Software Technology for Interactive menu elements that are part of 3D space

APPLE INC. (Cupertino, CA)

The technology currently in use displays the user interface within an simulated 3-D environment which includes selectable user interface objects located at different simulated distances from the respective perspective in the three-dimensional simulation environment. A simulated depth effect is applied to a user interface object. When an input from a navigation system, the one or more objects that are user interfaces are displayed in an alternative position in relation to the viewpoint of the object, and the respective degree of blurring applied to the one or more user interface objects is adjusted based on the simulated depth of field effect as well as a respective current position of the user interface objects in relation to the respective viewpoint.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to an electronic menus and more specifically to three-dimensional-interactive-electronic menus.

In many cases, computer-programming languages are an obstacle to digital content creation and, in the end, distribution to consumers of content. Many designers and content creators do not have the expertise and skills needed to share their works with all of the world. To begin to bridge this gap, content creators can use some electronic-content-development tools which allow content creators to interact with a graphical user interface to design the content while anelectronic-content-development tool puts the computer-programming code in place to represent the electronic content on a user’s computer.

One type of such tool is a web page development tool, which allows a user to create webpages with basic features by designing the webpage graphically within the electronic-content-development tool. These tools are restricted in their capacity to help users with the basic of features. But, those who wish to develop custom-designed elements must be familiar with at least one programming language. For instance, although some web-content development tools can aid in creating basic hypertextmarkup language (html) content, these tools have even less capabilities to modify the cascading style sheet (css) elements. Variables in css codes typically require modification directly within the code. Such adjustments require knowledge ofcomputer-programming languages, which again, many content creators lack.

The current solutions do not suffice to remove the barriers between content creators and the presentation of high-quality electronic content on a variety of platforms.

The following description will detail additional features and benefits of the disclosure. These will either be apparent from the description or are learned through the application of the principles described herein. The features andadvantages of the disclosure may be achieved and gained by the use of the instruments and combinations specifically mentioned in the appended claims. These and other aspects of the disclosure will become more evident from the description and appended claims, or can be learned by the practice of the rules set out herein.

The technology of today provides the digital authoring tools for amateur and professional content developers alike, without the necessity of understanding or accessing the computer’s code, although that option is available to users skilled in theprogramming arts. In addition to the ability to create high quality digital content, the authoring tool is further equipped with the ability to manage digital assets and configure them for distribution and viewing on a variety of electronicdevices–many of which have diverse hardware capabilities. The software described here eliminates the many hurdles to publishing electronic content.

An authoring tool comes with a set of assets and files that form the electronic content. Sometimes, the authoring tool will offer one or more templates to aid you in the creation of electronic content. Templates can be altered by content creators to meet their specific needs. In some embodiments the authoring tool can be designed to accept digital assets through the import of those assets into the authoring tools’ asset library. The assets are imported via a menu interface or through drag and drop capabilities.

One template offered by the invention currently in use could incorporate the complex JavaScript to create a virtual 3-dimensional (3-D) environment with the menu from a first-person perspective. The menu can be viewed from the “cockpit” or “first-person” perspective by a user who interacts with it. The menu items are positioned in the vicinity of the user and can be scrolled through using, for instance changing the perspective of the user in the 3D environment. The 3D environment features the viewport designed to be the viewing area. This is used to recreate the view of the user. Menu items that are directly in view of the viewport can be “highlighted” by the user, and then be chosen. To scroll through menu items, the orientation of the viewport could be changed by user input to bring additional menu items within the viewable range of the viewport. A corresponding animation simulates how the user’s view of the changing 3-D environment changes as the orientation of your viewport changes. As menu items enter and out of the window, they are animated by moving into and leaving the user’s view. This shift in perspective can be further accentuated through the use of other animations like the changing of scenery and the head of the virtual user moving with respect to the input of the user. The widget or inspector can be used to configure this menu as described above.

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