
of items displayed on the map in a second display area having the
second display-area style.
2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the map application
further comprises sets of instructions for: displaying a third
display area for displaying a map; and displaying the first display
area and second display area over the third display area.
3. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the first and second
display areas do not entirely overlap the third display area.
4. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the first and second
display areas overlap different portions of the first display
area.
5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the first and second
display areas are search display areas that provide a list of
possible locations to identify on the map.
6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the first and second
display areas are location information display areas that provide
information about a particular location displayed on the map.
7. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the first or second
display area provides information about the particular location
after an identifier for the location is selected on the map.
8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the first and second
display areas are route planning display areas that provide
information about a route to particular location displayed on the
map.
9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the set of contextual
attributes comprises a current orientation of the device.
10. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the set of contextual
attributes comprises an indication as to whether other content is
being concurrently displayed on the display screen with an output
display of the map application.
11. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the first and second
display areas each has a plurality of the stationary display states
between which the display area transitions.
12. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the display states
comprise a minimized display state, a maximized display state and
an intermediate display state.
13. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a map
application for execution by at least one processing unit, the map
application for displaying a map on a display screen of a device,
the map application comprising sets of instructions for: analyzing
a set of contextual attributes to specify a first display-area
style or a second display-area style; when the specified style is
the first display-area style, displaying a set of information about
a set of items displayed on the map in a first display area having
the first display-area style; and when the specified style is the
second display-area style, displaying the set of information about
the set of items displayed on the map in a second display area
having the second display-area style.
14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein
the map application further comprises sets of instructions for:
displaying a third display area for displaying a map; and
displaying the first display area and second display area over the
third display area.
15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein
the first and second display areas do not entirely overlap the
third display area.
16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein
the first and second display areas overlap different portions of
the first display area.
17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein
the first and second display areas are search display areas that
provide a list of possible locations to identify on the map.
18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein
the first and second display areas are location information display
areas that provide information about a particular location
displayed on the map.
19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein
the set of contextual attributes comprises a current orientation of
the device.
20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein
the set of contextual attributes comprises an indication as to
whether other content is being concurrently displayed on the
display screen with an output display of the map application.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] With proliferation of mobile devices (such as smartphones),
numerous mobile-device applications have been developed to assist
users with many of their daily activities. Map and navigation
applications are one type of such applications. However, many of
the applications today do not have optimal controls for one handed
operations by their users. This is especially the case for
applications that execute on smartphones with larger screen
sizes.
SUMMARY
[0002] Some embodiments of the invention provide a map application
with novel map exploration tools. In some embodiments, the map
application executes on a mobile device (e.g., a handheld
smartphone) with a touch sensitive screen. The map application of
some embodiments has a first display area to display a map of a
region, and second and third display areas to display information
about items displayed on the map in the first display area. The map
application allows the map in the first display area to be adjusted
through pan and zoom operations (e.g., that are performed through
gestural touch input received through the touch sensitive screen of
the mobile device).
[0003] In some embodiments, the second display area slides over the
first display area to overlap at least a portion of the first
display area. After the second display area slides over the first
display area, the third display area in some embodiments slides
over the first display area to overlap at least a portion of the
first display area. In some embodiments, the third display area
slides over the first display area by sliding over the second
display area while the second display area at least partially
overlaps the first display area. In other embodiments, the second
display area slides off the first display area, before the third
display area slides over the first display area.
[0004] Also, in some embodiments, the second and third display
areas slide over the first display area from one side of the first
display area. This side is the bottom of the first display area in
some embodiments. In some embodiments, the bottom side is expected
to be closer to a position for resting the mobile device in a hand
of a user than a top side of the first display area. Accordingly,
in some embodiments, the second and third display areas slide up
from the bottom side of the first display area so that information
and/or controls that are provided in these display areas are more
accessible for one handed operations (e.g., thumb-based touch
operations) of the user as the user holds and interacts with the
device with one hand.
[0005] In some embodiments, the second and third display areas
appear as cards that slide over the first display area (e.g., with
the second card initially sliding over the first display area, and
after an input, the third display area subsequently sliding over
the second display area). These cards in some embodiments include
information about locations contained in the map displayed in the
first display area, and/or controls for performing operations with
respect to these locations (e.g., performing searches with respect
to these locations, obtaining information about these locations,
identifying routes to these locations, providing navigation
presentations for these locations, etc.).
[0006] In some embodiments, the second display area is a search
card with a search field for receiving a search parameter, and a
list area for displaying a list of locations. When no search
parameter is entered in the search field, the search display area
provides a list of locations that includes search parameters
previously entered in the search field, as well as predicted
destinations for the device. After receiving a search parameter
(e.g., for Coffee Shops) through the search field, the map
application displays in the search card a list of locations (e.g.,
a list of coffee shops) that are associated with the search
parameter, and displays identifiers on the map to identify the
position of the listed locations (e.g., the position of the coffee
shops) that are associated with the search parameter.
[0007] In some embodiments, the third display area is a location
card that provides information about a particular location
identified on the map. This location card in some embodiments
provides information about the particular location after the
location is selected from the list displayed in the second display
area. In some embodiments, the location card also provides
information about the particular location after the identifier for
the location is selected on the map.
[0008] In other embodiments, the third display area is a route
planning card that displays information and controls for planning a
route to a particular location displayed on the map presented in
the first display area. The map application in some embodiments can
transition from the search card to the route planning card for each
location identified through the search card (e.g., each location
listed in the search card or each location identified by an
identifier on the map that is displayed in response to a search).
On the other hand, for some locations, the map application in some
embodiments can only transition from the search card to location
cards of these locations, before transitioning from their location
cards to their route planning cards. In yet other embodiments, the
map application cannot transition between the search card and the
route planning card for any location without first going through
the location card for that location.
[0009] In some embodiments, the map application not only
sequentially presents the different cards, but requires the user to
sequentially remove cards when the user wants to go back to an
earlier card. The map application in these embodiment requires this
sequential back trace in order to maintain the card-based design
cue through the user interaction. In other embodiments, the map
application provides a control on a later presented card to skip
over one or more intermediate cards that are between the later
presented card and an earlier presented card Also, in the
embodiments that allow the cards to transition from a search card
to a route planning card without first viewing an information card
for a location, the map application provides a control that allows
the user to transition from the route planning card back to the
search card.
[0010] In some embodiments, each of the cards has four display
states, which are a minimized state, an intermediate state, a
maximized state, and an off-screen state. In other embodiments,
these cards do not have an off-screen state, and thereby only have
three display states: the minimized state, the intermediate state,
and the maximized state. In these embodiments, the map application
displays one of the cards in one of its states at all times, with
the minimized search card being the default card during map
browsing when no other card is open. Several examples illustrated
in the figures and described below use all four display states.
However, one of ordinary skill will realize that not all of these
states (e.g. the off-screen state) are used by the cards of some
embodiments of the invention.
[0011] In the minimized state, a card displays a small amount of
information and/or controls. For example, a search card of some
embodiments only presents its search field in the minimized state
in some embodiments. When the search field has received a search
parameter and the map is displaying the results of a search based
on the received search parameter, the search field of the search
field displays the search parameter.
[0012] In its intermediate state, a card in some embodiments
provides more information and/or controls than in the minimized
state. Also, the presentation of the information in a card's
intermediate state provides a clue in some embodiments that the
card has additional information and/or controls that are currently
off screen. For example, in some embodiments, some of the
information and/or controls that are displayed in the card's
intermediate display state are cut off at the card's bottom to
imply that there is more information and/or controls off screen.
Also, in some embodiments, the height of a card in its intermediate
state is selected so that the user can interact with this card's
controls with the thumb of the hand that holds the device.
[0013] In some embodiments, the user can scroll the card's content
while the card is in its intermediate state. In other embodiments,
the user cannot scroll through the card's content while the card is
in this state. To scroll through this content, the user has to
expand the card to its maximized state in these embodiments. In its
maximized state, the card displays the most amount of information
and/or controls that it can display.
[0014] A card also has an off-screen state. In this state, no
portion of the card is displayed on the screen. However, from the
off-screen state, the map application in some embodiments can
present the card (e.g., in its last displayed state or in its
intermediate state) based on input from the user. In some
embodiments, the card can transition to its off-screen state based
on user input. For example, when the card is in its intermediate
state, one tap of the map in the first display area causes the card
to transition to its minimized state, while two taps of the map
cause the card to transition to its off screen state. In some
embodiments, a card can transition to its off-screen state though
other inputs.
[0015] Different embodiments provide different controls for
transitioning between minimized, intermediate and maximized display
states of a card. In some embodiments, the user can transition
between these states by touching the top of the card, and dragging
this top to a larger display state (if any) or down to a smaller
display state. Also, the user in some embodiments can change the
display state of the card by performing a "flick" operation, which
entails touching the top of the card and performing a quick up or
down drag operation. When the speed or acceleration of the flick
operation (i.e., of its drag operation) exceeds a threshold value,
this operation in some embodiments can direct the map application
to skip the intermediate display state as the card shrinks from its
maximized state to its minimized state, or expands from its
minimized state to its maximized state. When the speed or
acceleration of the flick operation does not exceed the threshold
value, the flick operation in these embodiments direct the map
application to stop at the intermediate display state when
transitioning from the maximized or minimized state. One of
ordinary skill will realize that other embodiments provide other
controls for transitioning between these states. One of ordinary
skill will also realize that some or all of the cards of some
embodiments do not have one or more of the above-described
states.
[0016] The preceding Summary is intended to serve as a brief
introduction to some embodiments of the invention. It is not meant
to be an introduction or overview of all-inventive subject matter
disclosed in this document. The Detailed Description that follows
and the Drawings that are referred to in the Detailed Description
will further describe the embodiments described in the Summary as
well as other embodiments. Accordingly, to understand all the
embodiments described by this document, a full review of the
Summary, Detailed Description and the Drawings is needed. Moreover,
the claimed subject matters are not to be limited by the
illustrative details in the Summary, Detailed Description and the
Drawings, but rather are to be defined by the appended claims,
because the claimed subject matters can be embodied in other
specific forms without departing from the spirit of the subject
matters.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0017] The novel features of the invention are set forth in the
appended claims. However, for purposes of explanation, several
embodiments of the invention are set forth in the following
figures.
[0018] FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an example of the card-based design
of the map application of some embodiments.
[0019] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a back trace operation
through a series of different cards.
[0020] FIGS. 4 and 5 present two examples that illustrate the map
application of some embodiments presents an earlier card in the
same state in which it was being viewed before transitioning to a
later presented card.
[0021] FIGS. 6-11 illustrate the minimized, intermediate, and
maximized states of a search card, a general location card, and a
route planning card of some embodiments.
[0022] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a route planning card of
some embodiments.
[0023] FIG. 13 presents an example of a navigation presentation
that the map application presents upon the selection of the
navigation launch control.
[0024] FIG. 14 illustrates a state diagram that shows (1) the
various display states of search, location information, and route
planning cards of some embodiments, and (2) transitions between
these states.
[0025] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of the sidebar based design
of the map application of some embodiments. In this example, the
map application is executing on a tablet, and a sidebar is
displayed over the map display area on the left side of this
area.
[0026] FIG. 16 illustrates a minimized search sidebar, while FIG.
17 illustrates a maximized search sidebar.
[0027] FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a location sidebar that is
displayed for a location that is selected either in a search
sidebar or on the map.
[0028] FIG. 19 illustrates an example of the map application
switching from a sidebar style to a card style on a tablet when the
map application is directed to share a portion of the tablet's
display screen with another application.
[0029] FIG. 20 illustrates an architectural block diagram of the
map application that shows the modules that allow the map
application to dynamically select the container style to use to
display search, location, and route planning information and
controls.
[0030] FIG. 21 illustrates that the container style selector
performs in some embodiments to identify dynamically the container
style to use.
[0031] FIGS. 22-31 present examples that illustrate several other
gesture operations that in some embodiments direct the map
application to modify the size of a card that it displays over the
map display area of the map application.
[0032] FIG. 32 is an example of an architecture of a mobile
computing device that implements some embodiment of the
invention.
[0033] FIG. 33 is an example of another electronic system that
implements some embodiment of the invention.
