Patent US7725837B2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US7725837B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Digital image browser
Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC
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Filing: 2005-03-31
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Granted: 2010-05-25
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Expires: 2025-03-31
Abstract
Abstract The present subject matter describes a browser for efficiently presenting and browsing a large digital photograph collection. The browser includes a graphical interface—referred to as a time quilt—that combines a wrappable timeline with a space filling layout. Thumbnails representing individual images or clusters of images are laid out chronologically in columns, from top to bottom. When the bottom of a column is reached, a new column is started to the right of the existing column(s). Semantic zooming is used wherein zooming in on a thumbnail image that represents a cluster renders thumbnails of images in the cluster when the thumbnails of the images can be rendered in a legible size. Tiered zooming is also described, which is semantic zooming on multiple levels—representative thumbnails give way to clusters of representative thumbnails that each represent an image or a cluster of images.
Inventors
- 👤 Curtis G. Wong
- 👤 David F. Huynh
- 👤 Patrick M. Baudisch
- 👤 Steven M. Drucker
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 12:45
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/50; G06F16/54
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim
267 words
A method of allowing a user to interactively zoom in and out of thumbnails displayed in a display area, the method comprising: enabling a user to control the size of the thumbnails in the display area by interactively changing a zoom level that correspondingly expands and contracts the thumbnails displayed in the display area, wherein the thumbnails comprise resizings of images in a collection of images being navigated via the changes in zoom level; as the user is zooming in to cause the thumbnails to be correspondingly displayed in the display area such that they appear to gradually increase in size relative to the display area, the thumbnails including a plurality of representative thumbnails that also appear to be increasing in size during the zooming in, each representative thumbnail representing a cluster of thumbnails not initially displayed during the zooming in, and during the zooming in repeatedly checking if a first zoom threshold is reached, and automatically responding to determining that the first zoom threshold is reached during the zooming by: automatically reducing the size of the displayed representative thumbnails in the display area, and using space created thereby to automatically newly display in the display area clusters of thumbnails represented by the representative thumbnails, respectively; and after automatically decreasing the size of the displayed representative thumbnails and newly displaying the clusters of thumbnails, continuing the zooming in by the user which causes the reduced representative thumbnails continue to appear to gradually increase in size and which causes any thumbnails in the clusters that are in the display area to also appear to gradually increase in size.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
267 words
A method of allowing a user to interactively zoom in and out of thumbnails displayed in a display area, the method comprising: enabling a user to control the size of the thumbnails in the display area by interactively changing a zoom level that correspondingly expands and contracts the thumbnails displayed in the display area, wherein the thumbnails comprise resizings of images in a collection of images being navigated via the changes in zoom level; as the user is zooming in to cause the thumbnails to be correspondingly displayed in the display area such that they appear to gradually increase in size relative to the display area, the thumbnails including a plurality of representative thumbnails that also appear to be increasing in size during the zooming in, each representative thumbnail representing a cluster of thumbnails not initially displayed during the zooming in, and during the zooming in repeatedly checking if a first zoom threshold is reached, and automatically responding to determining that the first zoom threshold is reached during the zooming by: automatically reducing the size of the displayed representative thumbnails in the display area, and using space created thereby to automatically newly display in the display area clusters of thumbnails represented by the representative thumbnails, respectively; and after automatically decreasing the size of the displayed representative thumbnails and newly displaying the clusters of thumbnails, continuing the zooming in by the user which causes the reduced representative thumbnails continue to appear to gradually increase in size and which causes any thumbnails in the clusters that are in the display area to also appear to gradually increase in size.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method according to claim 1 , further comprising displaying the representative thumbnails in a manner that visibly distinguishes them from thumbnails in the display area that do not represent clusters.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method according to claim 1 , further comprising automatically determining which of the thumbnails will serve as representative thumbnails.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
21 words
A method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving input from the user designating a thumbnail as a representative thumbnail.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method according to claim 1 , wherein the size of a representative thumbnail is based in part on how many thumbnails it represents.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 1 , wherein when the clusters of thumbnails are newly displayed they are automatically displayed based on dates associated with images from which the thumbnails are derived.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
31 words
A method according to claim 1 , wherein which thumbnails belong to a cluster is automatically determined based on dates of images from which the thumbnails of the cluster were derived.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
214 words
One or more computer readable storage media storing information to enable a computing device to perform a process, the process comprising: automatically maintaining a display of thumbnails of images that are automatically selected for display and undisplay responsive to zoom-in and zoom-out operations, where the thumbnails are chronologically ordered in the display according to dates of the thumbnails; responsive to user input, performing the zoom-in and zoom-out operations on the chronologically ordered display of thumbnails by, while maintaining the chronological order, displaying gradual expansion and shrinkage of the thumbnails in the chronologically ordered display, the thumbnails including a first representative thumbnail representing a first cluster of undisplayed thumbnails and including a second representative thumbnail representing a second cluster of undisplayed thumbnails; and while user input continues to invoke zoom-in operations and the first and second displayed representative thumbnails appear to be gradually expanding, automatically decreasing the displayed size of the first and second representative thumbnails and in display space made available by the decreasing, automatically newly displaying in the chronologically ordered display of thumbnails, both the first cluster of thumbnails and the second cluster of thumbnails, after which the zoom-in operations continue and the displayed first and second representative thumbnails as well as the displayed clusters of thumbnails appear to gradually increase in size.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
214 words
