System and method for applying gesture input to digital content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9755995-B2
Application number	US-201314056850-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2013
Priority date	Nov 20, 2012
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

A system and method for managing messages within an application interface that includes receiving a message stream; providing a navigational menu to a set of message streams; detecting an initiated gesture item for at least one message within a view of the navigational menu; tracking gesture-state within a progressive order of gesture-states; identifying an action of the gesture-state wherein the action corresponds to the current view and relative ordering of the navigational menu; and applying the message sorting action on the message according to a final gesture-state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting initiation of a gesture input at a digital content item rendered in a user interface; during a duration of the gesture input:
tracking the gesture input from a start location on a graphical user interface to a current location in a first direction on the graphical user interface, wherein the start location is within a representation of the digital content item on the graphical user interface;
determining, based on the tracked gesture input, a magnitude of a current displacement of the gesture input from the start location to the current location, where the magnitude corresponds to a distance between the start location and the current location;
determining, based on the magnitude of the current displacement of the gesture input, a current gesture state from a set of gesture states, where the current gesture state corresponds to a first gesture state when the magnitude is less than a threshold distance and where the current gesture state corresponds to a second gesture state when the magnitude is greater than or equal to the threshold distance;
identifying an action mapped to the current gesture state; and
rendering a graphic of the identified action;

upon detecting a termination of the gesture input, selecting the identified action as a selected action; and
applying the selected action to the digital content item.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current gesture state is based at least in part on one or more of:
a velocity along the first direction of the gesture input;
or
a duration of the gesture input.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current gesture state is based at least in part on a direction of a current displacement along a first axis of the gesture input from an initial input position and at least in part on a magnitude along the first axis of the current displacement, and wherein determining the current gesture state includes:
selecting a first gesture state as the current gesture state in the event that the direction of the current displacement along the first axis is a first direction and the magnitude along the first axis of the current displacement becomes greater than the first threshold distance; or
selecting a second gesture state as the current gesture state in the event that the direction of the current displacement along the first axis is the first direction and the magnitude along the first axis of the current displacement becomes greater than the second threshold distance, the second threshold distance being greater than the first threshold distance.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein determining the current gesture state further includes:
selecting a third gesture state as the current gesture state in the event that the direction of the current displacement along the first axis is a second direction opposite the first direction and the magnitude along the first axis of the current displacement becomes greater than the first threshold value.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the current gesture state further includes:
selecting a fourth gesture state as the current gesture state in the event that the direction of the current displacement along the first axis is the second direction and the magnitude along the first axis of the current displacement becomes greater than the second threshold value.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first threshold value corresponds to a first magnitude that is less than three times a width of an input tool providing the gesture input and the second threshold value corresponds to a second magnitude that is greater than three times the width of the input tool.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current gesture state is based at least in part on a direction of a current displacement along a first axis of the gesture input from an initial input position, the first axis being in a different orientation to an axis of scrolling of a displayed set of content items that includes the digital content item.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
determining the current gesture state is based at least in part on a direction of a current displacement along a first axis of the gesture input from an initial input position; and
rendering the graphic of the action mapped to the current gesture state further comprises animating a translation of the digital content item along the first axis and revealing the graphic of the action in a screen area exposed by the translation.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current gesture state includes transitioning from a first gesture state to a second gesture state in the event that the tracked gesture input indicates a screen-edge touch transition.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising if the selected action removes the digital content item from a current navigational view, animating a transition of the digital content item out of the navigational view.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the selected action to the digital content item includes:
displaying a secondary view with a plurality of action options; and
receiving an option input selecting one of the plurality of action options the secondary view,
wherein the selected action is applied according the received option input.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the current gesture state is based at least in part on a number of touch input points included in the tracked gesture input.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the action mapped to the current gesture state is based at least in part on one or more of: a content type of the digital content item; or an application navigational context.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital content item includes one or more of:
a media file;
an email message; or
notification displayed within a notification view of an application.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gesture input is detected and tracked using an interface selected from a group consisting of a touch-sensitive user interface and a visual gestural input interface.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital content item is rendered in a content item grouping presented in the user interface;
wherein identifying an action mapped to the current gesture state includes determining which one of a plurality of hidden content item groupings to move the digital content item into based on the magnitude of the gesture input; and
wherein applying the selected action to the digital content item includes moving the digital content item into the determined hidden content item grouping.

17. A method for controlling a computing device with a display, the method comprising:
detecting initiation of a gesture input at a digital content item rendered in a user interface on the display;
tracking the gesture input at the digital content item for a magnitude of a current displacement of the gesture input from a start location to a current location in a first direction, wherein the start location is within a representation of the digital content item on the graphical user interface, and wherein the magnitude corresponds to a distance between the start location and the current location; and
rendering a graphic of an action mapped to a gesture state, where the gesture state corresponds to a first gesture state when the magnitude is less than a threshold distance and where the current gesture state corresponds to a second gesture state when the magnitude is greater than or equal to the threshold distance, and wherein the rendering comprises animating

Assignees

• Dropbox Inc

Inventors

• Underwood Iv George Milton
• Armistead Elizabeth
• Beausoleil Sean
• Cannon Scott
• Cue Adam
• Edwards Darian
• Flory Steven
• Luna Elanor

Classifications

• G06F3/04886

  by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus · 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

• G06F3/04883

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

• H04L51/00 Primary

  User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail · CPC title

• G06F3/0482 Primary

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