[0034] FIG. 34 illustrates a map service that is used by some
embodiments of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0035] In the following detailed description of the invention,
numerous details, examples, and embodiments of the invention are
set forth and described. However, it will be clear and apparent to
one skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to the
embodiments set forth and that the invention may be practiced
without some of the specific details and examples discussed.
[0036] Some embodiments of the invention provide a map application
with novel map exploration tools. In some embodiments, the map
application executes on a mobile device (e.g., a handheld
smartphone, a tablet, etc.) with a touch sensitive screen. The map
application of some embodiments has a first display area to display
a map of a region, and second and third display areas to display
information about items displayed on the map in the first display
area.
[0037] In some embodiments, the second display area slides over the
first display area to overlap at least a portion of the first
display area. After the second display area slides over the first
display area, the third display area in some embodiments slides
over the first display area to overlap at least a portion of the
first display area. In some embodiments, the third display area
slides over the first display area by sliding over the second
display area while the second display area at least partially
overlaps the first display area. In other embodiments, the second
display area slides off the first display area, before the third
display area slides over the first display area.
[0038] Also, in some embodiments, the second and third display
areas slide over the first display area from one side of the first
display area. This side is the bottom of the first display area in
some embodiments. In some embodiments, the bottom side is expected
to be closer to a position for resting the mobile device in a hand
of a user than a top side of the first display area. Accordingly,
in some embodiments, the second and third display areas slide up
from the bottom side of the first display area so that information
and/or controls that are provided in these display areas are more
accessible for one handed operations (e.g., thumb-based touch
operations) of the user as the user holds and interacts with the
device with one hand. When the device is flipped upside down, the
mobile device of some embodiments rotates the displayed output of
all its applications, including the map application, upside down
(including the map display area and all the cards that slide over
the map display area), because it is expected that the top of the
device will now reside in the palm of the user's hand. This
rotation of the displayed outputs is a common feature of mobile
devices sold by Apple Inc., and it is facilitated by the position
sensors of these mobile devices.
[0039] In some embodiments, the second and third display areas
appear as cards that slide over the first display area (e.g., with
the second card initially sliding over the first display area, and
after an input, the third display area subsequently sliding over
the second display area). These cards in some embodiments include
information about locations contained in the map displayed in the
first display area, and/or controls for performing operations with
respect to these locations (e.g., performing searches with respect
to these locations, obtaining information about these locations,
identifying routes to these locations, providing navigation
presentations for these locations, etc.).
[0040] FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an example of the card-based design
of the map application of some embodiments. In this example, the
map application executes on a smartphone 100 with a touch sensitive
screen. The card-based design illustrated in these figures has
three cards that are in three successive card layers. The three
cards are a search card 102, a location information card 104, and a
route planning card 106. As shown in FIG. 1, the search card 102
slides over a map display area 101 of the map application that
displays a map 120 of a region, the location information card 104
slides over the search card 102, and the route planning card 106
slides over the location information card 104. In some embodiments,
the route planning card 106 can also slide over the search card 102
when the map application is directed to perform route planning
while displaying the search card.
[0041] FIG. 2 illustrates one sequence of operations for stepping
through these three cards. These operations are illustrated in
terms of four operational stages 202-208 of the map application.
The first stage 202 illustrates the displayed output generated by
the map application after it opens in some embodiments. When it
opens, the map application of some embodiments (1) displays a
region (e.g., the current location of the phone 100, or the last
region presented by the map application) in the map display area
101, and (2) a partially opened search card 102 with a search field
222 and a list of area 224. The top of the search card has a handle
280 that serves as a visual clue that the top of the search card
can be selected for dragging the search card up or down.
[0042] The search card 102 is at the bottom of the map display area
101. As further described below, the search card can slide over the
display area 101 to assume a maximized position, and slides down or
off the map display area 101 to assume a minimized or off-screen
position. As further discussed below (e.g., by reference to FIG.
6), each of these positions is referred to below as a display
state. Even though in the examples below the cards have an
off-screen display state, these cards in other embodiments do not
have an off-screen state, and thereby only have three display
states: the minimized state, the intermediate state, and the
maximized state. In these embodiments, the map application displays
one of the cards in one of its states at all times, with the
minimized search card being the default card during map browsing
when no other card is open. Several examples illustrated in the
figures and described below use all four display states. However,
one of ordinary skill will realize that not all of these states
(e.g. the off-screen state) are used by the cards of some
embodiments of the invention.
[0043] When the map application initially opens in some
embodiments, the list area 224 displays several predicted locations
to view on the map. In the starting stage 202, the map application
proactively opens the search card in order to provide the user with
quick access to the search field 222 and to the list of predicted
locations. As further described in concurrently filed U.S. patent
application entitled "Proactive Search Window," with Attorney
Docket APLE.P0722, the list of predicted locations in some
embodiments is generated from a variety of sources, including
previous searches entered in the search field, frequent
destinations of the smartphone 100, addresses harvested from
communication (e.g., emails and text messages) received by the
smartphone, etc.
[0044] The second stage 204 illustrates the output display of the
map application after a search term "Fast Food" has been entered in
the search field 222. As shown, the map application identifies for
this search several nearby fast food restaurant that it (1)
identifies in the list area 224 in the search card 102, and (2)
specifies with position identifiers 228 on the map 120. In some
embodiments, the map application allows the map 120 in the map
display area 101 to be adjusted through pan and zoom operations
(e.g., that are performed through gestural touch input received
through the touch sensitive screen of the mobile device) to see
more or less of the map and to see other regions in the map. The
search card 102 of some embodiments will be further described
below.
[0045] The second stage 204 also illustrates the user touch
selecting one of the locations (Big Belly Burger in this example)
in the list area 224 of the search card 102. The third stage 206
illustrates that in response to this selection, the map application
displays the selected location in the map display area 101, and
displays the location-information card 104 for this selected
location. To display this location card 104, the map application in
some embodiments displays an animation that shows the location card
104 sliding from an off-screen position into the map application's
output display. For instance, the animation in some embodiments
shows the location card 104 slide from the bottom of the map
display area 101 and the search card 102 over the search card 102.
In other embodiments, the map application first shows the search
card 102 slide down and off the screen, before or as the location
card 104 slides up over the map display area 101.
[0046] The location card 104 provides information and controls
about a particular location identified on the map. In this example,
the location card 104 displays information and controls relating to
Big Belly Burger selected in the second stage 204. In some
embodiments, the map application also displays the location card
104 for a location after the identifier for the location is
selected on a map displayed in the map display area 101. In some
embodiments, the location card 104 displays for one location
several of the following types of information: pictures, address,
hours of operation, reviews, etc. It also displays controls for the
map application to perform operations with respect to this card's
associated location, such as identifying a route to the location.
The location card 104 of some embodiments will be further described
below.
[0047] The third stage 206 illustrates the user touch selecting a
control 240 for requesting directions to the location associated
with the location card 104. The fourth stage 208 illustrates that
in response to this selection, the map application displays a route
to the location in the map display area 101, and displays the route
planning card 106 for this selected location. To display this route
planning card 106, the map application in some embodiments displays
an animation that shows the route planning card 106 sliding from an
off-screen position into the map application's output display. For
instance, the animation in some embodiments shows the location card
104 slide from the bottom of the map display area 101 and the
location card 104 over the location card 104. In other embodiments,
the map application first shows the location card 104 slide down
and off the screen, before or as the route planning card 106 slides
up over the map display area 101.
[0048] In some embodiments, the route planning card 106 displays
information and controls for planning a route from a device's
current location to a location displayed on the map presented in
the map display area 101. As shown, the route planning card 106
includes a set of controls for specifying the mode of travel
(which, in this example, are driving, walking, transit, and ride
sharing) to the location. The route planning card 106 of some
embodiments will be further described below.
[0049] The map application in some embodiments can transition from
the search card 102 to the route planning card 106 for some
locations identified on the search card (e.g., a Home location, or
a Work location listed in the search card). On the other hand, for
other locations identified through the search card 102, the map
application in some embodiments can only transition from the search
card 102 to location cards 104 of these locations, before
transitioning from their location cards 104 to their route planning
cards 106. In yet other embodiments, the map application cannot
transition between the search card and the route planning card for
any location without first going through the location card for that
location.
[0050] In some embodiments, the map application not only
sequentially presents the different cards, but requires the user to
sequentially remove cards when the user wants to go back to an
earlier card. The map application in these embodiment requires this
sequential back trace in order to maintain the card-based design
cue through the user interaction. In some embodiments, the map
application provides a control on a later presented card to skip
over one or more intermediate cards that are between the later
presented card and an earlier presented card. Also, in the
embodiments that allow the cards to transition from a search card
to a route planning card without first viewing an information card
for a location, the map application provides a control that allows
the user to transition from the route planning card back to the
search card.
[0051] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a back trace operation. The
first three stages 302-306 of this figure show the user selecting a
predicted destination in an intermediate-sized search card, viewing
the location card associated with the predicted destination,
requesting a route to this location, and viewing the route-planning
card for this location. The last three stages 306-310 of FIG. 3
then show the user sequentially first removing the route planning
card and then removing the location card to get back to the search
card, by selecting the cancel control 350 in the third stage 306
and then the cancel control 355 in the fourth stage 308.
[0052] When going backwards from a later presented card to an
earlier presented card, the map application of some embodiments
presents the earlier card in the same state in which it was being
viewed before transitioning to the later presented. FIGS. 4 and 5
present two examples that illustrate this point. FIG. 4 illustrates
selection of the cancel control 350 directing the map application
to transition backward from a route planning card to an
intermediate version of the search card, when the intermediate
version of the search card was used to select a predicted work
location. FIG. 5 illustrates selection of the cancel control 350
directing the map application to transition backward from a route
planning card to a maximized version of the search card, when the
maximized version of the search card was used to select a predicted
work location. These two figures also provide examples of how for
certain locations identified in the search card (the work location
in this example), the map application transitions from the search
card to the route planning card, without first going through a
location card.
[0053] In some embodiments, each of the cards has four display
states, which are a minimized state, an intermediate state, a
maximized state, and an off-screen state. In the minimized state, a
card displays a small amount of information and/or controls. For
example, a search card of some embodiments only presents its search
field in the minimized state in some embodiments. When the search
field has received a search parameter and the map is displaying the
results of a search based on the received search parameter, the
search field of the search field displays the search parameter.
[0054] In its intermediate state, a card in some embodiments
provides more information and/or controls than in the minimized
state. Also, the presentation of the information in a card's
intermediate state provides a clue in some embodiments that the
card has additional information and/or controls that are currently
off screen. For example, in some embodiments, some of the
information and/or controls that are displayed in the card's
intermediate display state are cut off at the card's bottom to
imply that there is more information and/or controls off screen.
Also, in some embodiments, the height of a card in its intermediate
state is selected so that the user can interact with this card's
controls with the thumb of the hand that holds the device.
[0055] In some embodiments, the user can scroll the card's content
while the card is in its intermediate state. In other embodiments,
the user cannot scroll through the card's content while the card is
in this state. Instead, to scroll through this content, the user
has to expand the card to its maximized state in these embodiments.
In its maximized state, the card displays the most amount of
information and/or controls that it can display.
[0056] A card also has an off-screen state. In this state, no
portion of the card is displayed on the screen. However, from the
off-screen state, the map application in some embodiments can
present the card (e.g., in its last displayed state or in its
intermediate state) based on input from the user. In some
embodiments, the card can transition to its off-screen state based
on user input. For example, when the card is in its intermediate
state, one tap of the map in the first display area causes the card
to transition to its minimized state, while two taps of the map
cause the card to transition to its off screen state. In some
embodiments, a card can transition to its off-screen state though
other inputs.
[0057] Different embodiments provide different controls for
transitioning between the display states of a card (e.g., between
the off-screen, minimized, intermediate and maximized states). In
some embodiments, the user can transition between these states by
touching the top of the card, and dragging this top to a larger
display state (if any) or down to a smaller display state. Also,
the user in some embodiments can change the display state of the
card by performing a "flick" operation, which entails touching the
top of the card and performing a quick up or down drag operation.