One or more computer readable storage media storing information to enable a computing device to perform a process, the process comprising: automatically maintaining a display of thumbnails of images that are automatically selected for display and undisplay responsive to zoom-in and zoom-out operations, where the thumbnails are chronologically ordered in the display according to dates of the thumbnails; responsive to user input, performing the zoom-in and zoom-out operations on the chronologically ordered display of thumbnails by, while maintaining the chronological order, displaying gradual expansion and shrinkage of the thumbnails in the chronologically ordered display, the thumbnails including a first representative thumbnail representing a first cluster of undisplayed thumbnails and including a second representative thumbnail representing a second cluster of undisplayed thumbnails; and while user input continues to invoke zoom-in operations and the first and second displayed representative thumbnails appear to be gradually expanding, automatically decreasing the displayed size of the first and second representative thumbnails and in display space made available by the decreasing, automatically newly displaying in the chronologically ordered display of thumbnails, both the first cluster of thumbnails and the second cluster of thumbnails, after which the zoom-in operations continue and the displayed first and second representative thumbnails as well as the displayed clusters of thumbnails appear to gradually increase in size.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
45 words
One or more computer readable storage media according to claim 8 , wherein some of the newly displayed thumbnails comprise other representative thumbnails that represent additional clusters of thumbnails that are newly displayed after further zoom-in operations reduce the size of the other representative thumbnails.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
33 words
One or more computer storage readable storage media according to claim 8 , wherein the first and second clusters of thumbnails that are undisplayed include representative thumbnails that had previously represented undisplayed thumbnails.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
71 words
One or more computer readable storage media according to claim 8 , further comprising: as thumbnails are displayed and undisplayed, maintaining an arrangement of the displayed thumbnails such that: thumbnails are displayed in a row or column of visibly distinct sub-areas, each sub-area corresponding to a different time span of a same unit of time and each sub-area contains only thumbnails of images having dates that fall within its time span.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
36 words
One or more computer readable storage media according to claim 11 , wherein each sub-area comprises chronologically ordered rows or columns of the thumbnails therein, and the thumbnails within a row or column are chronologically ordered.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
29 words
One or more computer readable storage media according to claim 8 , further comprising displaying indicia that visibly distinguishes representative thumbnails from other thumbnails that are not representative thumbnails.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
35 words
One or more computer readable storage media according to claim 8 , the process further comprising receiving other user input identifying a thumbnail to be the representative thumbnail for one of the clusters of thumbnails.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
46 words
One or more computer readable storage media according to claim 8 , wherein the user input controls a zoom level that controls the expansion and shrinkage of the thumbnails, and the undisplaying of thumbnails and newly displaying of cluster is preformed based on the zoom level.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
196 words
A computing device configured to perform a process, the process comprising: accessing a collection of images and rendering thumbnails comprising versions of the images, respectively, the thumbnails including primary representative thumbnails and secondary representative thumbnails, the primary representative thumbnails representing clusters of the thumbnails including secondary representative thumbnails, the secondary thumbnails also representing clusters of the thumbnails; displaying in a display area some of the thumbnails; responding to user input that controls zooming of the thumbnails in the display area by displaying gradual increasing and decreasing the size of the thumbnails in the display area, wherein the thumbnails in the display area are displayed such that they appear to gradually increase and decrease in size; and as the primary representative thumbnails and clusters of thumbnails that they represent appear to gradually decrease in size while zooming out responsive to the user input: interrupting the zooming out and gradual decreasing by automatically undisplaying clusters represented by the primary representative thumbnails and for each undisplayed cluster automatically enlarging the displayed size of the corresponding displaying an enlarged primary representative thumbnail, and resuming the zooming out wherein the enlarged representative thumbnails continue to appear to gradually decrease in size.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
196 words
A computing device configured to perform a process, the process comprising: accessing a collection of images and rendering thumbnails comprising versions of the images, respectively, the thumbnails including primary representative thumbnails and secondary representative thumbnails, the primary representative thumbnails representing clusters of the thumbnails including secondary representative thumbnails, the secondary thumbnails also representing clusters of the thumbnails; displaying in a display area some of the thumbnails; responding to user input that controls zooming of the thumbnails in the display area by displaying gradual increasing and decreasing the size of the thumbnails in the display area, wherein the thumbnails in the display area are displayed such that they appear to gradually increase and decrease in size; and as the primary representative thumbnails and clusters of thumbnails that they represent appear to gradually decrease in size while zooming out responsive to the user input: interrupting the zooming out and gradual decreasing by automatically undisplaying clusters represented by the primary representative thumbnails and for each undisplayed cluster automatically enlarging the displayed size of the corresponding displaying an enlarged primary representative thumbnail, and resuming the zooming out wherein the enlarged representative thumbnails continue to appear to gradually decrease in size.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
23 words
A computing device according to claim 16 , the process further comprising displaying time boundaries that demarcate different time spans of the thumbnails.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
73 words
A computing device according to claim 16 , the process further comprising: as thumbnails are displayed and undisplayed, whichever thumbnails are displayed are arranged as follows: thumbnails are displayed in linearly arranged sub-areas of the display area according to dates of the thumbnails, each sub-area comprising a time span and containing thumbnails whose dates fall within the time span of the sub-area, and each sub-areas time span spans a same unit of time.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
31 words
A computing device according to claim 18 , wherein thumbnails and representative thumbnails displayed at one time in a sub-area do not have a uniform size but rather vary in size.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
44 words
A computing device according to claim 16 , the process further comprising: interrupting the resumed zooming out by automatically undisplaying clusters of the thumbnails that are represented by the secondary representative thumbnails and automatically enlarging the displayed size of the corresponding secondary representative thumbnails.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2013-05-24 | 2013-11-23 | 2014-05-25 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2017-05-24 | 2017-11-23 | 2018-05-25 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2021-05-24 | 2021-11-23 | 2022-05-25 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |