CN116917851A - Method and system for displaying screen shots with floating icons - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides methods and systems for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon. The method includes receiving an input configured to capture a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen. Next, the method includes collecting, in real-time, a dataset associated with the screenshot. Next, the method includes collecting a screenshot and a dataset in response to an input configured to collect the screenshot. Next, the method includes analyzing a dataset associated with the screenshot to generate a floating icon for the acquired screenshot. Thereafter, the method includes displaying a screenshot for the user and a floating icon; wherein, in response to a tap or click on the floating icon, the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot.

Description

Method and system for displaying screen shots with floating icons

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of electronic devices, and more particularly to a method and system for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon.

Background

This section is intended to provide information relating to the technical field. Accordingly, any method or function described hereinafter should not be considered to be prior art, simply because it is incorporated in this section.

As communication technology has evolved, a "communication device" or "user equipment" or "mobile station" with various novel or advanced capabilities has been used to perform various tasks, such as for entertainment, communication, capturing media, capturing screenshots (screenshots), and the like. When accessing a communication device, people are interested in various images, videos, articles, or any related information appearing on a screen, and screen capture techniques are used to capture such information. Thus, one can collect a screenshot of any interesting content and can view the collected screenshot later to recall these instances. However, in recall of these instances, one must perform a number of tasks to navigate to the desired content associated with the screen shots. For example, after a screenshot of an article is taken, in order to read the complete article, one needs to open a particular application/website with limited details (e.g., page details, author details) available in the screenshot, etc. This eventually takes a person a lot of time. This makes it more difficult for the user to recall the instance of multiple screen shots saved in the gallery of the user's communication device and results in the user needing to obtain the desired content in multiple steps, further consuming a significant amount of time for the user.

In view of these and other existing limitations, therefore, there is an urgent need to provide an efficient solution to overcome the above limitations and to provide a method and system for navigating a user to desired content associated with a screenshot in a quick and efficient manner.

Disclosure of Invention

This section is provided to introduce a selection of aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present disclosure provides methods and systems for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon. One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon. The method includes receiving an input at a transceiver unit. The input is configured to capture a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen. Next, the method includes collecting, by the processing unit, in real-time, a dataset associated with the screenshot. Next, the method includes, in response to an input configured to acquire a screenshot, acquiring, by the processing unit, the screenshot and the dataset. The method includes analyzing, by a processing unit, a dataset associated with the screenshot to generate a floating icon for the acquired screenshot. Thereafter, the method includes displaying, by the display unit, the screen shot and the floating icon for the user. Responsive to a tap or click on the floating icon, the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot.

Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon. The system includes a transceiver unit, a processing unit, and a display unit. The transceiver unit is configured to accept an input configured to capture a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen. Next, the processing unit is configured to collect in real-time a dataset associated with the screenshot. The processing unit is configured to, in response to an input configured to collect a screenshot, collect the screenshot and a dataset. Next, the processing unit is configured to analyze the data set associated with the screen shots to generate floating icons for the acquired screen shots. Thereafter, the display unit is configured to display the screen shot to the user along with the floating icon. Responsive to a tap or click on the floating icon, the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot.

Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a user equipment for displaying a screen shot with a floating icon. The user equipment comprises a system. The system is configured to receive an input configured to capture a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen. Next, the system is configured to collect, in real-time, a dataset associated with the screenshot. The system is configured to collect a screenshot and a dataset in response to an input configured to collect the screenshot. Next, the system is configured to analyze the data set associated with the screen shots to generate floating icons for the acquired screen shots. Thereafter, the system is configured to display the screen shot to the user along with the floating icon. Responsive to a tap or click on the floating icon, the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot.

