IP Library › Granted Patent US 8,933,952
Granted Patent B2
US 8,933,952 · App. 13/229,709 · Granted Jan 13, 2015

Pre-rendering new content for an application-selectable user interface

Inventors: Nazia Zaman (Kirkland, WA); Tyler J. Donahue (Bellevue, WA); Ethan Nelson Ray (Redmond, WA); Maverick J. Velasco (Sammamish, WA)
Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
G06T11/40
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,933,952
App. No.
13/229,709
Granted
Jan 13, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

This document describes techniques for pre-rendering new content for an application-selectable user interface. These techniques permit a user to select to view application-selectable tiles of the interface and, on selection, quickly see new content through the tiles in the selected portion. In some embodiments, the techniques pre-render content for a portion of a non-visible region of the interface rather than all of the non-visible region to reduce resource costs, such as processor and memory usage on a device and communication bandwidth usage on a communication network.

Claims (43)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, for an interface having a visible region in which visible, selectable tiles associated with applications are presented, the visible, selectable tiles associated with at least two different applications, and a non-visible region in which tiles associated with applications are not currently presented, a pre-render portion of the non-visible region; and

pre-rendering new content for tiles in the pre-render portion and for which reports indicating the new content have been received, at least one of the tiles in the pre-render portion of the non-visible region associated with a different application than the at least two different applications associated with the tiles in the visible region.

2. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving an input; and

determining a region of the interface that, responsive to the input, will be made visible, and

wherein the pre-render portion is the region of the interface that will be made visible.

3. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 2 , wherein the input is a gesture and determining the region of the interface that will be made visible determines the region based on a snap point within the interface.

4. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 2 , wherein the input is a gesture and determining the region of the interface that will be made visible determines the region based on an inertia of the gesture.

5. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1 , wherein determining the pre-render portion determines an adjacent region adjacent to the visible region.

6. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 5 , wherein the visible region is a first page having a size and the adjacent region is a second page having the size.

7. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1 , wherein the pre-render portion includes two portions, a first portion adjacent to a side of the visible region and a second portion adjacent to an opposite side of the visible region.

8. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1 , wherein determining the pre-render portion includes determining an historical average of amounts of time between receiving inputs selecting to view selected regions and pre-rendering new content for tiles to be rendered in the selected regions.

9. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1 , wherein determining the pre-render portion is based on a communication bandwidth to download content indicated in prior reports or a projected communication bandwidth to download the new content indicated in the reports.

10. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 9 , wherein determining the pre-render portion based on the communication bandwidth or the projected communication bandwidth determines a smaller pre-render portion for a higher communication bandwidth and a larger pre-render portion for a lower communication bandwidth.

11. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1 , wherein determining the pre-render portion is based on an amount of battery power remaining for a device on which the interface is presented.

12. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1 , further comprising receiving an input selecting to view the non-visible region and, responsive to the input, presenting the pre-render portion and rendering the pre-rendered new content for the tiles in the pre-render portion for which reports indicating the new content have been received.

13. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 1 , wherein pre-rendering new content for tiles pre-renders animation effects for the tiles.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving reports associated with applications, the applications having associated tiles;

determining which of the associated tiles are in:

a visible region of an interface; and

a pre-render portion of a non-visible region of the interface;

rendering new content for the associated tiles in the visible region, the tiles in the visible region associated with at least two different applications;

pre-rendering new content for the associated tiles in the pre-render portion of the non-visible region, at least one of the tiles in the pre-render portion of the non-visible region associated with a different application than the at least two different applications associated with the tiles in the visible region;

receiving an input selecting to view the non-visible region;

responsive to the input, presenting the pre-render portion; and

rendering the pre-rendered new content for the tiles in the pre-render portion.

15. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 14 , wherein pre-rendering new content determines Universal Resource Locators (URLs) in the reports that are associated with the associated tiles that are in the pre-render portion of the non-visible region and downloads visual media from the URLs.

16. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 15 , wherein rendering the pre-rendered new content for the tiles renders the downloaded visual media within the associated tiles that are in the pre-render portion.

17. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 14 , wherein the input selects to view at least a part of a remaining portion of the non-visible region, the remaining portion not including the pre-render portion, and further comprising, responsive to the input, pre-rendering text or an indicator for the associated tiles that are in the remaining portion.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting an interface enabling selection of tiles associated with applications, the interface having a visible region and a non-visible region, the visible region containing tiles associated with at least two different applications;

receiving a gesture through the interface, the gesture having an inertia;

determining, based on the inertia of the gesture, a portion of the non-visible region that will be presented in response to the gesture;

determining a set of the applications for which:

reports indicating new content have been received; and

corresponding tiles are within the portion of the non-visible region that will be presented in response to the gesture, at least one of the corresponding tiles associated with a different application than the at least two different applications associated with the tiles in the visible region;

pre-rendering new content for the corresponding tiles in the portion of the non-visible region prior to presenting the portion of the non-visible region;

presenting the portion of the non-visible region; and

rendering the pre-rendered new content for the corresponding tiles in the portion of the non-visible region.

19. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 18 , further comprising presenting, responsive to the gesture, a movement from the visible region, through a different portion of the non-visible region, and ending at the portion of the non-visible region.

20. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 19 , wherein pre-rendering new content for the corresponding tiles is performed during the movement through the different portion of the non-visible region and before ending at the portion of the non-visible region, and further comprising delaying or slowing the movement until the pre-rendering is complete.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2014
From: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
To: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Reel/Frame 034544/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 21, 2011
From: ZAMAN, NAZIA; DONAHUE, TYLER J.; RAY, ETHAN NELSON; VELASCO, MAVERICK J.
To: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 026938/0884 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20130063442A1 · Mar 14, 2013