When the speed or acceleration of the flick operation (i.e., of its
drag operation) exceeds a threshold value, this operation in some
embodiments can direct the map application to skip the intermediate
display state as the card shrinks from its maximized state to its
minimized state, or expands from its minimized state to its
maximized state. When the speed or acceleration of the flick
operation does not exceed the threshold value, the flick operation
in these embodiments direct the map application to stop at the
intermediate display state when transitioning from the maximized or
minimized state. One of ordinary skill will realize that other
embodiments provide other controls for transitioning between these
states. One of ordinary skill will also realize that some or all of
the cards of some embodiments do not have one or more of the
above-described states.
[0058] In some embodiments, the map application allows some or all
of the cards to be stationary in only one of its three displayed
states without the user holding the cards stationary through input.
These three states are the minimized, intermediate and maximized
states. In these embodiments, the map application allows the card
to go up and down between these states and provides animations of
the card transitioning between these states. But the map
application in these embodiments does not display the card
stationary in any state between these states, unless the user is
holding the card in such a state (e.g., by dragging the card to
such a state and maintaining contact with the screen to hold the
card in such a state). In other embodiments, the map application
allows the card to remain stationary in a state between minimized
and intermediate states, or between the minimized and maximized
states.
[0059] FIGS. 6-11 illustrate the minimized, intermediate, and
maximized states of the search card 102, general location card 104,
and the route planning card 106 of some embodiments. FIG. 6 shows
these three states 602, 604, and 606 of the search card 102 of a
map application that executes on a smartphone 100. In this figure,
state 602 is the intermediate state of the search card, state 604
is the maximized state of this card, and state 606 is the minimized
state of this card.
[0060] In the example illustrated by these states, the search card
has received a request for a search of coffee shops in a particular
region of the map that is being displayed in the map display area
101. This search is identified by the search parameter "Coffee
Shop" appearing in the search field 222 of this card in each of its
three states 602, 604 and 606. The search is also identified by (1)
a search result list 626 in the search card's list area 224 in the
intermediate and maximized states 602 and 604, and (2) the position
identifiers 628 (also referred to as position-of-interest (POI)
markers) on the portion of the map 620 in the map area display that
is not covered by the search card in its intermediate state 602,
maximized state 604, or minimized state 606.
[0061] In the minimized state 606, the search card 102 overlaps a
much smaller part of the map displayed in the map display area 101
than the space covered by this card in the intermediates state 602
and maximized state 604. The search card 102 in its minimized state
606 shows its search field 222 but does not show its list 224 of
locations. In the minimized state 606, the intermediate state 602,
and the maximized state 604, the search card shows control 670 for
removing the displayed search parameter from the search field, and
the control 672 for removing the search card to its off-screen
state (i.e., to remove this card from overlapping any portion of
the map display area 101). When the user wishes to interact with a
card that is displayed in its minimized state, the user in some
embodiments can select the card (e.g., tapping the card), which
then opens up to its intermediate state. In other embodiments, the
selection of a minimized card causes the card to open to its last
non-minimized, non-off-screen state. When a card is in its
minimized state displays one or more controls, the user selects the
minimized card at a location that is not one of these controls in
order to cause the card to transition from its minimized state to
another state.
[0062] As shown in FIG. 6, the map display area 101 can display one
or more pieces of metadata (e.g., name of location, type of
location, etc.) for each position identifier 628 that identifies
one search location on the map. Also, the map application of some
embodiments provides search result group identifiers 655 for
several locations that it identifies for a search parameter (Coffee
Shops in this example) when these search locations are very close
to each other so as to make individual identifiers for them overlap
each other or too close to each other to provide a useful or an
aesthetically pleasing map presentation. Each group identifier
includes a number within the identifier to indicate the number of
locations represented by the identifier. For example, the group
identifier 655a specifies 2 on its face to indicate that it
represents the location of two coffee shops, while the group
identifier 655b specifies 3 on its face to indicate that it
represents the location of three coffee shops.
[0063] When displaying intermediate and minimized cards (e.g., the
search card 102 in intermediate and minimized states 602 and 606),
the map application displays weather data 675 (e.g., temperature
data, meteorological data, precipitation data, etc.) on the map
(e.g., map 620) displayed in the map display area 101. Visible also
on the map in the map display area 101 are an information control
680 and a position identifier 685 in the top corner of this display
area when the application is displaying an intermediate card or a
minimized card. The information control 680 allows the user to
change certain aspects of the map presentation, e.g., to switch the
map mode (e.g., driving mode, walking mode, transit mode, etc.), to
display or hide the traffic conditions, to switch between 2D or 3D
map presentation. The position identifier 685 directs the map
application to show a region on the map that corresponds to the
current location of the device, and to show the location of the
device in that region. In some embodiments, the information control
680 and position identifier 685 provide other functionality that is
currently provided by these controls in the current mobile device
operating system.
[0064] In its intermediate and maximized states 602 and 604, the
search result list 626 displays several pieces of information for
each location in the list. In this example, this list shows for
each location a thumbnail picture 650 associated with the location,
a name 652, a rating 654, a price indicator 656 describing prices
of items at the location, the type 658 of location and the distance
660 to the location. Below the search result list 626, the search
card 102 can also provide a set of filter controls 665 for
filtering the results displayed on the map and on the list. In this
example, the set of filter controls 665 are names (Danny Donuts,
Star Cafe, 7-Store, etc.) of popular coffee shops. These names are
provided in a scrollable list (e.g., a list that can horizontally
scroll to the right or left). Selection of any one of these names
directs the map application to display coffee shops with the
selected names on the map in the map display area and in the search
result list 626.
[0065] In its intermediate state 602, the search card in some
embodiments partially displays the search result list 626 to
identify some but not all of the locations identified for the
search. In this example, the second item on this list is only
partially displayed in the map application's output display. This
partial presentation provides a clue in some embodiments that the
card has additional information and/or controls that are currently
off screen.
[0066] Also, in some embodiments, the height of a card in its
intermediate state is selected so that the user can interact with
this card's controls by the same hand that holds the device (e.g.,
with the thumb of the hand that holds the device). This point is
illustrated in FIG. 7. This figure shows two operational stages 702
and 704 of the map application. In the first stage 702, the map
application shows the search card 102 in its intermediate state
602, while a user holds the smartphone 100 in one hand. This stage
702 also shows the user's thumb touch selecting the map 620
displayed in the map display area 101 (i.e., shows the thumb
contacting the phone's display screen at a location that displays
the map). The touch operation causes the map application to slide
down the search card 102 to its minimized state 606, as shown in
the second stage 704. Because the search card 102 is relatively
short in its intermediate state, the user's thumb can easily reach
over the search card in this state in order to minimize this
card.
[0067] The map application in some embodiments provides several
other ways to change the display state of a search card. FIG. 8
illustrates several of these ways. The example illustrated in this
figure is presented in four operational stages 802-808 of the map
application. The first stage 802 shows the search card 102 in its
intermediate state 602. This stage also shows the user holding the
phone 100 in one hand, while selecting the top of the search card
with his thumb and performing an upward drag operation.
[0068] The second stage 804 shows that the drag operation of the
first stage 802 causes the map application to slide the search card
up to assume its maximized state 604. This stage also shows the
user's thumb selecting the top of the search card and performing a
downward drag operation. The downward drag operation directs the
map application to slide down the search card to assume its
minimized state 606, as shown in the third stage 806. To drag the
card from its maximized state to its minimized state, the user can
drag the card past (e.g., a threshold distance past) its
intermediate state from its maximized state.
[0069] In some embodiments, the user can also perform a flick
operation to move a card (e.g., a search card 102) between its
minimized state (e.g., state 606), intermediate state (e.g., state
602), and maximized state (e.g., state 604). To perform a flick
operation in some embodiments, the user can select a location on
the card (e.g., the top of the card) and perform an upward or
downward drag operation that has a velocity or acceleration that is
greater than a first threshold velocity or acceleration value. By
having the threshold velocity or acceleration, this flick operation
allows the user to push the card to the next displayed state (e.g.,
from the intermediate state to the maximized or minimized state,
from the minimized state to the intermediate state, or from the
maximized state to the intermediate state) without maintaining the
drag contact as long as it would be needed when the drag operation
does not have the threshold velocity or acceleration. When the
flick's drag operation has a velocity or acceleration that is
greater than a second, larger threshold value, the flick operation
in some embodiments can have the card skip the intermediate state
and transition from the maximized state to the minimized state, or
from the minimized state to the maximized state. This stronger
flick operation is referred to as a strong flick operation
below.
[0070] The third stage 806 of FIG. 8 shows the user's thumb touch
selecting the map displayed in the map display area 101. As shown
by the fourth stage 808, this tap operation while a card (e.g., a
search card 102, a location card 104, or route planning card 106)
is in its minimized state directs the map application of some
embodiments to remove the card from the display screen, i.e., to
move the card into its off-screen state. In some embodiments, the
map application allows the user to move a card from its minimized
state to its off-screen through other input. As mentioned above,
the user can remove a minimized search card by selecting the cancel
control 672 in some embodiments. Also, in some embodiments, the
user can move a minimized card off-screen by selecting this card
and performing a downward drag operation. In the example
illustrated in FIG. 8, the map application displays weather,
position and information controls 675, 680 and 685 on the map when
the search card is in its off-screen state, as shown in stage 808.
In other embodiments, however, the map application removes all
controls that it previously displayed over a map in the map display
area when it moves a card to its off-screen state, so that the user
can have an unobstructed view of the map.
[0071] As mentioned above, a user cannot scroll a card's content
while the card is in its intermediate state, but can scroll this
content when the card is in its maximized state. FIG. 9 illustrates
the user performing such a scroll operation while the search card
is in its maximized state. This figures shows two operational
stages 902 and 904 of the map application of some embodiments. The
first stage 902 shows the search card 102 after it has been opened
to its maximized state 604. In this stage, the search card in this
example has not received any search parameter, and is displaying a
list of predicted locations for display on the map. The first stage
902 also shows the user performing a drag operation, by using his
thumb to select a location on the list of predicted locations
(i.e., to touch the phone's display screen at a position that
displays the list of predicted locations) and moving his thumb
upwards.
[0072] The second stage 904 shows that in response to this drag
operation, the map application scrolls the predicted-destination
list upwards. This scrolling has moved entry 920 for Coffee Shop in
Cupertino from a lower position in the first stage 902 to the top
of the list. Because of this scrolling, four entries on the
predicted-location list have scrolled off the list, while four
other entries on this list are now displayed on this list. As
shown, the thumb of the hand that holds the phone 100 can easily
scroll through the displayed content of a card in its maximized
state. In other words, this operation is yet another convenient
one-handed interaction that is facilitated by the map
application.
[0073] FIG. 10 illustrates the intermediate state 1002, the
maximized state 1004, and the minimized state 1006 of the location
card 104 of some embodiments. In some embodiments, the map
application presents this card for a location after the user
selects the location from a search result list in the search card,
or after the user selects the location's position identifier on a
map that is displayed in the map display area 101. In some
embodiments, the map application allows a user to adjust the
location card 104 between its intermediate state 1002, maximized
state 1004, minimized state 1006 and off-screen state, by
performing the same operations as those that were described
above.
[0074] As shown, in each of the states 1002, 1004, and 1006, the
location card 104 has a control 1008 for removing this card and
returning to a previously displayed search card, or to a previously
displayed view of the map that does not include either the search
card or the location card. As further shown, the location card 104
displays in all its three states 1002, 1004, and 1006 the name of
the location, and a review of the location from a social media
service (e.g., Yelp) when such a review is available.
[0075] In its intermediate and maximized states 1002 and 1004, this
card provides additional information about the location. In both of
these states 1002 and 1004, this card displays the distance to the
location form the current location of the device, and several
photos associated with the location (e.g., several photos of the
location). The card also displays a route-planning control 1010
that when selected, directs the map application to display a route
from the current location of the device to the location associated
with the card. As shown, the route-planning control 1010 displays
an estimated time of travel to the location associated with the
location card 104 from the current location of the device.
[0076] In its intermediate state 1002, the location card 104 in
some embodiments displays only part of the set of information that
this card has for the location. Also, this card partially displays
some of the information in order to visually suggest that it
contains additional information for display. In the example
illustrated in FIG. 10, the location card 104 in its intermediate
state 1002 partially displays one or more photos in order to
provide a visual clue that the card has additional information
and/or controls that are currently off screen. Also, like other
cards in their intermediate states, the height of location card 104
in its intermediate state 1002 in some embodiments is selected so
that the user can interact with this card's controls by the thumb
of the hand that holds the device.