Drawings

The drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems. Like reference numerals refer to like parts in the different figures. These drawings are incorporated herein and constitute a part of this disclosure. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Some of the figures may use block diagrams to indicate components, and may not show the internal circuitry of each component. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the disclosure of these figures includes disclosure of electrical components, electronic assemblies, or circuits that are commonly used to implement these components.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system [100] for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary method [200] for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary user interface diagram [300] depicting a scene displaying a screenshot with floating icons, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method flow diagram [400] for generating and displaying floating icons for screen shots, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method flowchart [500] for creating a shortcut for a screenshot on a home screen in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method flow diagram [600] for deleting selected metadata when sharing a screenshot with other users, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary method flowchart [700] for adding cues to acquired screenshots, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

The foregoing will be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.

Detailed Description

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. It may be evident, however, that the embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several of the features described below may each be used independently of one another or in any combination with other features. A single feature may not address any of the problems discussed above, or may address only some of the problems discussed above. Some of the problems discussed above may not be fully addressed by any of the features described herein.

The present disclosure provides an efficient and quick solution because of the problem that navigating to the source of one or more screenshots in multiple steps can take a lot of time. That is, by simply clicking on an icon displayed on the acquired screenshot, navigation is made to the source of the content associated with that screenshot. Icons on the screen shots navigate the user directly to the source of the screen shots in less time.

The present disclosure provides a method and system for displaying a screen shot with a floating icon to quickly and efficiently navigate a user directly to the source of the screen shot when the floating icon is clicked or tapped. The present disclosure first receives user input to capture a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen of a communication device. One of a full screen shot, a partial screen shot, a selective screen shot, a custom screen shot may be received as input. Further, the input may be provided using one of gesture-based input, voice-based input, touch-based input, keyboard-based input. Next, the present disclosure gathers data associated with the requested screen shots. The data associated with the requested screen shot includes, but is not limited to, metadata of the screen shot, location of the screen shot, path of the screen shot, source of the screen shot, URL address associated with the screen shot, resolution of the screen shot, date and time of the screen shot, size of the screen shot, and location coordinates. Next, the present disclosure captures or grabs the screen shots along with data associated with the screen shots. After the screenshot and data associated with the screenshot are collected, the present disclosure analyzes the data to generate a floating icon for the collected screenshot. For example, the data is analyzed to identify a URL associated with the screenshot, a link to the screenshot, details of an application or website from which the screenshot was acquired, whether the screenshot was obtained from online content or offline content, and the like. After analyzing the data associated with the screenshot, the present disclosure generates a floating icon for the acquired screenshot and inserts or integrates the floating icon over a portion of the acquired screenshot. A floating icon refers to an icon that represents and includes a link to the source of the screenshot. Clicking or tapping on the floating icon directly navigates the user to the source (online or offline) of the screenshot. For example, a screenshot of an article taken from a website will elicit (reflect) an icon associated with the website, and the icon will include a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the article or an article address. The present disclosure also allows a user to add a prompt or text to the captured screenshot and may then access based on clicking on the floating icon of the screenshot. The present disclosure displays a plurality of screen shots and associated floating icons in a gallery in a scaled down tiled view. The floating icon may be clicked directly without opening a particular screenshot. The present disclosure also allows a user to create a shortcut icon on the device's home screen for the captured screenshot with a floating icon to quickly and conveniently navigate to the desired associated content. The present disclosure allows a user to send acquired screenshots to other users by retaining metadata associated with the screenshots or by deleting one or more metadata associated with the screenshots. The metadata may include location information, device information, and the like.

As used herein, a "user equipment," "user equipment," and/or "communication device" may be any electrical, electronic, electromechanical, and computing apparatus or device upon which one or more transceiver units are mounted. The communication device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a notebook computer, a general purpose computer, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant, a tablet computer, a wearable device, or any other computing device capable of implementing features of the present disclosure and apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

As used herein, a "transceiver unit" may include, but is not limited to, a transmitter that transmits data to one or more destinations and a receiver that receives data from one or more sources. Furthermore, the transceiver unit may include any other similar units apparent to those skilled in the art to implement the features of the present disclosure.

As used herein, a "processing unit" or "processor" includes one or more processors. A processor refers to any logic circuitry for processing instructions. The processor may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate array circuits, any other type of integrated circuit, or the like. The processor may perform signal-encoded data processing, input/output processing, and/or any other function that enables a system according to the present disclosure to operate. More specifically, the processor or processing unit is a hardware processor.

As used herein, a "display unit" or "display" includes one or more computing devices for displaying information to a user in accordance with the present disclosure. The display unit may be additional hardware coupled to the electronic device or may be integrated in the electronic device. The display unit may also include, but is not limited to, a CRT display, an LED display, an ELD display, a PDP display, an LCD display, an OLED display, and the like.

As used herein, "storage unit" refers to a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium, including any mechanism for storing information in a computer or similar machine-readable form. For example, computer-readable media include read-only memory ("ROM"), random-access memory ("RAM"), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, or other types of machine-accessible storage media.

The present disclosure will be explained in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates a system [100] for displaying a screen shot with floating icons, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, the system [100] comprises at least one transceiver unit [102], at least one processing unit [104], at least one display unit [106] and at least one storage unit [108]. All parts are considered to be connected to each other unless otherwise indicated below. Furthermore, in fig. 1, only one transceiver unit [102], one processing unit [104], one display unit [106] and one display unit [106] are shown. However, the system [100] may include a plurality of such units and modules, or the system may include any number of such units and modules as required to implement the features of the present disclosure. Furthermore, there may be one or more sub-units of the units and modules of the system [100], and these are not shown in fig. 1 for clarity.

The system [100] includes a transceiver unit [102]. The transceiver unit [102] is configured to receive an input configured to capture a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen. As used herein, a "screenshot" refers to an image created by copying the available data of the screen at a particular moment in time. For example, if the user finds some relevant information on the internet while browsing, the screen shots help the user save a duplicate image of that information without having to manually record the information, and the screen shots can be viewed at any time the user needs. The input configured to capture a screenshot is one of gesture-based input, voice-based input, touch-based input, keyboard-based input. In one example, a user may slide two or three fingers on the screen to capture a screenshot. In some embodiments, the user may use a voice command such as "get screenshot" to collect the screenshot. In yet another example, the user may double click on the screen to capture a screenshot. Further, input may be received to capture one of a full screen shot, a partial screen shot, a selective screen shot, a custom screen shot, an extended screen shot. Full screen shots may refer to capturing an entire portion of a screen. Partial screenshots may refer to taking screenshots at defined scales or taking screenshots of fixed portions. The selective screen shots may refer to the collection of selected screens. Custom screenshots may refer to capturing screenshots in custom shapes such as star, circle, and the like. An extended screenshot may refer to the collection of an extended portion of a screen. In one example, a user may only take a screenshot of a particular notification of a plurality of notifications (notifications) to obtain more details of the desired content.

The system [100] comprises a processing unit [104]. The processing unit [104] is connected to the transceiver unit [102 ]. The processing unit [104] communicates with the transceiver unit [102] to obtain details of the requested screen shots. The processing unit [104] is further in communication with the transceiver unit [102] to collect in real-time a data set associated with the screen shots. The data set includes, but is not limited to, metadata of the screen shot, location of the screen shot, path of the screen shot, source of the screen shot, URL address associated with the screen shot, resolution of the screen shot, date and time of the screen shot, size of the screen shot, location coordinates, device information, information of the device owner.

