Managing items in a user interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9323442-B2
Application number	US-89577010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2010
Priority date	Sep 30, 2010
Publication date	Apr 26, 2016
Grant date	Apr 26, 2016

Abstract

User interface changes related to moving items in a user interface are disclosed. An operation (e.g., a drag operation) can be initiated on selected items by moving a cursor or pointing device in the user interface, and an animation can be presented illustrating representations of the selected items moving from their respective original locations toward a current location of the cursor or pointing device and forming a cluster in proximity to the current location of the cursor or pointing device. As the cluster of items is moved over a container object in the user interface, the representations of the items can adopt the appearance style defined by that container object. The representations of the items can also be shown to depart from the cluster and move toward anticipated locations of the items in the container object as a preview of a drop operation into the container object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
at a computing device with a display and one or more input devices:
displaying, on the display, representations of two or more selected items in a container in a user interface, the representations of the two or more selected items having a spatial relationship within the container;
while displaying, on the display, the representations of the two or more selected items, receiving a first input, via the one or more input devices, that corresponds to movement of a pointer within the container;
in response to the first input, moving, on the display, the representations of the two or more selected items in the user interface in accordance with the movement of the pointer in the user interface, while maintaining the spatial relationship between the representations of the two or more selected items;
after moving the representations of the two or more selected items while maintaining the spatial relationship between the representations of the two or more selected items, receiving a second input, via the one or more input devices, to move the pointer outside of the container; and
in response to receiving the second input to move the pointer outside of the container, moving, on the display, the pointer outside of the container, and when the pointer has moved outside of the container, varying the spatial relationship between the representations of the two or more selected items to form a cluster of the representations in proximity to the pointer.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
arranging the representations in the cluster in a stack.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after forming the cluster, expanding the cluster to show individual representations of the two or more selected items in response to a defined input command.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein motions of the representations of the two or more selected items when forming the cluster in the user interface are asynchronous.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after forming the cluster, causing a count indicator to be presented in proximity to the cluster, the count indicator showing a count of item representations in the cluster.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pointer is a finger or stylus on a touch-sensitive display.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein after forming the cluster, respective locations of the representations of the two or more selected items are independently variable within a defined range in the cluster.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein after forming the cluster, each item representation in the cluster moves along a path that is independent of respective paths of other item representations in the cluster while following a continued movement of the pointer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein after forming the cluster, each item representation in the cluster moves at a speed that is different than respective speeds of other item representations in the cluster while following a continued movement of the pointer.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting the two or more items from a first container in the user interface, wherein the representations of the two or more selected items have respective first appearances associated with the first container;
detecting a current location of the pointer within a drop zone of a second container in the user interface; and
while the current location of the pointer remains within the drop zone of the second container, causing the representations of the two or more selected items to adopt respective second appearances associated with the second container.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein each of the first container and the second container is one of a desktop or a window on the desktop, each of the first container and the second container is associated with one of a large icon view, a small icon view, a list view, a column view, or a picture view, respectively, and each of the views is in either a free-arranged state or a keep-arranged state.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the first container and the second container is an application window and the application window is operable to present the representations of the two or more selected items in an application-defined view.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein an application-defined view of the two or more selected items is defined through an application programming interface (API) associated with the user interface.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
detecting an input requesting a preview of the representations of the two or more selected items being dropped in the second container; and
in response to detecting the input, animating the representations of the two or more selected items to depart from the cluster and move toward their respective anticipated locations in the second container.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the input requesting the preview is a detected hovering of the pointer over the drop zone of the second container.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the representations of the two or more selected items are displayed at or in proximity to the items' respective anticipated locations as respective semi-transparent overlays.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the anticipated location of at least one of the two or more selected items is in an area of the second container that is not currently visible in the user interface, and the representation of the at least one item departs from the cluster and moves into the invisible area of the second container along a respective path in the user interface.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
detecting an input releasing the two or more selected items into the drop zone of the second container; and
in response to the releasing input, causing the two or more selected items to be inserted at the respective anticipated locations of the two or more selected items in the second container.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein, for item representations having their respective anticipated locations within a visible area of the second container, the item representations change from a semi-transparent state to an opaque state upon completion of the items' insertion into the item's respective anticipated locations.

20. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
detecting a movement of the pointer exiting the second container; and
in response to the movement exiting the second container, animating the respective representations of the two or more selected items to move from the items' respective anticipated locations in the second container toward the current location of the pointer and rejoin the cluster in proximity to the current location of the pointer.

21. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
monitoring a motion characteristic of the pointer for dragging the representations of the two or more selected items in the user interface; and
causing the representations of the two or more selected items to adopt the respective second appearances upon determination that the motion characteristic of the pointer over the drop zone of the second container satisfies a defined criterion.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the motion characteristic of the pointer is at least one of a speed and an acceleration of the pointer in the user interface, and the defined criterion specifies characteristic values of the speed or the acceleration that would cause the representations of the two or mor

Assignees

• Ledet Raleigh Joseph
• Bernstein Jeffrey Traer
• Victor B Michael
• Cieplinksi Avi E
• Forster Kristin
• Federighi Craig
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Ledet Raleigh Joseph
• Bernstein Jeffrey Traer
• Victor B Michael
• Cieplinksi Avi E
• Forster Kristin
• Federighi Craig

Classifications

• G06F3/0486 Primary

  Drag-and-drop · CPC title

• G06F3/048 Primary

  Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title