Method and apparatus for grouping and de-overlapping items in a user interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9928627-B2
Application number	US-201514741648-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2015
Priority date	Sep 26, 2011
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

An approach is provided for grouping and de-overlapping items in a user interface. A display manager determines one or more items for rendering in a user interface. The display manager then causes, at least in part, a determination of one or more rendering locations for one or more representations of the one or more items based, at least in part, on location information associated with the one or more items. The display manager further causes, at least in part, a grouping, a de-overlapping, or a combination thereof of the one or more representations based, at least in part, on an overlapping of the one or more rendering locations. The display manager also causes, at least in part, a rendering of the one or more representations in the user interface based, at least in part, on the grouping, the de-overlapping, or a combination thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining, by an apparatus, items for rendering in a user interface;
determining, by the apparatus, rendering locations for representations of the items based, at least in part, on location information associated with the items;
performing, by the apparatus, a grouping, a de-overlapping, or a combination thereof of the representations based, at least in part, on an overlapping of the rendering locations;
performing, by the apparatus, a rendering of the representations in the user interface based, at least in part, on the grouping, the de-overlapping, or a combination thereof;
processing the rendering locations to determine that one or more of the representations are at one or more boundaries of equal-sized regions of the user interface; and
performing, by the apparatus, a modification of one or more rendering locations of the one or more of the representations at the one or more boundaries based, at least in part, on a percentage of the one or more of the representations crossing the one or more boundaries.

2. A method of claim 1 , further comprising:
processing the location information to cause, at least in part, a sorting of the representations based, at least in part, on a distance of the items associated with the representations from a viewing location,
wherein the one or more rendering locations of the one or more of the representations at the one or more boundaries are moved to a region adjacent to a respective boundary and with a major percentage of the one or more of the representations crossing the one or more boundaries.

3. A method of claim 2 , further comprising:
associating the grouping with a closest one of the representations from the viewing location based, at least in part, on the sorting; and
including one or more subsequent ones of the representations in the grouping based, at least in part, on an overlapping with the closest one in the grouping; and
rendering a group representation in the user interface to represent the grouping without rendering the representations associated with individual group members.

4. A method of claim 3 , further comprising:
receiving an input for selecting the group representation in the user interface;
rendering an expansion of the grouping to present the representations associated with the individual group members.

5. A method of claim 4 , further comprising:
rendering the representations associated with the individual group members based, at least in part, on one or more distances of the items associated with the one or more representations from a centroid of the grouping.

6. A method of claim 2 , further comprising:
selecting a closest one of the representations from the viewing location as an initial reference for at least one determination of the de-overlapping;
processing respective areas of a subsequent one of the representations and the initial reference to determine a direction of overlap;
modifying the rendering locations associated with the subsequent one based, at least in part, on the direction of overlap; and
designating the subsequent one as a next reference for determining another direction of overlap for another subsequent one of the representations.

7. A method of claim 1 , further comprising:
processing a viewing location associated with the user interface to determine a viewing perspective;
wherein the modification of the rendering locations is further based, at least in part, on a nonlinear height separation based on the viewing perspective as well as a panning information, zooming information, or a combination thereof within the user interface.

8. A method of claim 1 , further comprising:
processing the rendering locations to determine densities of the representations in the regions of the user interface,
wherein the modification of the rendering locations associated with one or more of the representations that are at the one or more boundaries of the regions is further based, at least in part, on the densities.

9. A method of claim 8 , further comprising:
modifying the regions based, at least in part, on a decreasing density order of the densities,
wherein the modifying starts from a densest region, locking rendering locations of respective representations in that densest region after modifying the densest region, and modifying a next region less dense than the densest region.

10. A method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more rendering locations of the one or more of the representations at the one or more boundaries are moved to a region adjacent to a respective boundary and with a major percentage of the one or more of the representations crossing the one or more boundaries.

11. A method of claim 1 , further comprising:
processing a viewing location associated with the user interface to determine a viewing perspective; and
transforming the representations based, at least in part, on the viewing perspective, the one or more rendering locations, or a combination thereof.

12. A method of claim 1 , further comprising:
processing a viewing location associated with the user interface to determine a viewing perspective;
determining one or more features depicted in the user interface, a location-based user interface or a combination thereof; and
determining whether the representations are occluded by the one or more features based, at least in part, on the viewing perspective, the one or more rendering locations, or a combination thereof,
wherein the representations that are occluded are not rendered in the user interface.

13. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
determine items for rendering in a user interface;
determine rendering locations for representations of the items based, at least in part, on location information associated with the items;
perform a grouping, a de-overlapping, or a combination thereof of the representations based, at least in part, on an overlapping of the rendering locations;
perform a rendering of the representations in the user interface based, at least in part, on the grouping, the de-overlapping, or a combination thereof;
process the rendering locations to determine that one or more of the representations are at one or more boundaries of equal-sized regions of the user interface; and
perform a modification of one or more rendering locations of the one or more of the representations at the one or more boundaries based, at least in part, on a percentage of the one or more of the representations crossing the one or more boundaries.

14. An apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
process the location information to cause, at least in part, a sorting of the representations based, at least in part, on a distance of the items associated with the representations from a viewing location.

15. An apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
associate the grouping with a closest one of the representations from the viewing location based, at least in part, on the sorting; and
include one or more subsequent ones of the representations in the grouping based, at least in part, on an overlapping with the closest one in the grouping; and
perform a rendering of a group representation in the user interface to represent the grouping without rendering the representations associated with individual group members.

16. A

Assignees

• Nokia Technologies Oy

Inventors

• Fulks Mark Travis
• Ravula Ashok
• Walker Kenneth
• Adetokunbo Bamidele
• Challa Srikanth
• Marle Christophe
• Licata Aaron
• Jain Pankaj Kumar
• Johnson Matthew

Classifications

• G06T11/26

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• G06T11/60 Primary

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title

• G06T11/00 Primary

  Two-dimensional [2D] image generation · CPC title

• G01C21/3635

  Guidance using 3D or perspective road maps · CPC title

• G06T11/206

  Physics · mapped topic