Method for displaying content items on an electronic device
View Patent ↗Content items can be viewed on an electronic device based upon a property defined for each of the content items, allowing the user to navigate through the content list and view or select content items. When navigating portions of the list where a selection has been made where no content items are associated with the properties, the result may be the presentation of no data. In order to re-orient users, the selection is modified to display at least one content item.
1. A method for displaying content items on a display of an electronic device, the method comprising:
displaying a plurality of content items along a timeline;
receiving, after the displaying, a selection of two different dates on the timeline, the two different dates defining a range;
determining, by the electronic device after the receiving, that none of the plurality of content items are associated with dates of the range;
the electronic device automatically modifying the range, after the determining, to include at least one content item outside of the range in response to the electronic device determining that none of the plurality of content items are associated with dates of the range; and
displaying, after the modifying, the at least one content item of a modified range selection.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying the received range selection with none of the plurality of content items prior to modifying the received range selection.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the received range selection is displayed for a defined time period prior to modifying the range selection.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the range selection is modified to include at least two content items.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein one of the content items of the at least two content items is at a date before an earlier one of the two different dates, and the second of the at least two content items is at a date after a later one of the two different dates.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the modifying the range to include the at least one content item outside the range comprises determining a previously displayed content item and a previously displayed range.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the range selection is received by a voice command.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the received range selection is received by a gesture performed in a graphical user interface.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the gesture is a zoom of a graphic object based content list in the graphical user interface, wherein the range selection is in a portion of the content list where no content items are associated with the dates of the received range selection.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the range selection comprises determining a previous displayed selection wherein the determined range selection is reverted back to the previous displayed selection.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the content items are selected from one or more from the group consisting of: images, video, audio recordings, e-mail messages, text messages, instant messages, status update messages, social network messages, blog messages, bookmarks, links, video communications, and audio communications.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the range selection is determined from a variable width of a slider bar for selecting the range selection of a property associated with the plurality of content items to be displayed based upon the content items selected in the content list within the selected range defined by two control points.
13. An electronic device for displaying content items, the electronic device comprising:
a display for displaying the content items;
a processor coupled to the display for executing instructions;
a memory storing instructions for displaying content items on the display of the electronic device, the instructions when executed by the processor configuring the electronic device to provide:
displaying a plurality of content items along a timeline;
receiving, after the displaying, a selection of two different dates on the timeline, the two different dates defining a range;
determining, by the electronic device after the receiving, that none of the plurality of content items are associated with dates of the range;
the electronic device automatically modifying the range, after the determining, to include at least one content item outside of the range in response to the electronic device determining that none of the plurality of content items are associated with dates of the range; and
displaying, after the modifying, the at least one content item of a modified range selection.
14. The electronic device of claim 13 further comprising displaying the received range selection with none of the plurality of content items prior to modifying the received range selection.
15. The electronic device of claim 14 wherein the received range selection is displayed for a defined time period prior to modifying the range selection.
16. The electronic device of claim 14 wherein the range selection is modified to include at least two content items wherein one of the content items of the at least two content items is at a date before an earlier one of the two different dates, and the second of the at least two content items is at a date after a later one of the two different dates.
17. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the modifying the range to include the at least one content item outside the range comprises determining a previously displayed content item and a previously displayed range.
18. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the range selection is received by a voice command or by a gesture performed in a graphical user interface.
19. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the range selection is a zoom of a graphic object based content list in the graphical user interface, wherein the range selection is in a portion of the content list where no content items are associated with the dates of the received range selection.
20. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein determining the range selection comprises determining a previous displayed selection wherein the determined range selection is reverted back to the previous displayed selection.
21. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the content items are selected from one or more from the group consisting of: images, video, audio recordings, e-mail messages, text messages, instant messages, status update messages, social network messages, blog messages, bookmarks, links, video communications, and audio communications.
22. The electronic device of claim 13 wherein the range selection is determined from a variable width of a slider bar for selecting the range selection of a property associated with the plurality of content items to be displayed based upon the content items selected in the content list within the selected range defined by two control points.
23. A non-transitory computer readable memory containing instructions for execution by a processor for providing a method for displaying content items on a display of an electronic device, the instructions performing a method comprising:
displaying a plurality of content items along a timeline;
receiving, after the displaying, a selection of two different dates on the timeline, the two different dates defining a range;
determining, by the electronic device after the receiving, that none of the plurality of content items are associated with dates of the range;
the electronic device automatically modifying the range, after the determining, to include at least one content item outside of the range in response to the electronic device determining that none of the plurality of content items are associated with dates of the range; and
displaying, after the modifying, the at least one content item of a modified range selection.