[0077] In addition, like other cards in their intermediate states,
the content presented in the location card 104 in intermediate
state 1002 is not scrollable in some embodiments. Instead, this
content is scrollable in some embodiments only when the location
card 104 is in its maximized state 1004. The scrollable content
that is viewable in the maximized state of a location card depends
on the type of the location associated with the card. As shown in
FIG. 10, some examples of such information include the address,
telephone number and website for the location. Examples of other
information include information that other map applications (e.g.,
Maps in Apple iOS 9, Google Maps, etc.) provide today in their
location placecards.
[0078] FIG. 11 illustrates the intermediate state 1102, the
maximized state 1104, and the minimized state 1106 of the route
planning card 106 of some embodiments. In some embodiments, the map
application presents this card for a location after the user
selects a route-planning affordance that is displayed near the
location's position identifier 228 on a map. The map application in
some embodiments also displays the route planning card 106 for a
location after the user selects a route-planning control for this
location in a location card for this location. In some embodiments,
the map application displays the route planning card 106 for a
location when the user selects the location from a search result
list in the search card, when this location does not have an
associated location card or when the search card provides an
affordance to skip the location card for this location and
transition directly to its route planning card. The map application
displays a route planning card when the user requests a route
between two locations, neither of which is the current location of
the device.
[0079] In some embodiments, the map application allows a user to
adjust the route-planning card 106 between its intermediate state
1102, maximized state 1104, minimized state 1106 and off-screen
state, by performing the same operations as those that were
described above. As shown, in each of the states 1102, 1104, and
1106, the route planning card 106 has a control 1108 for removing
this card and returning to a previously displayed search card, a
previously displayed location card, or to a previously displayed
view of the map (e.g., a view of the map that does not include any
card).
[0080] In its intermediate and minimized states 1102 and 1106, the
map application displays the route planning card 106 along with a
representation 1150 of at least one route on a map that is
displayed in the map display area. In this example, the displayed
route is a route from the device's current location to the
destination location of the route. This displayed route 1150 is the
route that the map application quantifies as the best route to the
destination location based on a set of one or more metrics. In some
embodiments, the map application in some cases displays on the map
multiple routes to a destination, e.g., multiple driving routes to
the destination.
[0081] As further shown, the route planning card 106 in each of its
states 1102, 1104 and 1106 displays a description of the route
being planned. This description in some embodiments is provided in
terms of the start and end locations of the route, as shown. Also,
in its intermediate and maximized states 1102 and 1104, the route
planning card 106 provides additional description of the displayed
route 1150. This description is dependent on the mode of travel in
some embodiments. In the example illustrated in FIG. 11, the
displayed route 1150 is a transit route, and hence the route
description is a transit route description, which includes the time
1152 to destination, a travel time indication 1154, an indication
1156 of the total walking distance, and a pictorial representation
1158 of the different segments along the transit route. In some
embodiments, the map application provides different travel time
indications in different scenarios. Example of such indications
include an indication of when the user should start the travel,
when the next transit vehicle will leave, the frequency of transit
vehicle departures, or another type of transit travel
notification.
[0082] For driving or walking mode navigation, the route planning
card 106 in its intermediate and maximized states 1102 and 1104 can
provide other descriptions of the route being displayed. For
instance, in some embodiments, this card 106 in its intermediate
and maximized states 1102 and 1104 provides (1) an estimated time
to travel to the location, (2) an identification of one or more
roads to travel (e.g., a primary road to travel), (3) the length of
the route, as illustrated in the example presented in FIG. 12. This
example also displays on the map three identified routes in the map
display area 101. Although the map application selects one of these
three routes, the user can select each of other two displayed
routes so that the route planning card in its intermediate state or
maximized state can display additional information about these
other routes to described them. Also, while FIGS. 11 and 12
illustrate some exemplary route descriptions in the route planning
cards, one of ordinary skill will realize that the route planning
cards in some embodiments can display other information, such as
traffic conditions along a displayed route.
[0083] For transit routes, the route planning card in its maximized
state 1104 can display several different transit routes, as shown.
However, in its intermediate state 1102, the route planning card
106 in some embodiments displays only a subset of (e.g., one of)
the identified transit routes. Because the route planning card 106
in some embodiments is not scrollable when it is in its
intermediate state, the user has to switch the card to its
maximized state 1104 in order to view additional identified routes,
and if needed, to scroll through these routes.
[0084] During route planning, the routes displayed on the map and
described in the route planning cards are dependent on the mode of
transportation that the map application or the user selects. In
some embodiments, the map application selects the transportation
mode based on the travel mode preference that the user has
specified in the application's settings, or that the user has
specified in particular for a particular journey. In its
intermediate and maximized states 1102 and 1104, the route planning
card 106 provides a set of travel mode controls that allow the user
to specify the travel mode for navigating to a particular
destination. These controls include (1) a driving mode control 1180
for requesting a driving route, (2) a walking mode control 1182 for
requesting a walking route, (3) a transit mode control 1186 for
requesting a transit route, and (4) a ride sharing control 1188 for
requesting ride sharing to the destination.
[0085] In its intermediate and maximized states 1102 and 1104, the
route planning card 106 provides a navigation launch control 1160
for each route identified on the card. When selected for a route,
the navigation launch control directs the map application to
provide a navigation presentation for the selected route. FIG. 13
presents an example of a navigation presentation that the map
application presents upon the selection of the navigation launch
control 1160. This example illustrates that the map application
uses a novel navigation card that during the navigation
presentation can assume a minimized state 1312 or an intermediate
state 1314 to provide additional information about the navigation.
In this example, the navigation card does not have a maximized
state, like those for the search card 102, location card 104, and
route planning card 106. However, one of ordinary skill will
realize that the navigation card of other embodiments has a
maximized state.
[0086] These states of the navigation card are illustrated in three
operational stages 1302-1306 of FIG. 13. The first stage 1302 shows
the navigation card in a minimized state 1312 while a puck 1320
(representing the mobile device executing the map application) is
traveling along a route 1322 to a destination. In this stage 1302,
the minimized navigation card provides an estimated arrival time, a
time to destination, a distance to destination, and a control 1324
for ending the navigation presentation. Also, in this stage and the
other two stages 1304 and 1306, the navigation presentation
displays a navigation banner 1326 to describe in text and graphics
the maneuver at the next juncture along the route. In each of these
three stages, the map application also provides an indication of
traffic conditions along the navigated route, e.g., by using
different colors for different segments along the route that have
traffic congestion.
[0087] The second stage 1304 shows the navigation card after it has
been expanded to its intermediate state 1314. In some embodiments,
the navigation card assumes this state when the user selects the
minimized version of this card, or selects the minimized card and
drags it up. In some embodiments, the user can have the navigation
card shrink from its intermediate state 1314 to its minimized state
1312 by tapping on the map that displays the navigation
presentation or by selecting the intermediate version 1314 of this
card (e.g., the top of the intermediate card) and dragging this
card down.
[0088] In its intermediate state 1314, the navigation card displays
several additional controls. In the illustrated example, the
additional controls include three controls 1330, 1332, and 1334 for
identifying gas stations, restaurants and coffee shops near the
navigated route. Selection of these controls directs the map
application to perform a search for gas stations, restaurants or
coffee shops that are near the navigated route, and to display the
search results on the map of the navigated route. The user can then
select a displayed search result to get a navigation presentation
to the location of the selected search result. Although FIG. 13
illustrates controls for specific types of businesses along the
route (i.e., for gas stations, restaurants and coffees shops along
the route), the map application of other embodiments provides
controls for identifying other types of businesses or types of POIs
along a navigated route (e.g., parks, vista points, etc.).
[0089] Another one of the controls displayed by the navigation card
in its intermediate state 1314 is the audio setting control 1336,
which when selected, opens a display area that provides controls
for adjusting the audio settings (e.g., volume level, turning
ON/OFF voice navigation instructions, etc.) for the navigation
presentation. Yet another control is the route detail control 1338
that, when selected, provides a list of the maneuvers along the
route. The last control is a route overview control 1340. As shown
in the third state 1306, the selection of the route overview
control 1340 causes the navigation card to shrink back to its
minimized state, reduces the size of the navigation banner 1326,
and provides an overview display 1375 of the navigated route. This
overview display 1375 shows the position of the puck and the entire
remaining portion of the route from the position of the puck to the
destination.
[0090] FIG. 14 illustrates a state diagram that shows (1) the
various display states of search, location information, and route
planning cards of some embodiments, and (2) transitions between
these states. This state diagram is implemented by a view
coordinator of the map application that manages the views that are
presented in the cards that are stacked on top of the map display
area. This view coordinator will be further described below by
reference to FIG. 20.
[0091] In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, three display states
are shown for each of three cards, with the three display states
being the minimized, intermediate and maximized states, and the
three cards being the search card, the location information card,
and the route planning card. As shown, the intra-state transitions
between the states of any one of the cards is similar to the
intra-state transitions of the other two states. Specifically, a
small flick up or a short drag up directs the view coordinator to
transition a card from its minimized state to its intermediate
state, or from its intermediate state to its maximized state.
Similarly, a small flick down or a short drag down directs the view
coordinator to transition a card from its maximized state to its
intermediate state, or from its intermediate state to its minimized
state. A big flick up or a long drag up directs the view
coordinator to transition a card from its minimized state to its
maximized state, while a big flick down or a long drag down directs
the view coordinator to transition a card from its maximized state
to its minimized state.
[0092] Also, as shown, a tap operation directs the view coordinator
to transition a card from its intermediate state to its minimized
state. In some embodiments, such a tap operation can also be used
to direct the view coordinator to transition a card from its
maximized state to its intermediate state, and/or to transition a
card from its minimized state to its intermediate state.
[0093] FIG. 14 also shows several sets of inter-state transitions
from the search card to the location information card, from the
search card to the route planning card, and from the location
information card to the route planning card, from the location
information card to the search card, from the route planning card
to the search card, and from the route planning card to the
location information card. This figure uses bi-directional arrows
to represent two possible intra-state transitions between two card
states so that this figure is not obscured with unnecessary
detail.
[0094] As shown, when performing an inter-state transition from a
first card to a second card, the view coordinator presents the
second card in the same display state that it was presenting the
first card before making the transition. Also, as described above,
the map application in some embodiments transitions through the
location information card when transitioning between the search
card and route planning card for most locations. However, for
certain locations (e.g., common locations (such as Work and Home),
or locations without location information cards), the map
application of these embodiments transitions between the search and
route planning cards directly, without transitioning through the
location information card. Other embodiments, on the other hand,
provide affordances to allow the user to directly transition
between the search and route planning cards for all locations.
[0095] In some embodiments, the card based UI design of the map
application is part of a container based architecture that displays
either cards or sidebars to provide search, location, route
planning and navigation data and controls. This architecture of the
map application of some embodiments dynamically picks either the
cards or sidebars based on a set of criteria, which can include the
dimensions of the device on which it executes, the content being
displayed by the map application, and the orientation of the
device.
[0096] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of the sidebar based design
of the map application of some embodiments. In this example, the
map application is executing on a tablet 1500, and a sidebar 1505
is displayed over the map display area on the left side of this
area. The sidebar in this example is a search sidebar in an
intermediate state. Like the search, location, route planning and
navigation cards described above, the map application in some
embodiments also uses sidebars to display location, route planning,
and navigation data and controls. Also, the user steps through
these different types of sidebars following the same or similar
sequence of operations that were described above for cards (e.g.,
like the sequence of operations shown in FIG. 2 for stepping
through search, location, and route planning cards).
[0097] Also, like the search, location, and route planning cards,
the search, location and route planning sidebars have three
displays states, which are minimized, intermediate and maximized
states. FIG. 15 illustrates the intermediate state of the search
sidebar, populated with a list of predicted locations as no search
parameter has been entered in the search field. FIG. 16 illustrates
the minimized search sidebar, while FIG. 17 illustrates the
maximized search sidebar. The user can direct a sidebar to
transition between its different display states by performing the
same or similar operations to those described above for the search,
location, and route planning cards. For example, the user can touch
select and drag the bottom 1550 of the search sidebar down or up to
make this sidebar shrink from its intermediate state in FIG. 15 to
its minimized state in FIG. 16, or its maximized state in FIG. 17.
