Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100037148 | Social Networking Tool - A social networking tool is described for use with a display. In an embodiment, the display is permanently located in an enterprise office and facilitates social interaction between users some of whom are remote of the display and at least one of whom is physically local to the display. In an embodiment messages comprising content are received from remote users and the content displayed. One display region for each remote user is displayed concurrently and content received from any particular remote user is only displayed in the display region for that remote user. In an embodiment a user local to the display is able to send a message to a remote user by selecting the appropriate display region. In another embodiment a user local to the display is able to change the position of the display regions on the display and may also annotate the display. | 02-11-2010 |
20100082662 | Information Retrieval System User Interface - A user interface for an information retrieval system is described. In an embodiment an output region for showing retrieved documents is displayed on an interactive surface. One or more movable user interface items, such as digital buttons or tangible objects, may be positioned in an active region. Each movable user interface item has a stored query associated with it and for example, the queries may be words or images. In an embodiment a user interface controller apparatus identifies any movable user interface items in the active region and identifies a spatial relationship between those items and the output region. In an embodiment, a query is accessed for each of the user interface items in the active region and those queries and the information about the spatial relationship are used to retrieve documents from a document database. | 04-01-2010 |
20100145920 | Digital Media Retrieval and Display - Retrieval and display of digital media items is described. For example, the digital media items may be photographs, videos, audio files, emails, text documents or parts of these. In an embodiment a dedicated apparatus having a touch display screen is provided in a form designed to look like a domestic fish tank. In an embodiment graphical animated agents are depicted on the display as fish whose motion varies according to at least one behavior parameter which is pseudo random. In embodiments, the agents have associated search criteria and when a user selects one or more agents the associated search criteria are used in a retrieval operation to retrieve digital media items from a store. In some embodiments media items are communicated between the apparatus and a portable communications device using a communications link established by tapping the portable device against the media retrieval and display apparatus. | 06-10-2010 |
20100315335 | Pointing Device with Independently Movable Portions - A pointing device with independently movable portions is described. In an embodiment, a pointing device comprises a base unit and a satellite portion. The base unit is arranged to be located under a palm of a user's hand and be movable over a supporting surface. The satellite portion is arranged to be located under a digit of the user's hand and be independently movable over the supporting surface relative to the base unit. In embodiments, data from at least one sensing device is read, and movement of both the base unit and the independently movable satellite portion of the pointing device is calculated from the data. The movement of the base unit and the satellite portion is analyzed to detect a user gesture. | 12-16-2010 |
20110080341 | Indirect Multi-Touch Interaction - Indirect multi-touch interaction is described. In an embodiment, a user interface is controlled using a cursor and a touch region comprising a representation of one or more digits of a user. The cursor and the touch region are moved together in the user interface in accordance with data received from a cursor control device, such that the relative location of the touch region and the cursor is maintained. The representations of the digits of the user are moved in the touch region in accordance with data describing movement of the user's digits. In another embodiment, a user interface is controlled in a first mode of operation using an aggregate cursor, and switched to a second mode of operation in which the aggregate cursor is divided into separate portions, each of which can be independently controlled by the user. | 04-07-2011 |
20110270816 | Information Exploration - Information exploration is described. For example, a user provides gathering terms to an information exploration system which uses those terms to generate many composite items formed from content of different media types obtained from a web search engine. For example, the composite items are displayed simultaneously on a user interface and provide a user with a partial map of information “territory” accessible through the system. In some examples the user is able to select a composite item and use it to explore further in the same direction by generating more composite items using related gathering terms. In some examples the user is able to select a composite item and use it to explore further in a manner indirectly related to the selected composite item. In examples the composite items may be saved in scrap books, sent to other users or used to access content. | 11-03-2011 |
20110298689 | Device for Sharing Photographs in Social Settings - A device for sharing photographs in social settings is described. In an example, the device comprises a display surface which extends around a vertical axis of the device such that it provides a cumulative viewing angle of greater than 180°. This enables viewers located all around the device to see images displayed. The display surface may be a continuous display or may be formed from multiple discrete displays. The images displayed comprise sets of related images which may, for example, be accessed from an online image store (such as a social networking site) or other storage device. In an example, sets of images may be displayed in the form of filmstrips, with each filmstrip comprising a set of related images associated with a different user. Where the device includes a user interaction element, detection of a user interaction changes the images that are displayed. | 12-08-2011 |