The processing unit [104] is then configured to, in response to an input configured to collect a screenshot, collect the screenshot and the dataset. The data set associated with the screen shots is stored in a storage unit [108] for further analysis and for generating floating icons for the acquired screen shots. Thus, the processing unit [104] analyzes the data set associated with the screen shots to generate floating icons for the acquired screen shots. In a non-limiting embodiment, the data set is analyzed to determine the source of the screenshot and to obtain an address link, i.e., the URL of the screenshot, from the screenshot. The processing unit [104] uses metadata such as address/URL/destination of the screen shot to generate a floating icon. For example, if a screenshot is collected from a social networking application, the processing unit [104] will analyze the metadata of the screenshot and identify the social networking application as the source of the screenshot based on the URL address of the screenshot. Thus, based on the analysis of the dataset, the processing unit will generate a floating icon associated with the social networking application for collecting the screen shots. Thus, the processing unit [104] generates a floating icon for the screen shot based on the source and type of the screen shot, and embeds/inserts a link of the source of the screen shot into the generated floating icon. The processing unit [104] is further configured to generate a floating icon for a screenshot taken from an online medium (e.g., a website) or for a screenshot taken offline (e.g., a setup feature). In one example, a screenshot taken of a web page will have a floating icon of the 'web page' type, while a screenshot taken of a brightness setting feature will have a floating icon associated with the icon for controlling the brightness of the screen.

The processing unit [104] is further configured to generate a floating icon specific to the partial screen shot. For example, in a partial screenshot, the processing unit [104] collects metadata specific to the portion that is covered underneath by the partial screenshot. For example, the user may only partially screen shot an incoming message in the device notification panel. For example, receiving a short message SMS from a contact called "user B" and then clicking on the floating icon of the screenshot, user B will be brought directly to the detailed (reading) screen of the message/SMS. Furthermore, in the case of partial screen shots, the processing unit selects the view group (view group) that is overlaid in a particular partial screen shot, and will trigger a callback method on the notification view. The notification view may define the method and return the purpose associated with the partial screenshot. The data returned from the callback method will be saved as metadata with the screenshot image. The metadata may be used to generate a floating icon specific to the source of the partial screenshot and the floating picture navigates the user directly to the source of the partial screenshot. For example, where a screenshot of a message is taken from a notification panel, the user is navigated to the messaging application.

In the event that the acquired screen shots contain content from various sources, the processing unit [104] is further configured to add a plurality of floating icons to the acquired screen shots. For example, a full screen screenshot of a notification panel taken by a user has notifications from multiple applications. In this case, the processing unit [104] may generate a floating icon based on a portion of the notification. For example, a notification icon will be generated for the portion having the largest area in the notification panel. Alternatively, the processing unit [104] may generate a floating icon for each notification displayed in the acquired screen shots, and the user may then tap the desired floating icon accordingly.

The system [100] comprises a display unit [106]. The display unit [106] is connected to the processing unit [104]. The display unit [106] is configured to display screen shots and floating icons to a user. The floating icon facilitates navigation of the user to the source of the screenshot in response to a tap or click on the floating icon. As used herein, a "floating icon" represents and includes a link to the source of the screenshot, and tapping the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot. The floating icon also helps the user understand the environment to which the user is to navigate after clicking on the floating icon. Further, floating icons are generated for both online and offline sources of screen shots. For example, the processing unit [104] assists the user in collecting instances online (e.g., website links) and offline (device applications/navigation/micro links). For example, a user may take a screenshot in a device settings > display > color mode, and then tapping on a floating icon of the screenshot of the color mode will directly cause the user to enter the color mode screen setting option (i.e., in the device display settings).

The display unit [106] is further configured to display each of the plurality of acquired screenshots in a scaled-down tiled view in the gallery to allow a user to quickly navigate to the source of the selected screenshot simply by clicking on the corresponding floating icon even without opening the particular screenshot. In addition, multiple screen shots are displayed in a grid view along with a floating picture to quickly invoke the background of the screen shot. In a non-limiting embodiment, each of the plurality of screenshots is divided into two portions, a lower portion and an upper portion. The lower portion of the screen shot includes a floating icon to navigate the user to the source of the screen shot. Clicking on the upper portion of the screen shot opens the screen shot further in full screen mode to read its content without navigating to the source of the content/screen shot. Further, the location of the floating icon may vary or may be defined by the user according to the user's requirements. After displaying the screen shots with the floating icons, the user may perform a variety of tasks such as, but not limited to: adding a prompt to the screenshot; a shortcut to the screenshot can be added on the home screen; one or more metadata associated with the screen shot may be deleted for security reasons and the screen shot shared with other users.

The processing unit [104] is further configured to create a shortcut icon or a thumbnail icon for the acquired screenshot with the floating icon on the home screen page based on the user's requirements. First, based on the metadata of the screen shot and on the floating icon generated for the screen shot, the processing unit [104] determines the start icon (launcher icon) of the screen shot. The processing unit [104] then adds the determined launch icon of the screenshot to the device's home screen. The start icon uses a visual reference of the screen shot in the background, while the representative icon is at the forefront, so that the user has a simple knowledge of the background. For example, the user needs to pay for the Dish TV every month, so the user can collect a screenshot of the mail with details of Dish TV (e.g., customer identification, reference identification, serial number) and then can add a shortcut to the screenshot on the home screen to directly access the detailed information of Dish TV to simplify the recharging process.

The processing unit [104] is further configured to insert one or more prompts or any text on the captured screen shots in response to user input for adding prompts, any text. For example, the user may add login credentials to a screenshot of a network banking account. This will help the user perform a quick login on the internet bank without searching for login credentials from a different source. Further, the user may add a prompt to a screenshot of the credit card payment link to obtain a due date reminder and perform the payment by navigating directly to the payment gateway before the due date.

The processing unit [104] is further configured to display one or more privacy options to the user to retain at least some data from the dataset or to selectively delete at least some data from the dataset while sharing the acquired screen shots. The processing unit [104] is configured to display a list of metadata to a user and to receive input from the user regarding deletion of one or more metadata from the list of metadata while sharing the acquired screenshot. For example, when sharing a screenshot with other users, the user may delete device information, location information from the metadata of the screenshot, and may also add a password to the acquired screenshot to enhance the security and privacy of the screenshot.

The system [100] includes a storage unit [108]. The storage unit [108] is configured to store the screen shots and the data sets associated with the screen shots in real time. Further, the storage unit [108] is configured to store data required to implement the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 shows an exemplary method flow diagram [200] of a method for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon. As shown in FIG. 2, the method begins at step [202 ]. At step [204], the method includes receiving, at the transceiver unit [102], an input configured to capture a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen. The input configured to capture a screenshot is one of gesture-based input, voice-based input, touch-based input, keyboard-based input. The input is received to capture one of a full screen shot, a partial screen shot, a selective screen shot, a custom screen shot, an extended screen shot.

Next, at step [206], the method includes collecting, by the processing unit [104] in real-time, a dataset associated with the screenshot. The data set includes, but is not limited to, metadata of the screen shot, location of the screen shot, path of the screen shot, source of the screen shot, URL address associated with the screen shot, resolution of the screen shot, date and time of the screen shot, size of the screen shot, location coordinates, and device information.

Next, at step [208], the method includes, by the processing unit [104], collecting a screenshot and a dataset in response to an input configured to collect the screenshot. Next, at step [210], the method includes analyzing, by the processing unit [104], a dataset associated with the screenshot to generate a floating icon for the acquired screenshot. Next, at step [212], the method includes displaying, via the display unit [106], a screenshot and a floating icon to the user. Responsive to a tap or click on the floating icon, the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot. The floating icon represents and includes a source link to the screen shot and tapping the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screen shot. Floating icons are generated for the online source and offline source of the screen shots. In addition, the screen shots are displayed in a gallery along with the floating icons in a scaled down tiled view to quickly navigate the user to the source of the screen shots.