The bottom 1550 of the search sidebar has a handle 1555 that serves
as a visual clue that the bottom of the sidebar is selectable.
[0098] FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a location sidebar 1820
that is displayed for a location that is selected either in a
search sidebar or on the map. In this example, the map application
executes on a smartphone 1800 with a large display screen. Because
of this phone's large screen, the map application can display the
location information in either a card format or a sidebar format.
Specifically, as shown in the first stage 1802 of FIG. 18, the map
application shows a location card 1810 when the phone 1800 is held
upright. On the other hand, when the device is rotated by 90
degrees and held in a sideway mode, the map application switches to
the location sidebar 1820. This is because the phone's display
screen is large and in the sideways position, it shows a sufficient
amount of the map in the map display area, in order to allow the
map application to switch from sidebar view that is more optimal
view for the phone when it is operated in the sideways mode.
[0099] FIG. 19 illustrates an example of the map application
switching from a sidebar style to a card style on a tablet 1900
when the map application is directed to share a portion of the
tablet's display screen with another application. This example is
illustrated in two stages 1902 and 1904. The first stage 1902 shows
the map application's output using the tablet's entire display
screen to display a map display area 1950 and a search sidebar 1955
over the display area 1950. The second stage 1904 shows the output
of the map application after it has switched from the search
sidebar 1955 overlapping the left side of the map display area 1950
to a search card 1960 overlapping the bottom side of the map
display area 1950. The map application has switched from the
sidebar 1955 to the card 1960 because, as shown in the second stage
1904, the map application now shares part of the display screen
with the output of another application. In other words, the tablet
now operates in a split screen mode where the left side of the
screen displays the output of the map application while the right
side of the display screen displays the output of the other
application.
[0100] FIG. 20 illustrates an architectural block diagram of the
map application that shows the modules that allow the map
application to dynamically select the container style to use to
display search, location, and route planning information and
controls. As mentioned, the container styles in some embodiments
are cards and sidebars, but in other embodiments they might include
other types of containers. In this dynamic, container architecture,
each container style specifies a particular type of display area
(e.g., card, sidebar, etc.) (1) that stacks on top of the map
display area at a particular location, (2) that has a number of
display states (e.g., minimized, intermediate, and maximized
states), and (3) that transitions between these display states
based on user input.
[0101] As shown in FIG. 20, the map application has a container
style selector 2005 that dynamically picks a container style 2015
(e.g., selects cards or sidebars) based on a set of criteria that
are resolved by a set of attributes stored in the attribute storage
2010. Examples of these attributes include the dimensions of the
device on which the map application executes, the orientation of
the device, any other content that the device may be displaying
concurrently with the map application, and the content being
displayed by the map application. As the attributes change, the
container selector on certain devices in some embodiments
dynamically changes the container style that it picks to account
for this change. On some devices, the map application in some
embodiments does not change the container style that it picks, when
only one container style on those devices.
[0102] The container style selector 2005 informs a container
content coordinator 2020 of the container style that it selects,
each time that it selects a new container style. In some
embodiments, the container style selector 2005 informs the
coordinator by setting a current container style parameter in a
data storage accessible to the content coordinator 2020. For
search, location or route planning container (e.g., card container
or sidebar container), the content coordinator 2020 uses a map
coordinator 2025 to present the different map views in the
container, to resize the containers based on user input, and to
transition between the different map views in the container. The
content coordinator 2020 passes the container style to use to the
map coordinator 2025.
[0103] As shown in FIG. 20, the views that are presented by the map
coordinator 2020 include search views 2032, location views 2034,
and route planning views 2036. These views include affordances
(i.e., controls) that when selected require the map application to
perform certain operations. To perform these operations, the map
coordinator 2025 interacts with search view controller 2038,
location view controller 2040, and route planning controller 2042.
Examples of the operations that the view controllers 2038, 2040,
and 2042 perform include changing the display state of the views,
changing the content inside the views (e.g., filtering the search
results in a search display area), and performing the transition
between the views (e.g., the transition from a search view to
location view, or from a location view to a route planning view).
To perform these operations (e.g., to show the location information
for an entry selected from the search container), the view
controllers can call other modules of the map application to obtain
the desired information and/or achieve the desired animation.
[0104] For the navigation container (e.g., navigation card or
navigation sidebar), the content coordinator 2020 uses a navigation
coordinator 2030 to present the different navigation views in the
container, to resize the containers based on user input, and to
transition between the different views in the container. The
content coordinator 2020 passes the container style to use to the
navigation coordinator 2030.
[0105] As shown in FIG. 20, the views that are presented by the
navigation coordinator 2030 include (1) navigation tray views 2052
that we described above by reference to FIG. 13, and (2) audio
setting views 2034 that display controls for adjusting audio
settings for the navigation presentation. These views include
affordances (i.e., controls) that when selected require the map
application to perform certain operations. To perform these
operations, the navigation coordinator 2030 interacts with
navigation tray view controller 2056 and audio setting view
controller 2058. Examples of the operations that the view
controllers 2056 and 2058 perform include changing the display
state of the views, adjusting the audio parameters for the audio
portion of the navigation presentation, initiating searches for gas
stations and restaurants near the navigated route, providing an
overview of the route, etc.
[0106] To perform these operations (e.g., to perform a search along
the route), the view controllers can call other modules of the map
application to obtain the desired information and/or achieve the
desired animation. FIG. 20 illustrates the content coordinator 2020
communicating with one or more map browsing coordinators 2060 and
one or more navigation presentation coordinators 2065 in order to
conceptually represent that this coordinator 2020 and its child
coordinators 2025 and 2030 use map-browsing and navigation modules
of the map application in some embodiments to process some of the
operations that are initiated through the displayed containers
and/or are presented in the displayed containers.
[0107] FIG. 21 illustrates that the container style selector 2005
performs in some embodiments to identify dynamically the container
style to use. The style selector 2005 performs this process in some
embodiments on devices on which the container style can change
while the map application is being displayed. For devices on which
the container style cannot change (i.e., on devices on which only
one container style is available), the container style selector
2005 only performs the first three operations 2105-2115 of this
process 2100 when the map application initially starts to identify
the container style to use on that device.
[0108] As shown, the process 2100 initially examines (at 2105) a
set of one or more attributes that define the container style
context. In some embodiments, this attribute set includes
attributes related to the device on which the map application
executes. Examples of these attributes include the dimensions of
the device on which the map application executes, the orientation
of the device, any other content that the device may be displaying
concurrently with the map application, etc. In some embodiments,
the attribute set also includes one or more attributes related to
the operation of the map application, e.g., the content being
displayed by the map application.
[0109] At 2110, the process selects a container style based on the
identified container style context. In some embodiments, the
process makes this selection based on a set of rules that specify
the container style to select for the different attribute sets. For
instance, one rule might say that on a tablet the sidebar container
should be used unless with the map application output display, the
device is concurrently displaying the output of another application
that takes up more than a threshold amount (e.g., 30%, 40%, 50%,
etc.) of screen space. For a smartphone with a large display
screen, two rules might specify that the card container should be
used when the phone is operated in an upright mode, while the
sidebar container should be used when the phone is operated in the
sideways mode.
[0110] At 2115, the process directs the container coordinator 2020
to use the selected container style. As mentioned above, the child
map and navigation coordinators 2025 and 2030 of the container
coordinator 2020 then use this setting to select the container
style for the views that they manage. As the attributes change, the
container selector on certain devices in some embodiments
dynamically changes the container style that it picks to account
for this change. Thus, after 2115, the process transitions to 2120,
where it determines whether the container style context has
changed. If not, the process remains in this state 2120 until the
context changes or until the user closes the map application. When
the process 2100 determines (at 2120) that the context has changed,
the process returns to 2110, to select a container style based on
the identified context and then direct the container coordinator to
use the selected style.
[0111] Several touch and gesture operations for modifying the size
of the cards were described above by reference to FIGS. 1-21. FIGS.
22-31 present examples that illustrate several other gesture
operations that in some embodiments direct the map application to
modify the size of a card that it displays over the map display
area of the map application. In these examples, the card that is
being resized is the search card. One of ordinary skill will
realize that the same or similar gesture operations are used in
some embodiments to modify the sizes of the other cards, such as
the location information card 104 and the route planning card
106.
[0112] FIG. 22 presents an example that illustrates the map
application minimizing an intermediate sized search card in
response to a particular type of pan operation that is performed on
the map display area. Specifically, this example shows that a touch
drag operation (also called swipe operation) on the map display
area that reaches a certain threshold vicinity of the intermediate
sized search card causes the card to minimize, but such a touch
drag operation does not cause the card to minimize when this drag
operation does not reach the threshold vicinity of the intermediate
sized search card.
[0113] The example in FIG. 22 is illustrated in terms of six
operational stages 2202-2212 of the map application. To minimize
clutter in this figure, the bezel of the mobile device (e.g.,
smartphone) that executes the map application is not displayed in
this figure. However, one of ordinary skill will realize that the
touch gestures illustrated in this figure are performed through the
touch-sensitive display screen of this mobile device.
[0114] The first stage 2202 shows the search card 102 opened to its
intermediate state to partially overlap the map display area 101.
The map display area 101 displays a map of a region in the portion
of this display area that the search card does not overlap. The
first stage 2202 also shows the user starting a swipe operation on
the portion of the map display area 101 that the search card 102
does not overlap. This stage shows the user touching the top left
corner of the map display area and starting to drag his finger to
the bottom right corner of this display area. In this example, the
touch selection or swipe operation within the map display area does
not direct the map application in some embodiments to minimize the
search card, unlike some of the embodiments that were described
above.
[0115] The second stage 2204 shows that as a result of this right
downward swipe operation, the map display area is now displaying
another portion of the map. This stage 2204 also shows the location
of the user's finger at the end of this downward swipe. This
location is not within the threshold vicinity of the intermediate
search card to cause this card to minimize. Also, the second stage
2204 shows that at the end of the right downward swipe operation,
the user starts a left upward swipe operation.
[0116] The third stage 2206 shows that as a result of the left
upward swipe operation, the map display area displays another
portion of the map. This stage 2206 also shows that at the end of
the left upward swipe operation, the user starts another right
downward swipe operation. The fourth stage 2208 shows that this
second downward swipe operation reaches and passes the displayed
position of the top of the intermediate sized search card. Once the
finger reaches within a threshold distance of the top of the
intermediate sized search card, the map application starts to
reduce the size of the search card from its intermediate state to
its minimized state. The fourth stage 2208 shows the search card
moving downwards from its intermediate state to its minimized
state.
[0117] To determine whether the finger is within the threshold
distance of the top of the intermediate search card, the map
application defines a bounding box around the search card. This
bounding box has its bottom, right and left sides aligned with the
bottom, right and left sides of the search card, but has a top side
that is the threshold distance above the top side of the card. When
the map application detects that the touch contact for the swipe
input is within the bounding box, and the direction of the swipe is
downwards, the map application in some embodiments starts to slide
the search card down.
[0118] The fifth stage 2210 shows that even after the user has
ended the downward swipe operation and has removed his finger
(i.e., has terminated the touch contact with the mobile device's
display screen), the search card continues its downward movement
towards its minimized state. This is because once the map
application starts a card's transition from its intermediate state
to its minimized state in response to a swipe operation on the map
display area, the map application in some embodiments continues
with this transition even when the user ends the downward swipe
operation by ending the touch contact, or by starting an upward or
sideways swipe operation.
[0119] The sixth stage 2212 shows the search card in its minimized
state after it has completed its transition to this stage. In the
embodiments that have off-screen states for the cards, the gesture
operation illustrated in FIG. 22 can direct the map application to
move the card to an off-screen state. In some of these embodiments,
a downward swipe operation first causes the card to stop at its
minimized state, unless the swipe operation continues, in which
case the card then is pushed off-screen to its off-screen
state.
