Relative Item Of Interest Explorer Interface

Abstract

Devices are disclosed for providing a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for representing a reference item and a number of items of interest. In one embodiment, each item of interest is assigned to one of a number of concentric regions in a two-dimensional geographic space based on the location and one or more attributes of the item of interest. The concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space are centered at a location in the two-dimensional space that corresponds to the reference item. A GUI is generated includes concentric display regions that correspond to the concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space, where a select concentric display region provides an expanded view of the items of interest located within the corresponding region in the two-dimensional geographic space and the remaining concentric display region(s) provide collapsed view(s) of the items of interest in the corresponding region(s) of the two-dimensional geographic space.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computing device comprising:
 a communication interface that operatively couples the computing device to a network;   a memory; and   a controller associated with the communication interface and memory and configured to:
 assign each item of interest of a plurality of items of interest to one of a plurality of concentric regions in a two-dimensional geographic space based on a location of the item of interest in the two-dimensional geographic space, wherein the location of the item of interest is determined based on one or more attributes of the item of interest, the plurality of concentric regions are centered at a location of a reference item in the two-dimensional geographic space, and the location of the reference item is determined based on one or more attributes of the reference item that correspond to the one or more attributes of the item of interest; 
 generate a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that represents the reference item and the plurality of items of interest in the two-dimensional geographic space such that the GUI includes a plurality of concentric display regions that correspond to the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space, a select one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides an expanded view of one or more of the plurality of items of interest located in a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space, and each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides a collapsed view of one or more of the plurality of items of interest located in a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space; 
 wherein changing a concentric display region from an expanded view to a collapsed view changes a location of an item of interest in the changed concentric display region to a location unrelated to the relative distance of the item of interest from the reference item while maintaining substantially a same bearing relative to the location of the reference item as the item of interest would be shown at in the expanded view; and 
 effect presentation of the GUI. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of concentric display regions are centered on an indicator that represents the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional geographic space. 
     
     
         3 . The computing device of  claim 2  wherein, in order to provide the expanded view, the select one of the plurality of concentric display regions comprises one or more item representations that represent:
 relative distances within the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space between the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space and the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional geographic space; and 
 bearings within the two-dimensional geographic space from the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional geographic space to the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space. 
 
     
     
         4 . The computing device of  claim 3  wherein in providing the GUI, the controller is configured to perform a collision avoidance process by which item representations of two or more of the plurality of items of interest in the one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space that corresponds to the select one of the plurality of concentric display regions are positioned in such a manner as to at least substantially avoid collision of the item representations in the GUI. 
     
     
         5 . The computing device of  claim 2  wherein, in order to provide the collapsed view for each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions, the remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions comprises one or more item representations that are at least substantially equidistant from the indicator that represents the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional geographic space. 
     
     
         6 . The computing device of  claim 5  wherein the one or more item representations represent bearings within the two-dimensional geographic space from the location of the reference item in the two-dimensional geographic space to the locations of the one or more of the plurality of items of interest in the corresponding one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space. 
     
     
         7 . The computing device of claim Error! Reference source not found. wherein the reference item is a reference location and the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of crowds of users. 
     
     
         8 . The computing device of  claim 7  wherein:
 the plurality of concentric display regions in the two-dimensional geographic space is a plurality of concentric geographic regions in the two-dimensional geographic space centered at the reference location; 
 in assigning each item of interest of the plurality of items of interest to one of the plurality of concentric regions in the two-dimensional geographic space, the controller is configured to assign each crowd of the plurality of crowds to one of the plurality of concentric geographic regions based on spatial information that defines a location of the crowd; and 
 in generating the GUI, the controller is configured to generate the GUI such that the plurality of concentric display regions correspond to the plurality of concentric geographic regions, the select one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides the expanded view of one or more of the plurality of crowds located within a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric geographic regions, and each remaining one of the plurality of concentric display regions provides a collapsed view of one or more of the plurality of crowds located within a corresponding one of the plurality of concentric geographic regions. 
 
     
     
         9 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the reference item is a reference location and the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of Points of Interest (POIs). 
     
     
         10 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the reference item is a reference location, the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of mobile devices that are associated with friends of the user of the computing device in a social network. 
     
     
         11 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the reference item is a reference location and the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of mobile devices that are associated with friends and friends-of-friends of the user of the computing device in a social network. 
     
     
         12 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of items of interest comprise a plurality of commercially available items. 
     
     
         13 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein effecting presentation of the GUI comprises displaying the GUI on the computing device. 
     
     
         14 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein effecting presentation of the GUI comprises sending the GUI to the computing device via the network. 
     
     
         15 . The computing device of  claim 1  wherein the computing device is a mobile device further comprising a display associated with the controller, and the controller is adapted to effect presentation of the GUI by presenting the GUI via the display. 
     
     
         16 . The computing device of  claim 15  wherein the computing device is a server computer further comprising a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the server computer to a mobile device via the network, and the controller of the server computer is adapted to effect presentation of the GUI by sending the GUI to the mobile device via the network.