Cursor for presenting information regarding target

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10078414-B2
Application number	US-69360407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2007
Priority date	Mar 29, 2007
Publication date	Sep 18, 2018
Grant date	Sep 18, 2018

Abstract

In a graphical user interface, when a cursor is positioned over an icon or link associated with a target, the appearance of the cursor changes to present information describing or related to the target. Such information can include, for example, an excerpt of the contents of the target, and/or meta-data for the target, and/or an indication of what application or applications may be used to open the target. The information presented in the cursor can be shown in graphical form or in text form, or in a combination of both.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
moving a cursor on a display of a computing device in response to a first user input to the computing device; and
while the cursor is positioned at a first location to point to a user-activatable element referencing a link that corresponds to content:
presenting, alongside the cursor, a user interface element including a preview of the content at a first size;
while displaying the user interface element alongside the cursor, detecting a press input with an input mechanism; and
responsive to receiving the press input, displaying additional information in the preview of the content, the additional information being displayed only as long as the press input is held down.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to presenting the preview of the content, obtaining the content.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to presenting the preview of the content, pre-fetching a plurality of content corresponding to a plurality of links.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein pre-fetching the plurality of content comprises storing the information in a local cache.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, responsive to the cursor being positioned to no longer point to the user-activatable element, ceasing the presentation of the preview.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the preview is not available; and wherein
responsive to the thumbnail representation not being available, the preview excludes the thumbnail representation.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preview comprises a representation of a plurality of applications capable of opening the link; and wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a second user input selecting the representation of an application of the plurality of applications; and
responsive to the second user input, opening the link using the selected application.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presenting of the preview is performed responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to the user-activatable element for at least a predetermined period of time.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically scrolling the preview alongside the cursor.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, responsive to receiving a second user input requesting scrolling, scrolling the preview alongside the cursor.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to presenting the preview:
obtaining the content; and
scaling the content to fit within the user interface element.

12. A method comprising:
displaying a web page comprising a plurality of links;
moving a cursor in response to a first user input;
responsive to the cursor being positioned at a first location to point to a link referencing a target:
determining that a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target is not available;
presenting, alongside the cursor, information about the target comprising meta-data associated with the target and an excerpt of contents of the target, wherein responsive to determining that the thumbnail representation is not available, the information excludes the thumbnail representation; and
responsive to receiving a press input requesting additional information, presenting additional information about the target, the additional information being presented only as long as the press input is held down.

13. A method comprising:
displaying a plurality of graphical user interface elements, each graphical user interface element referencing a corresponding link, each link having corresponding content;
receiving a first user input to position a cursor;
displaying the cursor at a first location specified by the received first user input; and
responsive to the cursor being positioned at a second location to point to one of the graphical user interface elements:
presenting, alongside the cursor, a user interface element including a preview of the content corresponding to the link corresponding to the graphical user interface element at a first size;
while displaying the user interface element alongside the cursor, detecting a press input with an input mechanism; and
responsive to receiving the press input, displaying additional information in the preview of the content, the additional information being displayed only as long as the press input is held down.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
pre-fetching the content corresponding to the plurality of graphical user interface elements.

15. A computer system, comprising:
an input device configured to receive a first user input to position a cursor; and
a processor coupled to a display device configured to:
display a plurality of graphical user interface elements, each graphical user interface element referencing a corresponding link, each link having corresponding content;
display the cursor at a position specified by the first user input;
responsive to the cursor being positioned at a first location to point to one of the graphical user interface elements:
present, alongside the cursor, a user interface element including a preview of the content corresponding to the link corresponding to the graphical user interface element at a first size;
while displaying the user interface element alongside the cursor, detect a press input with an input mechanism; and
responsive to receiving the press input, displaying additional information in the preview of the content, the additional information being displayed only as long as the press input is held down.

16. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein, responsive to the cursor being positioned to no longer point to the graphical user interface element, the display device ceases to display the content.

17. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein:
the preview further comprises a representation of a plurality of applications capable of opening the link;
the input device is further configured to receive user input selecting the representation of an application of the plurality of applications; and
the processor is further configured to open the link using the selected application.

18. The computer system of claim 15 , wherein the display device presents the user interface element including the preview responsive to the cursor being positioned to point to the graphical user interface element for at least a predetermined period of time.

19. A computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium; and
computer program code, encoded on the medium, for operations comprising, in a user interface:
moving a cursor on a display of a computer in response to a first user input to the computer;
responsive to the cursor being positioned at a first location to point to a user-activatable element referencing a target:
determining that a thumbnail representation of at least a portion of the target is not available;
presenting, alongside the cursor, first information about the target comprising an excerpt of contents of the target, wherein responsive to determining that the thumbnail representation is not available, the first information excludes the thumbnail representation; and
responsive to receiving a press input requesting additional information, presenting, alongside the cursor, the first information and the additional information about the target, the additional information being presented only as long as the press input is held down.

20. The computer

Assignees

• Louch John
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Louch John

Classifications

• G06F3/04812 Primary

  Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects · CPC title

• G06F9/453

  Help systems · CPC title