[0120] Also, other embodiments use other criteria for causing an
intermediate sized card to shrink to its minimized state or to its
off-screen state. For instance, in some embodiments, the map
application shrinks the card from its intermediate state to its
minimized or off-screen state when the swipe gesture in the map
display area is larger than a certain amount and/or causes the map
to pan by more than a threshold amount. In some embodiments, the
intermediate sized card also shrinks to its minimized or off-screen
state when the user performs on the map a downward swipe gesture
that has a velocity or acceleration that is greater than a
threshold velocity or acceleration.
[0121] FIG. 23 conceptually illustrates a process 2300 that the map
application of some embodiments performs to direct an intermediate
sized card to shrink to the card's minimized state. As shown, the
process starts (at 2305) when the map application detects the start
of a swipe gesture on the map that is displayed in the map display
area while the map application displays an intermediate sized card
over the map display area. In response to the received swipe
gesture, the process 2300 performs (at 2310) a pan operation that
changes the portion of the map that is currently being displayed in
the map display area. One example of such a pan operation was
described above by references to stages 2202 and 2204 of FIG.
22.
[0122] Next, at 2315, the process determines whether the current
location of the touch is within a threshold distance of the top of
the intermediate sized card. If not, the process determines (at
2320) whether the swipe gesture has ended. If it has ended, the
process ends. If the swipe gesture has not ended, the process
returns to 2310 to perform another pan operation to again change
the portion of the map that is currently being displayed in the map
display area. In some embodiments, this operation changes the map
based on the magnitude and direction of the last incremental
portion of the swipe gesture (i.e., the portion received since the
last iteration of the panning operation 2310). After this panning
operation, the process again transitions to 2315.
[0123] If the process determines (at 2315) that the current touch
location is within a threshold distance of the top of the
intermediate sized card, the process 2300 starts (at 2325) an
animation process that defines a series of successive positions for
the card as it shrinks from its intermediate state to its minimized
state. This animation process accounts for the velocity of the
swipe gesture in some embodiments. Specifically, in some
embodiments, the animation process shrinks the card faster (i.e.,
defines a shorter time duration for displaying the various
shrinking states of the card) when the velocity of the swipe
gesture is greater. The animation process in some embodiments
applies a low pass filter to the velocity parameter values in order
to smooth out the animation of the descending card. In some of
these embodiments, the animation process slows down the card's
speed of descent as the card gets closer to its minimized
state.
[0124] After initiating the animation process (at 2325) to direct
the card to minimize, the process 2300 continues (at 2330) to pan
the map in the map display area based on the swipe gesture input,
while this input lasts. The process 2300 ends when the swipe
gesture ends. Although FIGS. 22 and 23 illustrate the use of pan
gesture to shrink the card from an intermediate state to a
minimized state, one of ordinary sill will realize that in some
embodiments such gestures can be used to shrink any card from any
non off-screen state to the minimized or off-screen states.
[0125] In some embodiments, the map application also allows a user
to use upward and downward touch swipe operations to change the
size of a minimized card or a maximized card. In some of these
embodiments, however, these gestures have to meet certain criteria
before the map application modifies the size of a minimized or
maximized card in response to these gestures. For instance, in some
embodiments, an upward or downward swipe operation can adjust the
size of a minimized card or a maximized card when the swipe
operation starts at the bottom side or top side of the display
screen. The mobile device of some embodiments associates the bottom
and top sides of the display screen with other affordances that are
activated by upward and downward swipe operations. In some
embodiments, the map application uses a set of rules to determine
whether to resize a minimized or maximized card based on an upward
or downward swipe operation that is initiated from the edge of the
display screen, when such an operation might also be intended to
activate other affordances provided by the mobile device.
[0126] FIGS. 24 and 25 illustrate examples of two sets of controls
that the mobile device of some embodiments provide when the user
performs an upward swipe operation that starts at the bottom side
of the device's display screen and a downward swipe operation that
starts at the top side of the device's display screen. In two
stages 2402 and 2404, FIG. 24 illustrates that in some embodiments
an upward swipe operation starting from the bottom of the display
screen directs the mobile device to present a control center 2400
that provides quick access to certain system level functions, such
as a WiFi control, a Bluetooth control, a screen lock control, a
clock, a calculator, etc. Similarly, in two stages 2502 and 2504,
FIG. 25 illustrates that in some embodiments a downward swipe
operation starting from the top of the display screen directs the
mobile device to present a notification center 2500 that displays
various notifications, such as calendar events, stock quotes, and
data from one or more notification widgets.
[0127] FIG. 26 presents an example that illustrates the map
application changing the size of a minimized search card and a
maximized search card in response first to an upward swipe and then
to a downward swipe operation, where both operations start at the
edge of the display screen. In some embodiments, the map
application performs such a resizing operation even though the
mobile device's operating system typically associates such
operations with other sets of controls, such as the control center
2400 and the notification center 2500. The process that the map
application employs to provide such functionality in an environment
where the edge-initiated upward or downward swipe operations are
associated with other functionality will be described below by
reference to FIG. 31.
[0128] FIG. 26 illustrates the example in terms of four operational
stages 2602-2608 of the map application. The first stage 2602 shows
the search card 102 in a minimized state. It also shows the user's
finger on the bezel of the mobile device below the display screen.
The finger has started an upward swipe operation in this stage as
represented by the arrow 2614. Once the user's finger reaches the
edge of the display screen, the map application starts moving the
search card upwards to increase its size. In some embodiments, the
display screen covers the entire front side of the mobile device.
In these embodiments, the swipe up or down operation that the map
application processes to determine whether it should resize a
minimized or maximized card is a swipe operation that reaches the
boundary of the display area that presents the output display
(e.g., the map display area and the search card) generated by the
map application.
[0129] The second stage 2604 shows the card practically at its
intermediate state as a result of the upward swipe gesture. It also
shows the swipe gesture continuing. This stage also shows the
location of the finger to be below the search field of the search
card 102. The finger is at this location as the map application
started moving the card upwards before the finger could pass the
search field as the finger started to drag across the screen from
the bottom side of the display screen.
[0130] When the upward swipe gesture continues after the search
card has reached its intermediate state, the map application
continues the movement of this card upward so that it can reach its
maximized state. In some embodiments, the map application can
transition the card from its minimized state to its maximized state
even when the edge-initiated upward swipe gesture ends quickly
(e.g., ends before the card reaches its intermediate state) if the
swipe gesture has a velocity or acceleration that is greater than a
threshold velocity or acceleration (e.g., when the swipe gesture is
a flick with such velocity or acceleration). Thus, in these
embodiments, the user does not need to push the card past its
intermediate state to cause it to expand from its minimized state
to its maximized state by performing an edge-initiated upward swipe
gesture.
[0131] The third stage 2606 shows the card after it has reached its
maximized state. This stage also shows the user starting a downward
swipe gesture by placing his finger at the topside of the bezel and
dragging it downward (as represented by arrow 2616). Once the
user's finger reaches the top edge of the map display area, the map
application starts moving the search card downwards to decrease its
size.
[0132] The fourth stage 2608 shows the card near its intermediate
state as a result of the downward swipe gesture. It also shows the
downward swipe gesture continuing. This stage also shows the
location of the finger to be above the search card 102. The finger
is at this location as the map application started moving the card
downwards before the finger could reach the search card when the
finger started to drag across the screen from the top of the map
display area.
[0133] When the downward swipe gesture continues after the search
card has reached its intermediate state, the map application
continues the movement of this card downward so that it can reach
its minimized state. In some embodiments, the map application can
transition the card from its maximized state to its minimized state
even when the edge-initiated downward swipe gesture ends quickly
(e.g., ends before the card reaches its intermediate state) if the
swipe gesture has a velocity or acceleration that is greater than a
threshold velocity or acceleration. Thus, in these embodiments, the
user does not need to push the card past its intermediate state to
cause it to shrink from its maximized state to its minimized state
by performing an edge-initiated downward swipe gesture.
[0134] In the embodiments that have off-screen states for the
cards, a downward swipe gesture can direct the map application to
move the card to an off-screen state. In some of these embodiments,
the downward swipe gesture first causes a maximized card to stop at
its minimized state, unless the swipe operation continues, in which
case the card then is pushed off-screen to its off-screen state.
Also, in some embodiments, the downward swipe gesture can cause the
maximized card to transition directly to its off-screen state
(without first stopping in its intermediate and minimized states)
when the swipe gesture has a velocity or acceleration that is
greater than a threshold velocity or acceleration.
[0135] In some embodiments, once the map application starts to
slide the card upward or downward in response to an edge-initiated
swipe gesture while the card is in the minimized or maximized
state, the map application continues the upward slide or downward
slide of the card even after the swipe gesture has ended. The map
application of some of these embodiments stops the sliding card at
its intermediate state when the swipe gesture ends quickly and the
application has to continue sliding the card on its own. After the
swipe gesture ends quickly, the map application of other
embodiments slides the card to either its intermediate state or
maximized/minimized state, depending on whether the velocity or
acceleration of the swipe gesture is greater than a threshold
amount (e.g., a first threshold amount to slide to the intermediate
state, and a second threshold amount to slide to the
maximized/minimized state).
[0136] On the other hand, after starting to slide the card upward
or downward in response to an edge-initiated swipe gesture while
the card is in the minimized or maximized state, the map
application of other embodiments does not continue to slide the
card upward or downward if the swipe gesture ends without reaching
its intermediate state. In these embodiments, the map application
returns the card to its minimized or maximized state. In still
other embodiments, the map application continues to slide the card
upward or downward in response to an upward or downward swipe
gesture associated with a minimized or maximized card, but only
continues this slide if the velocity or acceleration of the gesture
at the start or end of the gesture was greater than a threshold
velocity or acceleration. If the swipe gesture's velocity or
acceleration is not greater than the threshold velocity or
acceleration, the map application returns the card to its minimized
or maximized state.
[0137] FIGS. 27-30 illustrate that even when the map application
operates in the foreground, certain edge-initiated swipe operations
in some embodiments do not direct the map application to resize a
card. FIGS. 27-28 illustrate that the map application of some
embodiments does not resize an intermediate card in response to
edge-initiated downward or upward swipe operations. As shown in two
stages 2702 and 2704 of FIG. 27, a downward swipe operation that
starts at the top of the display screen does not direct the search
card to change from its intermediate state to its minimized state
in some embodiments, but rather directs the mobile device's
operating system to slide down the notification center 2500.
Similarly, as shown in two stages 2802 and 2804 of FIG. 28, an
upward swipe operation that starts at the bottom of the display
screen does not direct the search card to change from its
intermediate state to its maximized state in some embodiments, but
rather directs the mobile device's operating system to slide up the
control center 2400.
[0138] FIG. 29 illustrates that the map application of some
embodiments does not move a maximized search card in response to
edge-initiated upward swipe operation. Instead, as shown in two
stages 2902 and 2904, the upward swipe operation that starts at the
bottom of the display screen directs the mobile device's operating
system to slide up the control center 2400. FIG. 30 illustrates
that the map application of some embodiments does not affect a
minimized search card (e.g., move it off-screen) in response to
edge-initiated downward swipe operation. Instead, as shown in two
stages 3002 and 3004, the downward swipe operation that starts at
the top of the display screen directs the mobile device's operating
system to slide down the notification center 2500.
[0139] FIG. 31 illustrates a process 3100 that the map application
performs when it receives an upward or downward swipe operation
that starts at the bottom or top of the display screen. As shown,
the process starts (at 3105) when the map application receives from
the OS touch framework an indication of a swipe gesture input that
starts at the bottom or the top of the display area that is
provided to the map application to present its output display. This
display area is the entire display screen in some embodiments.
[0140] In some embodiments, the OS touch framework provides this
input to the map application when the map application operates in
the foreground (i.e., the map application is generating the content
currently displayed on the device's display screen). In these
embodiments, the OS touch framework does not provide this input to
the map application when the map application is not open or it
operates in the background. For instance, when the device is
displaying the home screen or another page that is generated by the
OS, the upward or downward swipe operation that starts at the
bottom or top of the display screen causes the mobile device in
some embodiments to display the notification center 2500 or the
control center 2400.
[0141] After receiving this input, the process determines (at 3110)
whether the map application is currently displaying a card in its
intermediate state. If so, the process informs (at 3135) the OS
touch framework that the gesture input is not needed by the map
application. The OS touch framework then provides this input to the
next system or application process that should receive an upward or
downward swipe operation that starts at the bottom or top of the
display screen. In this manner, the gesture input that the map
application rejects (at 3135) results in the display of the control
center 2400 or the notification center 2500, as the OS framework
then relays this input to an OS or application process that
generates the display of these display areas. After 3135, the
process ends.
[0142] When the process determines (at 3110) that the map
application is not currently displaying a card in its intermediate
state, the process determines (at 3115) whether the swipe gesture
is a downward swipe that started at the top of the screen while the
card is in a minimized state. If so, the process transitions to
3135 to reject the input, and then ends, because, as described
above by reference to FIG. 30, a downward swipe while the card is
minimized should not cause the map application to do anything but
rather should cause the mobile device to present the notification
center 2500.
[0143] When the process determines (at 3115) that the swipe gesture
is not a downward swipe that started at the top of the screen while
the card is in a minimized state, the process determines (at 3120)
whether the swipe gesture is an upward swipe that started at the
bottom of the screen while the card is in a maximized state. If so,
the process transitions to 3135 to reject the input, and then ends,
because, as described above by reference to FIG. 29, an upward
swipe while the card is maximized should not cause the map
application to do anything but rather should cause the mobile
device to present the control center 2400.
[0144] When the process determines (at 3120) that the swipe gesture
is not an upward swipe that started at the bottom of the screen
while the card is in a maximized state, the swipe gesture is either
an edge-initiated upward swipe while the card is in a minimized
state, or an edge-initiated downward swipe while the card is in a
maximized state. However, such operations in some embodiments do
not necessarily cause the map application to increase or decrease
the size of the minimized or maximized card. This is because the
map application disregards such a swipe gesture when this gesture
is received with N seconds (e.g., 3 seconds) of a prior
edge-initiated swipe gesture that initially started to expand or
contract the minimized or maximized card, but then was canceled
before expanding or contracting the card (e.g., the gesture
reversed course and returned the card back to its minimized or
maximized state).
[0145] Therefore, when the process determines (at 3120) that the
swipe gesture is not an upward swipe that started at the bottom of
the screen while the card is in a maximized state, the process
determines (at 3125) whether this swipe input is received within N
seconds of a prior swipe input that was canceled before expanding
or contracting the card. If so, the process transitions to 3135 to
reject the input, and then ends. Otherwise, the process adjusts (at
3130) the size of the card based on the swipe gesture. Examples of
such adjustments were described above by reference to FIG. 26.
After 3130, the process ends.
[0146] Many of the above-described features and applications are
implemented as software processes that are specified as a set of
instructions recorded on a computer readable storage medium (also
referred to as computer readable medium). When these instructions
are executed by one or more computational or processing unit(s)
(e.g., one or more processors, cores of processors, or other
processing units), they cause the processing unit(s) to perform the
actions indicated in the instructions. Examples of computer
readable media include, but are not limited to, CD-ROMs, flash
drives, random access memory (RAM) chips, hard drives, erasable
programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable
programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), etc. The computer
readable media does not include carrier waves and electronic
signals passing wirelessly or over wired connections.
[0147] In this specification, the term "software" is meant to
include firmware residing in read-only memory or applications
stored in magnetic storage which can be read into memory for
processing by a processor. Also, in some embodiments, multiple
software inventions can be implemented as sub-parts of a larger
program while remaining distinct software inventions. In some
embodiments, multiple software inventions can also be implemented
as separate programs. Finally, any combination of separate programs
that together implement a software invention described here is
within the scope of the invention. In some embodiments, the
software programs, when installed to operate on one or more
electronic systems, define one or more specific machine
implementations that execute and perform the operations of the
software programs.
[0148] The applications of some embodiments operate on mobile
devices, such as smart phones (e.g., iPhones.RTM.) and tablets
(e.g., iPads.RTM.). FIG. 32 is an example of an architecture 3200
of such a mobile computing device. Examples of mobile computing
devices include smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. As shown, the
mobile computing device 3200 includes one or more processing units
3205, a memory interface 3210 and a peripherals interface 3215.
[0149] The peripherals interface 3215 is coupled to various sensors
and subsystems, including a camera subsystem 3220, a wireless
communication subsystem(s) 3225, an audio subsystem 3230, an I/O
subsystem 3235, etc. The peripherals interface 3215 enables
communication between the processing units 3205 and various
peripherals. For example, an orientation sensor 3245 (e.g., a
gyroscope) and an acceleration sensor 3250 (e.g., an accelerometer)
is coupled to the peripherals interface 3215 to facilitate
orientation and acceleration functions.
[0150] The camera subsystem 3220 is coupled to one or more optical
sensors 3240 (e.g., a charged coupled device (CCD) optical sensor,
a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) optical sensor,
etc.). The camera subsystem 3220 coupled with the optical sensors
3240 facilitates camera functions, such as image and/or video data
capturing. The wireless communication subsystem 3225 serves to
facilitate communication functions. In some embodiments, the
wireless communication subsystem 3225 includes radio frequency
receivers and transmitters, and optical receivers and transmitters
(not shown in FIG. 32). These receivers and transmitters of some
embodiments are implemented to operate over one or more
communication networks such as a GSM network, a Wi-Fi network, a
Bluetooth network, etc. The audio subsystem 3230 is coupled to a
speaker to output audio (e.g., to output voice navigation
instructions). Additionally, the audio subsystem 3230 is coupled to
a microphone to facilitate voice-enabled functions, such as voice
recognition (e.g., for searching), digital recording, etc.
[0151] The I/O subsystem 3235 involves the transfer between
input/output peripheral devices, such as a display, a touch screen,
etc., and the data bus of the processing units 3205 through the
peripherals interface 3215. The I/O subsystem 3235 includes a
touch-screen controller 3255 and other input controllers 3260 to
facilitate the transfer between input/output peripheral devices and
the data bus of the processing units 3205. As shown, the
touch-screen controller 3255 is coupled to a touch screen 3265. The
touch-screen controller 3255 detects contact and movement on the
touch screen 3265 using any of multiple touch sensitivity
technologies. The other input controllers 3260 are coupled to other
input/control devices, such as one or more buttons. Some
embodiments include a near-touch sensitive screen and a
corresponding controller that can detect near-touch interactions
instead of or in addition to touch interactions.
[0152] The memory interface 3210 is coupled to memory 3270. In some
embodiments, the memory 3270 includes volatile memory (e.g.,
high-speed random access memory), non-volatile memory (e.g., flash
memory), a combination of volatile and non-volatile memory, and/or
any other type of memory. As illustrated in FIG. 32, the memory
3270 stores an operating system (OS) 3272. The OS 3272 includes
instructions for handling basic system services and for performing
hardware dependent tasks.
[0153] The memory 3270 also includes communication instructions
3274 to facilitate communicating with one or more additional
devices; graphical user interface instructions 3276 to facilitate
graphic user interface processing; image processing instructions
3278 to facilitate image-related processing and functions; input
processing instructions 3280 to facilitate input-related (e.g.,
touch input) processes and functions; audio processing instructions
3282 to facilitate audio-related processes and functions; and
camera instructions 3284 to facilitate camera-related processes and
functions. The instructions described above are merely exemplary
and the memory 3270 includes additional and/or other instructions
in some embodiments. For instance, the memory for a smartphone may
include phone instructions to facilitate phone-related processes
and functions. The above-identified instructions need not be
implemented as separate software programs or modules. Various
functions of the mobile computing device can be implemented in
hardware and/or in software, including in one or more signal
processing and/or application specific integrated circuits.
[0154] While the components illustrated in FIG. 32 are shown as
separate components, one of ordinary skill in the art will
recognize that two or more components may be integrated into one or
more integrated circuits. In addition, two or more components may
be coupled together by one or more communication buses or signal
lines. Also, while many of the functions have been described as
being performed by one component, one of ordinary skill in the art
will realize that the functions described with respect to FIG. 32
may be split into two or more integrated circuits.
[0155] FIG. 33 conceptually illustrates another example of an
electronic system 3300 with which some embodiments of the invention
are implemented. The electronic system 3300 may be a computer
(e.g., a desktop computer, personal computer, tablet computer,
etc.), phone, PDA, or any other sort of electronic or computing
device. Such an electronic system includes various types of
computer readable media and interfaces for various other types of
computer readable media. Electronic system 3300 includes a bus
3305, processing unit(s) 3310, a graphics processing unit (GPU)
3315, a system memory 3320, a network 3325, a read-only memory
3330, a permanent storage device 3335, input devices 3340, and
output devices 3345.
[0156] The bus 3305 collectively represents all system, peripheral,
and chipset buses that communicatively connect the numerous
internal devices of the electronic system 3300. For instance, the
bus 3305 communicatively connects the processing unit(s) 3310 with
the read-only memory 3330, the GPU 3315, the system memory 3320,
and the permanent storage device 3335.
[0157] From these various memory units, the processing unit(s) 3310
retrieves instructions to execute and data to process in order to
execute the processes of the invention. The processing unit(s) may
be a single processor or a multi-core processor in different
embodiments. Some instructions are passed to and executed by the
GPU 3315. The GPU 3315 can offload various computations or
complement the image processing provided by the processing unit(s)
3310.
[0158] The read-only-memory (ROM) 3330 stores static data and
instructions that are needed by the processing unit(s) 3310 and
other modules of the electronic system. The permanent storage
device 3335, on the other hand, is a read-and-write memory device.
This device is a non-volatile memory unit that stores instructions
and data even when the electronic system 3300 is off. Some
embodiments of the invention use a mass-storage device (such as a
magnetic or optical disk and its corresponding disk drive,
integrated flash memory) as the permanent storage device 3335.
[0159] Other embodiments use a removable storage device (such as a
floppy disk, flash memory device, etc., and its corresponding
drive) as the permanent storage device. Like the permanent storage
device 3335, the system memory 3320 is a read-and-write memory
device. However, unlike storage device 3335, the system memory 3320
is a volatile read-and-write memory, such a random access memory.
The system memory 3320 stores some of the instructions and data
that the processor needs at runtime. In some embodiments, the
invention's processes are stored in the system memory 3320, the
permanent storage device 3335, and/or the read-only memory 3330.
For example, the various memory units include instructions for
processing multimedia clips in accordance with some embodiments.
From these various memory units, the processing unit(s) 3310
retrieves instructions to execute and data to process in order to
execute the processes of some embodiments.
[0160] The bus 3305 also connects to the input and output devices
3340 and 3345. The input devices 3340 enable the user to
communicate information and select commands to the electronic
system. The input devices 3340 include alphanumeric keyboards and
pointing devices (also called "cursor control devices"), cameras
(e.g., webcams), microphones or similar devices for receiving voice
commands, etc. The output devices 3345 display images generated by
the electronic system or otherwise output data. The output devices
3345 include printers and display devices, such as cathode ray
tubes (CRT) or liquid crystal displays (LCD), as well as speakers
or similar audio output devices. Some embodiments include devices
such as a touchscreen that function as both input and output
devices.
[0161] Finally, as shown in FIG. 33, bus 3305 also couples
electronic system 3300 to a network 3325 through a network adapter
(not shown). In this manner, the computer can be a part of a
network of computers (such as a local area network ("LAN"), a wide
area network ("WAN"), or an Intranet), or a network of networks,
such as the Internet. Any or all components of electronic system
3300 may be used in conjunction with the invention.
[0162] Some embodiments include electronic components, such as
microprocessors, storage and memory that store computer program
instructions in a machine-readable or computer-readable medium
(alternatively referred to as computer-readable storage media,
machine-readable media, or machine-readable storage media). Some
examples of such computer-readable media include RAM, ROM,
read-only compact discs (CD-ROM), recordable compact discs (CD-R),
rewritable compact discs (CD-RW), read-only digital versatile discs
(e.g., DVD-ROM, dual-layer DVD-ROM), a variety of
recordable/rewritable DVDs (e.g., DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, etc.),
flash memory (e.g., SD cards, mini-SD cards, micro-SD cards, etc.),
magnetic and/or solid state hard drives, read-only and recordable
Blu-Ray.RTM. discs, ultra density optical discs, any other optical
or magnetic media, and floppy disks. The computer-readable media
may store a computer program that is executable by at least one
processing unit and includes sets of instructions for performing
various operations. Examples of computer programs or computer code
include machine code, such as is produced by a compiler, and files
including higher-level code that are executed by a computer, an
electronic component, or a microprocessor using an interpreter.
