Method and System for Scrolling Through Data

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a method and system for controlling the display of data on a display device of a computer system, and more particularly, to such a method and system for aiding a user's scrolling through data on such a system.

2. Background of the Invention

Conventional application programs supporting a graphical user interface provide scroll bars when the size of the data being displayed may exceed the size of a computer system's display area. Scroll bars allow a user of the computer system to use a pointer positioning device such as a mouse to scroll data through the display area, thereby revealing previously undisplayed portions of the data. The display area may have a vertical scroll bar, a horizontal scroll bar, or both. FIG. 1 is an illustration of a display area 10 in which a conventional horizontal scroll bar 12 and a conventional vertical scroll bar 14 are displayed. The horizontal scroll bar 12 includes a left-scroll arrow 18, a right-scroll arrow 20, and a scroll box 28. Similarly, the vertical scroll bar 14 includes an up-scroll arrow 22, a down-scroll arrow 24, and a scroll box 29. Selecting one of the scroll arrows 18, 20, 22, 24 causes the system to move the view of data left, right, up, or down a predefined amount.

The scroll boxes 28, 29 (also known as elevators, thumb tabs, or sliders) move within the scroll bars 12, 14, respectively, to represent how far the current view of data is from the top (for vertical scroll bars) or from the left edge (for horizontal scroll bars) of the data. For example, the scroll box 29 in the vertical scroll bar 14 of FIG. 1 is approximately one quarter of the way down the scroll bar, indicating data being displayed is approximately one quarter of the way down from the beginning of the document or file being displayed. The user may also "drag" the scroll boxes 28, 29 within the scroll bars 12, 14, respectively, to cause a different view of the data to be displayed. If possible, the view is updated continuously as a scroll box is dragged, but if the view cannot be updated continuously with sufficient speed, the view may be updated in a single jump to a new view corresponding to the location of the scroll box at the end of the drag operation. When the view is updated in a single jump, the user is not given any advanced indication as to what will be the new view. After a user has dragged the scroll box to cause a new view to be displayed in the display area, the user cannot easily return to the previous view.

Using a conventional scroll bar system of the type described above, to display a particular view the user must step through each view using the scroll arrows or jump around the data using the scroll boxes. When the data being displayed is text-based, such as a word processing document that is subdivided into pages, a user may use the scroll bars in combination with a displayed page number to locate a particular view. However, when the user does not know the page number the user must still jump around the document to locate a particular view. When the data being displayed is image-based, such as a sequential picture story, a page number is often meaningless and therefore not used to identify each picture; the user is again forced to step through each picture to locate a particular view. Conventional scroll bar systems have thus been found less than optimal for all situations.

The present invention solves the inadequacies of conventional scrolling systems by providing an improved method and system for scrolling through data. The present invention is particularly useful for image-based data.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an improved method and system for scrolling through data are provided. A display controller such as a scroll bar is used in combination with an image viewer to identify a desired image before the desired image is displayed on a display device. The image display controller is manipulated to cause a sequence of images to be displayed in the image viewer. Once the desired image is identified from the sequence of displayed images, the desired image is displayed on the display device. When a first image is being displayed on the display device, the display of the first image is maintained until it is determined that the sequence of displayed images includes the desired image. When it is determined that the sequence of displayed images includes the desired image, the desired image is displayed on the display device instead of the first image. Thus, the image display controller displays a preview of an image before the image is displayed on the display screen.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the computer system includes a display device and a user-controllable pointer positioning device with signal generating means to control the movement of a pointer on the display device. The image display controller is displayed on a portion of the display device. A user positions the pointer over the image display controller and activates the signal-generating means. An image viewer is displayed on the portion of the display device in response to this user input. Subsequent to the after positioning the pointer over the image display controller and activating the signal-generating means, the user moves the pointer while activating the signal-generating means to cause the image display controller to move. Each movement of the image display controller corresponds to an image. When the user deactivates the signal-generating means, the image that was displayed in the image viewer is displayed on the display device.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a conventional horizontal and vertical scroll bar displayed in a display area.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a computer system having a display device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a first image and an improved scroll bar displayed on the display device of FIG. 2 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the first image, the improved scroll bar, and an image viewer displayed on the display device of FIG. 2 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of the first image, the improved scroll bar, and the image viewer of FIG. 3, and a second image displayed within the image viewer in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of the second image and the improved scroll bar displayed on the display device of FIG. 2 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a scrolling method used in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an improved method and system for scrolling through data are provided. Although the present invention may be used with text-based data, the present invention is particularly useful for scrolling through data containing image-based data, including sequential picture stories and animation sequences. Multimedia software, which may combine video, audio, photographs, text, graphics, animation, and computer programs into one "title" or "show" will especially benefit from the present invention because the present invention improves user interaction with the multimedia software.

