Patent Application
20110271228
The present disclosure relates, in general, to user interfaces and, more specifically, for user interfaces for selecting articles.
Web-based content such as blogs or magazines are typically accessed using a web browser the same as or similar to that shown in
In another modality the user goes through the list of titles and abstracts and selects which ones the user wants to read and then later goes back to read the selected articles. The second modality is usually performed using tabs 110 in web browser 100, where the user right clicks on a link and selects an “open in tab” option that opens the selected article in a new tab. So as the user goes through the list and selects, e.g., four articles, the user creates four tabs on web browser 100, and the user can select the articles using the different tabs.
In one specific example of the second use modality, a user clicks on one of the bookmarklets 108 to get a list 112 of articles through an Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed. List 112 is shown in
In an third and related use modality, a user employs a service that saves selected web pages for reading later. Examples of such services include Instapaper™, Read It Later™, Laterloop™, and Later This™. Generally speaking, such services may provide a bookmarklet that a user can click on when a user has a tab opened to a web page that the user would like to visit later (perhaps offline). The service then creates a list of the web pages to be visited later. The user may access the list either on the same computer or on a different computer, and even on an application on a handheld device. However, in such services, the user must select a page to be viewed later and then open the page—at least a two step process. Viewer selection of articles in any of the three use modalities above is not well-supported by tabbed browsing, alone, or the services that allow a user to select and read an article later.
Various embodiments are directed to systems, methods, and computer program products that provide an interface wherein one side provides a list of articles and selection mechanisms and another side includes the articles that are selected. The interface may be in the content-viewing portion of a general-purpose web browser or part of an application that is not a general-purpose web browser.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
GUI 300 includes column 330, integrated in GUI 300 with columns 310, 320. The items in column 330 correspond to available articles. A user can select one, some, all, or none of the available articles to be viewed. Upon selection, an article is divided into text and graphics and distributed in columns 310, 320. Column 330 includes indicators showing which of the articles have been selected and are available for viewing in columns 310, 320. Specifically, column 330 includes circles that when filled in, colored, or otherwise visually marked, indicate that a corresponding article has been selected. In
Column 330 also includes tabs 331-334, which each correspond to a topic and act as a filter, thus reducing the list of article summaries displayed in column 330. At any given time, there may be more articles selected than display space available, so columns 310, 320 are scrollable. When a tab is selected, the corresponding article is brought into view in columns 310, 320. Column 330 may also be scrollable if the list of articles is long. READ SELECTED button 335 can be used to switch between all available articles and the selected articles. CLEAR SELECTED button 336 allows for the various selections to be cleared.
Additionally, the selected articles may be loaded for offline use. For example, the selected articles can be placed in memory that is available online or offline.
As a user selects an article using column 330, the article appears in columns 310, 320, thereby making selection of articles a one-step process. In this example, the user does not open or close separate tabs or open the article again in another application. In this example, the selection functionality is intuitively integrated with the content display, and articles are easily selected and read in a one-step technique.
GUI 300 operates with other intuitive and helpful features. For instance, GUI 300 includes column 310 for text portions of articles and column 320 for graphical elements of articles. Columns 310, 320 can be independently scrolled and are coordinated so as to automatically align the content of a particular article. The operation of a feature, such as that shown in columns 310, 320, is described in more detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. ZMBP.P0015US), filed concurrently herewith and entitled, “SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS PROVIDING AN INTEGRATED USER INTERFACE FOR READING CONTENT,” which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In
The selection feature shown in
Furthermore, the scope of embodiments is not limited to pairing the article-selection technique with the double-column reading interface shown in
In block 601, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that has a first side for viewing articles is rendered upon a display screen. In block 602, a second side of the GUI is rendered. The second side includes a list of articles and selectable features allowing user input to access one or more of the articles in the list. In block 603, articles accessed using the selectable features are placed in the first side. In block 604, the accessed articles are loaded for offline use.
Various embodiments are not limited to the exact method shown in
Additionally, the term “article” is used herein in the examples above to refer to magazine or newspaper articles, though the term is not limited thereto. Articles may include other divisions of content, such as book chapters and/or the like.
Some embodiments include one or more advantages over other techniques. For instance, various embodiments provide a GUI that is more intuitive than previous attempts at allowing users to access multiple articles. Whereas previous techniques required at least two steps to save and retrieve some articles, various embodiments of the present invention provide a one-step technique from the user's point of view. Additionally, various embodiments may also provide a less cluttered alternative to opening up multiple tabs on a general-purpose web browser. Also, various embodiments may be more elegant and less navigation intensive than repeated, serial open-and-read actions.
Computer system 800 also preferably includes random access memory (RAM) 803, which may be SRAM, DRAM, SDRAM, or the like. In this example, computer system 800 uses RAM 803 to buffer 302 of
Computer system 800 also preferably includes input/output (I/O) adapter 805, communications adapter 811, user interface adapter 808, and display adapter 809. I/O adapter 805, user interface adapter 808, and/or communications adapter 811 may, in certain embodiments, enable a user to interact with computer system 800 in order to input information, such as hand gestures (via a touchscreen or a pointing device) that indicate that one or more articles are selected.
I/O adapter 805 preferably connects to storage device(s) 806, such as one or more of hard drive, compact disc (CD) drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, etc. to computer system 800. The storage devices may be utilized when RAM 803 is insufficient for the memory requirements associated with storing media data. Communications adapter 811 is preferably adapted to couple computer system 800 to network 812 (e.g., the Internet, a LAN, a cellular network, etc.). User interface adapter 808 couples user input devices, such as keyboard 813, pointing device 807, and microphone 814 and/or output devices, such as speaker(s) 815 to computer system 800. Display adapter 809 is driven by CPU 801 to control the display on display device 810 to, for example, display the articles.
While the above examples are provided in the context of tablet computers with touchscreens, the scope of embodiments is not so limited. For instance, some embodiments may be adapted for use with handheld devices, laptop computers, desktop computers, workstations, and/or other process-based devices with a GUI. Additionally, some embodiments can be used with devices that do not have a touchscreen but, instead, rely on another manner of screen navigation, such as pointing, hotkeys, and the like. Moreover, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to general purpose computers and may be implemented on other types of processors, such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits. In fact, persons of ordinary skill in the art may utilize any number of suitable structures capable of executing logical operations according to the embodiments of the present invention.
Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.
The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. ZMBP.P0015US), filed concurrently herewith and entitled, “SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS PROVIDING AN INTEGRATED USER INTERFACE FOR READING CONTENT,” which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
