Patent ID: 10572124

Abstract:
Methods and systems for bound based contextual zoom are disclosed. Legacy WINDOWS desktop and web applications were designed for a mouse or other high-precision pointing device, and as such, small controls and closely grouped controls/icons were commonly designed/used on the screen. Interacting with such applications remoted to a touch-based device (e.g., a smartphone or tablet) is difficult. Bound based contextual zoom overcomes at least some of these limitations by permitting a user to zoom in on an area of interest within an application or desktop, and for a period of time long enough to complete the touch interaction. The area zoomed might be a group of controls on a ribbon bar, the minimize/maximize/close buttons in the top-right corner of a window, a group of form input controls, or any other natural cluster of related user interface (UI) elements. The size of the area zoomed and the zoom factor applied are calculated to allow a user to complete their task without overly obscuring the rest of the application/desktop.