The method further comprises the steps of: a shortcut/launch icon is created by the processing unit [104] for the acquired screenshot with the floating icon on the home screen page based on the user's interests. The method further comprises the steps of: a list of metadata from the dataset is displayed to the user by a display unit [106] for receiving user input regarding selection of one or more metadata from the list of metadata and for deleting the selected metadata from the acquired screen shots for security reasons. Based on the request, the method allows for creating a copy of the screenshot after deleting the selected metadata for sharing with other users. The method further comprises the steps of: one or more prompts or any text are inserted into the captured screen shots by the processing unit [104] in response to user input or request to add the prompts or any text. The method further comprises the steps of: the screen shots are stored in real time by the storage unit [108] and the data sets associated with the screen shots. After storing and displaying the screen shots along with the floating icons, the method terminates at step [214 ].

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary user interface schematic [300] depicting a scenario in which a screen shot with a floating icon is displayed, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The user interface schematic [300] includes a first user interface [302], a second user interface [304], a third user interface [306], and a fourth user interface [308]. The first user interface [302] depicts a home screen page with a gallery/photo application installed to view various albums, such as camera photos, favorite photos, all photos, screenshots, and the like. After clicking on the photo application on the home screen, the system displays a second user interface 304. The second user interface [304] displays various options associated with, for example, all photos, camera photos, favorite photos, screen shots, screen shots+ (screen+), and the like. Further, after clicking on the screen shot + option (as an example), the system displays a third user interface [306]. A third user interface [306] displays various screen shots taken by the user. The third user interface represents a plurality of screen shots saved or stored in a screen shot + folder. The third user interface [306] depicts that each screenshot is displayed on a reduced "full page" view within the screenshot+album. This makes it very easy for the user to view the images (screen shots) seamlessly, as the user may not necessarily need to open each screen shot, but rather browse the tiled grid view, recall the background (visual awareness is easy), and revisit the articles on the network with one simple tap (on the grid view or on a single full screen view). As shown in the third user interface schematic [306], each screenshot has a complete reduced image with a corresponding floating icon at the bottom of the screenshot. As also shown in the fourth user interface diagram [308], after clicking on the floating icon, the user may navigate directly to the source of the screenshot. A fourth user interface schematic [308] represents a view of a web site page from which a screenshot was taken. For example, a fourth user interface diagram [308] represents an article on a website, a screenshot of which the user previously collected. Thus, clicking on the float icon will navigate the user to the actual address of the screenshot, while clicking on any area other than the float icon will display the user a complete view of the screenshot. In addition, the floating icon changes according to the context and metadata of the screenshot, which indirectly helps the user to know the source of the screenshot. For example, in the case of a screenshot of an article taken from any website, the floating icon may be a web-based icon. For example, where a screenshot is taken from any application, the floating icon may be an application-based icon. For example, where a screenshot is taken from any installation feature of the device, the floating icon may be an icon representing a telephone setting.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary method flow diagram [400] for generating and displaying floating icons for screen shots, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In the present invention, the method starts at step 402. At step 402, it is checked whether metadata of the requested screenshot exists. Based on the user's input, a request to collect a screenshot is received from the user. For example, a user finds an article on a website and has no time to read the article, so the user sends a request to collect a screenshot of the article by using gesture-based input in order to read the article later. After receiving input for a screenshot, the method performs another step to collect associated metadata by checking whether the requested screenshot exists for various types of metadata. Thus, at step 404, the method determines whether metadata associated with the address or URL of the content is found. If the desired metadata is not found, the method proceeds to step 406. At step 406, a screenshot is taken and displayed to the user without a floating icon. If the required metadata is found, the method proceeds to step 408. At step 408, a screenshot is acquired and a floating icon is generated for the acquired screenshot based on the category of metadata. For example, floating icons for online and offline content are generated based on the type of URL present in the metadata of the screen shot. Next, at step 410, the method displays a screen shot to the user along with the generated floating icon. Thereafter, at step 412, the user navigates directly to the (online or offline) source of the screenshot based on clicking or tapping on the floating icon of the screenshot. For example, a web-based floating icon navigates the user to the actual address of the content from which the screenshot was taken.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method flowchart [500] for creating a shortcut to a screenshot on a home screen page in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In this disclosure, the method begins at step 502. At step 502, it is checked whether metadata of the requested screenshot exists. Based on the user's input, a request to collect a screenshot is received from the user. For example, a user finds an article on a website and has no time to read the article, so the user sends a request to collect a screenshot of the article by using gesture-based input in order to read the article later. After receiving input of a screenshot, the method performs another step to collect associated metadata by checking whether various types of metadata are present in the requested screenshot. Thus, at step 504, the method determines whether metadata associated with the address or URL of the content is found. If the desired metadata is not found, the method proceeds to step 506. At step 506, a screenshot is taken and displayed to the user without a floating icon. If the required metadata is found, the method proceeds to step 508. At step 508, a screenshot is acquired and a floating icon is generated for the acquired screenshot based on the category of metadata. For example, floating icons for online and offline content are generated based on the type of URL present in the metadata of the screen shot. Next, at step 510, the method displays a screen shot to the user along with the generated floating icon. Thereafter, at step 512, the method receives a user request to create a shortcut icon for the captured screenshot. In one embodiment, the user may send a request requesting that a shortcut icon be created for at least a portion of the acquired screenshot. After receiving the request for the shortcut icon, the method proceeds to step 514. At step 514, the method performs a determination of the appropriate and relevant start icon for the acquired screenshot based on metadata of the screenshot and/or based on the floating icon of the generated screenshot. After determining the launch icon for the screenshot, the method proceeds to step 516 to add the determined launch icon on the home screen of the user device in order to quickly and easily navigate to the source of the screenshot.

