Filtering a collection of items
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorRichard Banks
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A user interface is provided wherein a set of items is displayed as a set of item representations (such as icons or thumbnails), and wherein a filtered subset of those items are visually identified in accordance with a user-defined criterion. All of the item representations are displayed on the screen in some form, regardless of which of the items have been filtered out. Further, the item representations may be displayed in various formats such as collected together in arrays or carousels as appropriate. This may allow the user interface to visually distinguish between those items that have been filtered out and those that are considered relevant.
Claims20
A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
- (a) displaying a plurality of item representations each associated with a different item;
- (b) receiving a user input including a textual criterion;
- (c) determining a subset of the items to be all of the items that satisfy the textual criterion;
- (d) displaying the associated item representations for the subset of items so as to have a first display property;
- and
- (e) displaying the remaining item representations so as to have a second display property different from the first display property.
A method implemented by a computer, comprising:
- (a) displaying a plurality of item representations each associated with a different item;
- (b) receiving a user input including a textual criterion;
- (c) determining a subset of the items to be all of the items that satisfy the textual criterion;
- (d) displaying the associated item representations for the subset of items so as to have a first display property;
- and
- (e) displaying the remaining item representations so as to have a second display property different from the first display property.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.