20110302522 | Sketching and Searching Application for Idea Generation - A sketching and searching application for idea generation is described. In an embodiment, a software application is described which has a user interface which comprises a sketching area. When a user draws or annotates a sketch in the application, the application automatically searches for images based on the sketch and displays results in the form of images outside the sketching area. These images are used to inspire new ideas and to facilitate the creative process in a way that is closely linked with the sketching process. When the sketch is updated, additional searching is automatically performed and new results are displayed. In some examples the sketching area is deformable and deformation may cause new results to be displayed and in some examples the user is able to drag image results into the sketching area to enable tracing of the image or to include the image in the sketch. | 12-08-2011 |
20120105312 | User Input Device - A user input device is described. In an embodiment the user input device is hand held and comprises a sensing strip to detect one-dimensional motion of a user's finger or thumb along the sensing strip and to detect position of a user's finger or thumb on the sensing strip. In an embodiment the sensed data is used for cursor movement and/or text input at a master device. In an example the user input device has an orientation sensor and orientation of the device influences orientation of a cursor. For example, a user may move the cursor in a straight line in the pointing direction of the cursor by sliding a finger or thumb along the sensing strip. In an example, an alphabetical scale is displayed and a user is able to zoom into the scale and select letters for text input using the sensing strip. | 05-03-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080281851 | Archive for Physical and Digital Objects - Existing tools for organizing family memories offer few possibilities for easily integrating both physical and digital materials in order to produce a single archive for a family (or other group of users). This also applies to archiving of physical objects and digital media in general (even for applications outside the field of family use). An archiving system is described which incorporates at least one image capture device, a display, a sensing apparatus arranged to detect user input associated with the display, a processor and memory, and a receptacle for holding digital media storage devices such as mobile telephones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants and the like. The image capture device is operable to capture digital images of physical objects for archiving. The receptacle comprises a data transmission apparatus for automatically transferring data with the digital media storage devices and optionally also a power charging apparatus. | 11-13-2008 |
20100169827 | SETTING CONTROL USING EDGES OF A USER INTERFACE - A setting control may be mapped to an edge of a user interface to facilitate control of various settings and access thereto. The mapping may be implemented based on a number of setting values associated with the setting control and a size of a specified edge of the user interface. Additionally, multiple edges of a user interface may be mapped to a variety of setting controls. The edge-mapped setting controls may also be automatically reconfigured according to user preferences and interaction with the interface. Indicators are also generated to provide visual indications about the setting controls and/or a current setting. The appearance of indicators may be altered to convey a variety of information such as the current setting of a control or the type of setting control. | 07-01-2010 |
20100205186 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FILTERING AND ORGANIZING ITEMS BASED ON COMMON ELEMENTS - A system and method for filtering and organizing items from computer memories based on common elements is provided. Filters can be provided for manipulating the items, which serve as tools for narrowing down a set of items. The filters can be dynamically generated based on the properties of the separate items. The system can utilize virtual folders. The virtual folders can expose regular files and folders to users in different views based on their metadata instead of the actual physical underlying file system structure on the disk. Quick links can be provided, which serve as a set of predefined links (e.g., located on the left side of the display) that can be clicked on to generate useful views of the sets of items. Libraries, which can provide large groups of usable types of items that can be associated together, may also be used. | 08-12-2010 |
20110310735 | Resource Allocation Framework for Wireless/Wired Networks - A resource allocation framework for wireless/wired networks is described. In an embodiment, methods of end host based traffic management are described which operate separately from the underlying access control protocol within the network (e.g. wireless MAC protocol or TCP). The rate limits for each flow are set based on per-flow weights, which may be user specified, and based on an estimate of the utilization of the shared resource and the rate limits are adjusted periodically so that the resource is not underutilized or saturated. Some embodiments compute a virtual capacity of the resource which is adjusted to optimize the value of the utilization and then the virtual capacity is shared between flows according to the per-flow weights. Methods for estimating the utilization of a wireless network and the capacity of a broadband access link are also described. | 12-22-2011 |