Control of search results with multipoint pinch gestures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9256361-B2
Application number	US-201113197668-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2011
Priority date	Aug 3, 2011
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A device incorporates a touch-enabled screen configured to accept a user's interaction with the touch screen to control display of the results of online searches for information and ecommerce listings. A user's interaction with the touch screen of the device with multipoint pinch gestures facilitates navigation through large volumes of search results. Touch-enabled navigation with pinch gestures to elaborate or contract the results of a given search may present a more definitive view of those results or present a better indication of the requirement for a further search by the user. Listings of item data with elaborated or contracted details are produced through corresponding scaling processes which are in turn controlled through associated multipoint pinch gestures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying search results based on a search, the search results including a plurality of items, each respective item including item data including image data and metadata, the item data including initial item data;
causing an item listing to be displayed on a display of a device having a touch-enabled screen, the item listing including, for each respective listed item, the initial item data including a concurrent display of an initial image of the item and corresponding initial metadata describing the item;
receiving an indication of a pinch-out gesture having been detected by the touch-enabled screen of the device;
in response to the indication of the pinch-out gesture, scaling the item listing to produce a scaled-in listing including fewer of the items and an increased amount of the image data causing a more detailed refinement of the initial image and an increased amount of the corresponding metadata causing a more detailed refinement of the initial metadata for each remaining listed item;
in response to the production of the scaled-in listing, causing the scaled-in listing to be displayed as a concurrent presentation of the increased amount of the image data causing a more detailed refinement of the initial image and the increased amount of the metadata causing a more detailed refinement of the initial metadata on the display of the device;
receiving an indication of a further pinch-out gesture having been detected by the touch-enabled screen at a location on the display directly above and corresponding to a particular aspect of the initial item data in the item listing;
in response to the indication of the further pinch-out gesture, scaling the listing to produce a further scaled-in listing including an increased amount of item data for the initial item data and corresponding to the particular aspect of the initial item data for each remaining listed item;
in response to the production of the further scaled-in listing, causing the further scaled-in listing to be displayed on the display of the device, the scaling the listing to produce the further scaled-in listing further includes:
further elaborating a particular aspect of one of the initial image data and the initial metadata for each remaining listed item responsive to identifying the further pinch-out gesture corresponds to the particular aspect of the respective one of the initial image data and the initial metadata in the item listing; and
causing the further elaborated particular aspect of one of the initial image data and the initial metadata to be displayed on the display of the device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of a pinch-out gesture includes a pinch-out velocity, a pinch-out magnitude, and a pinch-out orientation being a velocity, a distance, and an angle respectively, according to which the distance between the first touch point and the second touch point increases and further including at least one of:
scaling the listing to produce the scaled-in listing at a rate corresponding to the pinch-out velocity; and
scaling the listing to produce the scaled-in listing by an amount corresponding to the pinch-out magnitude,
the at least one of scaling the listing to produce the scaled-in listing at a rate and scaling the listing to produce the scaled-in listing by an amount, indicated by a particular pinch-out orientation.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein scaling the listing to produce the scaled-in listing for each remaining listed item further includes:
increasing the amount of the image data by replacing previous image data with at least one of a photograph, a thumbnail, a stylization, a characterization, and a symbolic image data, each initial image being more refined; and
increasing the amount of the metadata by replacing previous metadata with at least one of a paragraph, a selection of sentences, a select phrase, a selection of words, or a heading, each initial metadata being more refined.

4. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the particular aspect of the initial item data for the item listing is further indicated by at least one of:
the indication of the further pinch-out gesture including a pinch-out orientation being within a range of fifteen to thirty degrees of vertical; and
further comprising receiving an indication of a single touch directly above and corresponding to the particular aspect of the initial item data for the item listing.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an indication of a pinch-in gesture having been detected by the touch-enabled screen of the device;
in response to the indication of the pinch-in gesture, scaling the item listing to produce a scaled-out listing including more of the items, the scaled-out listing including representing the initial image with a decreased amount of image data and representing the initial metadata with a decreased amount of corresponding metadata for each listed item; and
in response to the production of the scaled-out listing, causing the scaled-out listing to be displayed as a concurrent presentation of the decreased amount of item image data and the decreased amount of corresponding metadata on the display of the device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the indication of a pinch-in gesture includes a pinch-in velocity, a pinch-in magnitude, and a pinch-in orientation being a velocity, a distance, and an angle respectively, according to which the distance between the first touch point and the second touch point decreases and further including at least one of:
scaling the listing to produce the scaled-out listing at a rate corresponding to the pinch-in velocity; and
scaling the listing to produce the scaled-out listing by an amount corresponding to the pinch-in magnitude,
the at least one of scaling the listing to produce the scaled-out listing at a rate and scaling the listing to produce the scaled-out listing by an amount, indicated by a particular pinch-in orientation.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein scaling the listing to produce the scaled-out listing for each listed item further includes:
decreasing the amount of image data by replacing previous image data by representing the initial image with at least one of a thumbnail, a stylization, a characterization, symbolic image data, or a bullet point; and
decreasing the amount of metadata by replacing the initial metadata with at least one of a selection of sentences, a select phrase, a selection of words, a heading, or a subject.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving an indication of a further pinch-in gesture having been detected by the touch-enabled screen at a location on the display of the device directly above and corresponding to a particular aspect of the initial item data in the item listing;
in response to the indication of the further pinch-in gesture, scaling the listing to produce a further scaled-out listing including representing the initial item data with a decreased amount of item data corresponding to the particular aspect of the initial item data for each listed item; and
in response to the production of the further scaled-out listing, causing the further scaled-out listing to be displayed on the display of the device,
wherein the particular aspect of the initial item data for the item listing is further indicated by at least one of:
the indication of the further pinch-in gesture including a pinch-in orientation being within a range of fifteen to thirty degrees of vertical; and
receiving an indication of a single touch directly above and corresponding to the particular aspect of the initial item data for the item listing.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein scaling the listing to produce the furthe

Assignees

• Yuan Han-Shen
• Melcher Ryan
• Yankovich Steve
• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Yuan Han-Shen
• Melcher Ryan
• Yankovich Steve

Classifications

• G06F3/0488

  using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures · CPC title

• G06F3/04883 Primary

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G06F3/017

  Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures (interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883) · CPC title

• G06F3/0482 Primary

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

• G06F3/0484

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title