Navigating galleries of digital content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10095398-B2
Application number	US-201414248238-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2014
Priority date	Feb 27, 2014
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

One or more embodiments of the present disclosure include a content navigation system that allows a user to search, browse, and otherwise experience a collection of digital content items. For example, the content navigation system can provide a graphical user interface including a scroll element. One or more embodiments of the scroll element can include various navigational functions that provide a user-friendly interface for browsing and experiencing a collection of digital content items. Furthermore, the content navigation system can provide methods and systems for a user to easily configure the way in which the digital content items are organized within the user interface, thereby customizing the user's browsing experience.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing, for display on a touchscreen, a graphical user interface comprising a view area including digital content items of a collection of digital content items oriented relative to one another in a grid having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns;
providing, for display on a touchscreen and within the graphical user interface, a horizontal linear scroll element that allows a user to scroll through the collection of digital content items;
detecting a horizontal user interaction provided on a portion of the touchscreen displaying the horizontal linear scroll element;
scrolling, in response to the detected horizontal user interaction, the collection of digital content items in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal linear scroll element through the view area at a first scroll rate while maintaining an orientation of the digital content items of the collection of digital content items relative to one another within the grid, wherein the first scroll rate is based on a first scrolling ratio;
detecting, by the at least one processor, a vertical user interaction provided on a portion of the touchscreen displaying a digital content item of the collection of digital content items within the view area of the graphical user interface; and
scrolling, in response to the detected vertical user interaction, the collection of digital content items in a vertical direction through the view area at a second scroll rate while maintaining the orientation of the digital content items of the collection of digital content items relative to one another within the grid, wherein the second scroll rate is based on a second scrolling ratio different from the first scrolling ratio.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the digital content items of the collection of digital content items are oriented relative to one another in groups representing similar content.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
accessing date information associated with each digital content item of the collection of digital content items; and
organizing the digital content items of the collection of digital content items within the grid based on the accessed date information.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , further comprising grouping a subset of digital content items from the collection of digital content items in a content group within the grid based on the accessed date information.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , further comprising associating a point of the horizontal linear scroll element with a point of the grid.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , further comprising:
determining the horizontal user interaction results in an alignment between the point of the horizontal linear scroll element and an indicator; and
scrolling the grid to display the point of the grid associated with the point of the horizontal linear scroll element within the view area of the graphical user interface.

7. The method as recited in claim 3 , further comprising providing markers positioned on the horizontal linear scroll element, wherein the markers correspond to the organization of the collection of digital content items within the grid based on the accessed date information.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising labeling one or more of the markers with at least a portion of a date that corresponds to the accessed date information of the collection of digital content items.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising:
identifying a first end marker that corresponds to one or more digital content items associated with an oldest date; and
labeling the first end marker that corresponds to the one or more digital content items associated with the oldest date with a customized label based on the oldest date.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , further comprising:
identifying a second end marker that corresponds to one or more digital content items associated with a newest date; and
labeling the second end marker that corresponds to the one or more digital content items associated with the newest date with a customized label based on the newest date.

11. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
determining a distance between two adjacent markers;
comparing the distance to a minimum threshold distance; and

hiding one of the two adjacent markers based on the distance between the two adjacent markers being less than the minimum threshold distance.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 , further comprising:
identifying which of the two adjacent markers is associated with the smallest number of digital content items; and
hiding an adjacent marker of the two adjacent markers that is associated with the smallest number of digital content items.

13. The method as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:
determining a distance between a marker presented on the horizontal linear scroll element within a display screen and an adjacent marker;
determining, based on the distance between the marker presented on the horizontal linear scroll element and the adjacent marker, the adjacent marker is not presented within the display screen; and
providing a floating marker on the horizontal linear scroll element within the display screen that represents the adjacent marker.

14. The method as recited in claim 13 , further comprising:
detecting that the adjacent marker is presented on the horizontal linear scroll element within the display screen in response to detecting an additional user interaction with the horizontal linear scroll element that scrolls the horizontal scroll element; and
ceasing to provide the floating marker on the horizontal linear scroll element based on detecting that the adjacent marker is presented within the display screen.

15. A mobile device comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to:
present, for display on a touchscreen, a graphical user interface comprising a view area including digital content items of a collection of digital content items oriented relative to one another in a grid having a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns;
provide, for display on the touchscreen and within the graphical user interface, a horizontal linear scroll element that allows a user to scroll through the digital content items;
detect a horizontal user interaction provided on a portion of the touchscreen displaying the horizontal linear scroll element;
scroll, in response to the detected horizontal user interaction, the collection of digital content items in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal linear scroll element through the view area at a first scroll rate while maintaining an orientation of the digital content items of the collection of digital content items relative to one another within the grid, wherein the first scroll rate is based on a first scrolling ratio;
detect a vertical user interaction provided on a portion of the touchscreen displaying a digital content item of the collection of content items within the view area of the graphical user interface;
scroll, in response to the detected vertical user interaction, the collection of digital content items in a vertical direction through the view area at a second scroll rate while maintaining the orientation of the digital content items of the collection of digital content items relative to one another within the grid, wherein the second scroll rate is based on a second scrolling rat

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Balakrishnan Ramesh
• Wei Yi
• Puckett Joshua
• Smith Brian
• Scheff Andrew
• Nayak Rajeev

Classifications

• G06F16/54

  Browsing; Visualisation therefor · CPC title

• H04N21/4316

  for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/04855 Primary

  Interaction with scrollbars · CPC title