Multimedia software executing on a computer system causes, among other things, a plurality of images to be displayed in sequence on a display device of the computer system. The present invention allows a user to quickly locate and select a desired image for display on the display device while maintaining a current display. After the desired image is located and selected, the desired image is displayed on the display device in place of the current display, thereby causing the multimedia software to continue executing from the desired image. To allow a user to quickly locate and select a desired image, the present invention provides an improved scroll bar and an image viewer.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a computer system 30 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The computer system 30 includes a computer 40 having the usual complement of memory and logic circuits, a display device 32, a keyboard 38 or other input device, and a mouse 36 or other pointing device. The mouse 36 includes a signal generating means 34 such as a mouse button. Data, including digital images, is stored in a digital format on a storage device 42 such as a CD ROM drive. As multimedia software is executing on the computer 40, images are downloaded from the storage device 42 and displayed on the display device 32.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a first image 60 and an improved scroll bar 46 displayed on the display device 32 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Execution of the multimedia software causes a sequence of images, including the first image 60, to be displayed on the display screen 32. The improved scroll bar 46 preferably includes a play button 48, a pause button 50, a scroll box 52, a previous button 54, and a next button 56. Activation of the pause button 50 temporarily pauses execution of the multimedia software. While execution of the multimedia software is paused, the image that was displayed when the pause button 50 was activated is displayed until the play button 48 is activated. Activation of the play button 48 causes the multimedia software to continue executing on the computer 40. Activation of the previous button 54 causes an image preceding the first image 60, if one exists in the sequence of images, to be displayed on the display device 32. Activation of the next button 56 causes an image following the first image 60, if one exists, in the sequence of images to be displayed on the display device 32. One method of activating a "button" on the improved scroll bar 46 includes using the mouse 36 to position a pointer over the button and then depressing and releasing the mouse button 34. Other methods of activating a button are well known.

The scroll box 52 slides from one end of the scroll bar to the other end as execution of the multimedia software progresses. Each position of the scroll box 52 within the improved scroll bar 46 corresponds to the one of sequence of images being displayed on the display device 32; the current position of the scroll box 52 corresponds to the first image 60. Activation of either the previous button 54 or the next button 56 causes the scroll box 52 to move to another position within the scroll bar 46. As with conventional scroll bars, a user may jump to a new location within the multimedia software, thereby causing a new image to be displayed on the display device 32, by dragging the scroll box 52 to a new location within the improved scroll bar 46. One method of dragging the scroll box 52 includes using the mouse 36 to position the pointer over the scroll box 52 and depressing the mouse button 34. This is known as selecting the scroll box 52. Movement of the mouse 36 while the scroll box 52 is selected will cause similar movement of the scroll box 52. Other dragging techniques are well known.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the first image 60, the improved scroll bar 46, and an image viewer 58 displayed on the display device 32 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. When a user selects the scroll box 52, execution of the multimedia software is paused and the image viewer 58 is displayed on the display device. Images are displayed within the image viewer 58. The image displayed within the image viewer 58 corresponds to the position of the scroll box 52 within the improved scroll bar 46. The image viewer 58 allows the user to peruse the sequence of images without jumping to a new location within the multimedia software. Because the current location of the scroll box 52 within the improved scroll bar 46 corresponds to the first image 60, the first image 60 is displayed within the image viewer 58 when the scroll box 52 is selected.

As the user drags the scroll box 52 to a new position within the improved scroll bar 46 while the scroll box 52 is selected, different images are displayed within the image viewer 58. FIG. 5 is an illustration of the first image 60, the improved scroll bar 46, and the image viewer 58 displayed on the display device 32; a second image 62 is displayed within the image viewer 58. The second image 62 corresponds to the new position of the scroll box 52 within the improved scroll bar 46 while the scroll box 52 is selected. When the user de-selects or "drops" the scroll box 52, the second image 62 will be preferably displayed on the display device 32 in place of the first image 60, the image viewer 58 will disappear, and execution of the multimedia software will continue. FIG. 6 is an illustration of the second image 62 and the improved scroll bar 46 displayed on the display device 32. The image viewer 58 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is no longer displayed on the display device 32. Alternatively, the image viewer 58 may remain displayed on the display device 32 at all times.

The improved scroll bar 46 and the image viewer 58 provided by the present invention allow a user to quickly search for a desired image without changing the flow of execution of the multimedia software. The image viewer 58 preferably displays a reduced size image, just large enough so that the user may quickly view an image. The computer 40 will cause a reduced-size image to be displayed on the display device 32 much faster than a full-sized image. For example, a typical computer might take 5 seconds to download a full-sized image from a storage device to a display device. If the multimedia software consists of 100 images, then at least 500 seconds are required to display all 100 images. The same computer might take one half of one second to display a reduced-size image. The present invention therefore allows 100 images to be viewed in approximately 50 seconds instead of 500 seconds.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a scrolling method used in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is assumed that the scrolling method is initiated after the multimedia software has begun executing on the computer 40. In step 70, the scrolling method determines whether the scroll box 52 has been selected. If the scroll box has not been selected, then the scrolling method repeats step 70 until the scroll box is selected. As soon as the scroll box is selected, in step 72 the scrolling method causes execution of the multimedia software, causing the current image to remain displayed on the display device. The current image is the image which is being displayed when the scroll box is selected. In step 74, the scrolling method causes the image viewer to be displayed on the display screen. Steps 72 and 74 may occur concurrently. Within the image viewer, the scrolling method causes a reduced-size image to be displayed. The reduced size image that is displayed within the image viewer corresponds to the position of the scroll box within the scroll bar. As the user moves the scroll box within the scroll bar, different images are displayed within the image viewer. In step 76, the scrolling method determines whether the scroll box is still selected. If the scroll box is still selected, then the scrolling method loops back to step 74. When the scroll box is no longer selected, in step 78 the scrolling method causes the image that was displayed within the image viewer to be displayed in full size on the display device. The scrolling method also causes the image viewer to be removed from display on the display device. After step 78, the multimedia software continues executing.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is not intended that the invention be limited to this embodiment. Modifications within the spirit of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the improved scroll bar and the image viewer need not appear as illustrated herein and further may be displayed at any location on the display device, and may be any size or shape. Additionally, the image viewer 58 may be displayed on the display device 32 in response to a user activating the previous button 54 or the next button 56. For example, if the previous button 54 or the next button 56 is activated for a predefined amount of time, then the image viewer would be displayed on the display device and a sequence of images would be displayed within the image viewer. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims which follow.