[0163] While the above discussion primarily refers to
microprocessor or multi-core processors that execute software, some
embodiments are performed by one or more integrated circuits, such
as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or field
programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In some embodiments, such
integrated circuits execute instructions that are stored on the
circuit itself. In addition, some embodiments execute software
stored in programmable logic devices (PLDs), ROM, or RAM
devices.
[0164] As used in this specification and any claims of this
application, the terms "computer", "server", "processor", and
"memory" all refer to electronic or other technological devices.
These terms exclude people or groups of people. For the purposes of
the specification, the terms display or displaying means displaying
on an electronic device. As used in this specification and any
claims of this application, the terms "computer readable medium,"
"computer readable media," and "machine readable medium" are
entirely restricted to tangible, physical objects that store
information in a form that is readable by a computer. These terms
exclude any wireless signals, wired download signals, and any other
ephemeral signals.
[0165] Various embodiments may operate within a map service
operating environment. FIG. 34 illustrates one possible embodiment
of an operating environment 3400 for a map service (also referred
to as a mapping service) 3430 and client devices 3402a-3402c. In
some embodiments, devices 3402a, 3402b, and 3402c communicate over
one or more wired or wireless networks 3410. For example, wireless
network 3410, such as a cellular network, can communicate with a
wide area network (WAN) 3420, such as the Internet, by use of
gateway 3414. A gateway 3414 in some embodiments provides a packet
oriented mobile data service, such as General Packet Radio Service
(GPRS), or other mobile data service allowing wireless networks to
transmit data to other networks, such as wide area network 3420.
Likewise, access device 3412 (e.g., IEEE 802.11g wireless access
device) provides communication access to WAN 3420.
[0166] The client devices 3402a and 3402b can be any portable
electronic or computing device capable of communicating with a map
service (e.g., smart phone, tablet, laptop computer, etc.). Device
3402c can be any non-portable electronic or computing device
capable of communicating with a map service (e.g., desktop
computer, etc.). These devices may be multifunction devices capable
of various functions (e.g., placing phone calls, sending electronic
messages, producing documents, etc.). Though the devices
3402a-3402c are not shown as each accessing the map service 3430
via either the wireless network 3410 and gateway 3414 or the access
device 3412, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that
the client devices of some embodiments may access the map service
via multiple different wired and/or wireless protocols.
[0167] Devices 3402a-3402c can also establish communications by
other means. For example, these devices may communicate with other
wireless devices (e.g., other devices 3402b, cell phones, etc.)
over the wireless network 3410 or through access device 3412.
Likewise the devices 3402a-3402c can establish peer-to-peer
communications 3440 (e.g., a personal area network) by use of one
or more communication subsystems, such as Bluetooth.RTM.
communication or similar peer-to-peer protocols.
[0168] Devices 3402a-3402c may also receive Global Positioning
Satellite (GPS) signals from GPS satellites 3460. In addition, in
some embodiments the map service 3430 and other services 3450 may
also receive GPS signals from GPS satellites 3460.
[0169] A map service 3430 may provide map services for one or more
client devices 3402a-3402c in communication with the map service
3430 through various communication methods and protocols. A map
service 3430 in some embodiments provides map information (e.g.,
map tiles used by the client devices to generate a two-dimensional
or three-dimensional map presentation) and other map-related data,
such as two-dimensional map image data (e.g., aerial view of roads
utilizing satellite imagery), three-dimensional map image data
(e.g., traversable map with three-dimensional features, such as
buildings), route and direction calculations (e.g., driving route
data, ferry route calculations, directions between two points for a
pedestrian, etc.), real-time navigation data (e.g., turn-by-turn
visual navigation data in two or three dimensions), traffic data,
location data (e.g., where the client device currently is located),
and other geographic data (e.g., wireless network coverage,
weather, traffic information, or nearby points-of-interest). In
various embodiments, the map service data may include localized
labels for different countries or regions. Localized labels may be
utilized to present map labels (e.g., street names, city names,
points of interest) in different languages on client devices. The
client devices 3402a-3402c may utilize these map services to obtain
the various map service data, then implement various techniques to
process the data and provide the processed data to various entities
(e.g., internal software or hardware modules, display screens of
the client devices, external display screens, or other external
systems or devices.
[0170] The map service 3430 of some embodiments provides map
services by generating and distributing the various types of map
service data listed above, including map information used by the
client device to generate and display a map presentation. In some
embodiments, the map information includes one or more map tiles.
The map tiles may include raster image data (e.g., bmp, gif,
jpg/jpeg/, png, tiff, etc. data) for display as a map presentation.
In some embodiments, the map tiles provide vector-based map data,
with the map presentation data encoded using vector graphics (e.g.,
svg or drw data). The map tiles may also include various other
information pertaining to the map, such as metadata. Some
embodiments also encode style data (e.g., used to generate
textures) into the map tiles. The client device processes (e.g.,
renders) the vector and/or raster image data to generate a map
presentation for display as a two-dimensional or three-dimensional
map presentation. To transmit the map tiles to a client device
3402a-3402c, the map service 3430 of some embodiments, performs
various optimization techniques to analyze a map tile before
encoding the tile.
[0171] In some embodiments, the map tiles are generated by the map
service 3430 for different possible display resolutions at the
client devices 3402a-3402c. In some embodiments, the higher zoom
levels may include more detail (e.g., more street level
information, etc.). On the other hand, map tiles for lower zoom
levels may omit certain data (e.g., the street level details would
not be used when displaying the entire earth).
[0172] To generate the map information (e.g., map tiles), the map
service 3430 may obtain map service data from internal or external
sources. For example, satellite imagery used in map image data may
be obtained from external services, or internal systems, storage
devices, or nodes. Other examples may include, but are not limited
to, GPS assistance servers, wireless network coverage databases,
business or personal directories, weather data, government
information (e.g., construction updates or road name changes), or
traffic reports. Some embodiments of a map service may update map
service data (e.g., wireless network coverage) for analyzing future
requests from client devices.
[0173] In some embodiments, the map service 3430 responds to
requests from the client devices 3402a-3402c for map information.
The client devices may request specific portions of a map, or
specific map tiles (e.g., specific tiles at specific zoom levels).
In some embodiments, the client devices may provide the map service
with starting locations (or current locations) and destination
locations for a route calculations, and request turn-by-turn
navigation data. A client device may also request map service
rendering information, such as map textures or style sheets.
Requests for other geographic data may include, but are not limited
to, current location, wireless network coverage, weather, traffic
information, or nearby points-of-interest.
[0174] The client devices 3402a-3402c that obtain map service data
from the map service 3430 and render the data to display the map
information in two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional views. Some
embodiments display a rendered map and allow a user, system, or
device to provide input to manipulate a virtual camera for the map,
changing the map display according to the virtual camera's
position, orientation, and field-of-view. Various forms and input
devices are implemented to manipulate a virtual camera. In some
embodiments, touch input, through certain single or combination
gestures (e.g., touch-and-hold or a swipe) manipulate the virtual
camera. Other embodiments allow manipulation of the device's
physical location to manipulate a virtual camera. Other input
devices to the client device may be used including, e.g., auditory
input (e.g., spoken words), a physical keyboard, mouse, and/or a
joystick. Some embodiments provide various visual feedback to
virtual camera manipulations, such as displaying an animation of
possible virtual camera manipulations when transitioning from
two-dimensional map views to three-dimensional map views.
[0175] In some embodiments, a client device 3402a-3402c implements
a navigation system (e.g., turn-by-turn navigation), which may be
part of an integrated mapping and navigation application. A
navigation system provides directions or route information, which
may be displayed to a user. As mentioned above, a client device may
receive both map image data and route data from the map service
3430. In some embodiments, the navigation feature of the client
device provides real-time route and direction information based
upon location information and route information received from a map
service and/or other location system, such as a Global Positioning
Satellite (GPS) system. A client device may display map image data
that reflects the current location of the client device and update
the map image data in real-time. The navigation features may
provide auditory or visual directions to follow a certain route,
and some embodiments display map data from the perspective of a
virtual camera biased toward the route destination during
turn-by-turn navigation.
[0176] The client devices 3402a-3402c of some embodiments implement
various techniques to utilize the received map service data (e.g.,
optimized rendering techniques). In some embodiments, a client
device locally stores some of the information used to render map
data. For instance, client devices may store style sheets with
rendering directions for image data containing style identifiers,
common image textures (in order to decrease the amount of map image
data transferred from the map service), etc. The client devices of
some embodiments may implement various techniques to render
two-dimensional and three-dimensional map image data, including,
e.g., generating three-dimensional buildings out of two-dimensional
building footprint data; modeling two-dimensional and
three-dimensional map objects to determine the client device
communication environment; generating models to determine whether
map labels are seen from a certain virtual camera position; and
generating models to smooth transitions between map image data.
[0177] In various embodiments, map service 3430 and/or other
service(s) 3450 are configured to process search requests from any
of the client devices. Search requests may include but are not
limited to queries for businesses, addresses, residential
locations, points of interest, or some combination thereof. Map
service 3430 and/or other service(s) 3450 may be configured to
return results related to a variety of parameters including but not
limited to a location entered into an address bar or other text
entry field (including abbreviations and/or other shorthand
notation), a current map view (e.g., user may be viewing one
location on the multifunction device while residing in another
location), current location of the user (e.g., in cases where the
current map view did not include search results), and the current
route (if any). In various embodiments, these parameters may affect
the composition of the search results (and/or the ordering of the
search results) based on different priority weightings. In various
embodiments, the search results that are returned may be a subset
of results selected based on specific criteria including but not
limited to a quantity of times the search result (e.g., a
particular point of interest) has been requested, a measure of
quality associated with the search result (e.g., highest user or
editorial review rating), and/or the volume of reviews for the
search results (e.g., the number of times the search result has
been review or rated).
[0178] In various embodiments, map service 3430 and/or other
service(s) 3450 are configured to provide auto-complete search
results that are displayed on the client device, such as within the
mapping application. For instance, auto-complete search results may
populate a portion of the screen as the user enters one or more
search keywords on the multifunction device. In some cases, this
feature may save the user time as the desired search result may be
displayed before the user enters the full search query. In various
embodiments, the auto complete search results may be search results
found by the client on the client device (e.g., bookmarks or
contacts), search results found elsewhere (e.g., from the Internet)
by map service 3430 and/or other service(s) 3450, and/or some
combination thereof. As is the case with commands, any of the
search queries may be entered by the user via voice or through
typing. The multifunction device may be configured to display
search results graphically within any of the map display described
herein. For instance, a pin or other graphical indicator may
specify locations of search results as points of interest. In
various embodiments, responsive to a user selection of one of these
points of interest (e.g., a touch selection, such as a tap), the
multifunction device is configured to display additional
information about the selected point of interest including but not
limited to ratings, reviews or review snippets, hours of operation,
store status (e.g., open for business, permanently closed, etc.),
and/or images of a storefront for the point of interest. In various
embodiments, any of this information may be displayed on a
graphical information card that is displayed in response to the
user's selection of the point of interest.
[0179] In various embodiments, map service 3430 and/or other
service(s) 3450 provide one or more feedback mechanisms to receive
feedback from client devices 3402a-3402c. For instance, client
devices may provide feedback on search results to map service 3430
and/or other service(s) 3450 (e.g., feedback specifying ratings,
reviews, temporary or permanent business closures, errors etc.);
this feedback may be used to update information about points of
interest in order to provide more accurate or more up-to-date
search results in the future. In some embodiments, map service 3430
and/or other service(s) 3450 may provide testing information to the
client device (e.g., an A/B test) to determine which search results
are best. For instance, at random intervals, the client device may
receive and present two search results to a user and allow the user
to indicate the best result. The client device may report the test
results to map service 3430 and/or other service(s) 3450 to improve
future search results based on the chosen testing technique, such
as an A/B test technique in which a baseline control sample is
compared to a variety of single-variable test samples in order to
improve results.
[0180] While the invention has been described with reference to
numerous specific details, one of ordinary skill in the art will
recognize that the invention can be embodied in other specific
forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.
Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that
the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative
details, but rather is to be defined by the appended claims
* * * * *