In one example, a user captures a screenshot of an SMS received from another user. Here, based on a user request for a shortcut icon for the acquired screenshot, the system adds a launch icon on the home screen for the acquired screenshot. The start icon displays the image of the other user in the background (backdrop) and the SMS icon is displayed at the forefront. So that the user can easily recognize the background at any time by just looking at the start icon of the screenshot visible on the home screen. Upon clicking on the start icon, the system will bring the user to the exact message thread so that the user can easily locate a particular message from among the pieces of information received from another user.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method flow diagram [600] for deleting selected metadata when sharing a screenshot with other users, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In this disclosure, the method begins at step 602. At step 602, it is checked whether metadata of the requested screenshot exists. Based on the user's input, a request to collect a screenshot is received from the user. For example, a user finds an article on a website and has no time to read the article, so the user sends a request to collect a screenshot of the article by using gesture-based input in order to read the article later. After receiving input of a screenshot, the method performs another step to collect associated metadata by checking whether various types of metadata are present in the requested screenshot. Thus, at step 604, the method determines whether metadata associated with the address or URL of the content is found. If the desired metadata is not found, the method proceeds to step 606. At step 606, a screenshot is taken and displayed to the user without a floating icon. If the required metadata is found, the method proceeds to step 608. At step 608, a screenshot is acquired and a floating icon is generated for the acquired screenshot based on the category of metadata. For example, floating icons for online and offline content are generated based on the type of URL present in the metadata of the screen shot. Next, at step 610, the method displays a screen shot to the user along with the generated floating icon. Thereafter, at step 612, the method receives a request from the user to share the acquired screenshot. Based on the user's request to share the acquired screen shots, the method proceeds to step 614. At step 614, the method displays a list of metadata from the dataset associated with the acquired screenshot. In one example, the metadata list includes device information, location information, device owner information, image information, and the like.

Next, at step 616, the method receives user input regarding selection of one or more metadata from the metadata list in order to delete the selected metadata. In one embodiment, a user may either select one or more metadata from the list for deletion of the selected metadata or may share the screen shot with other users while retaining all metadata associated with the screen shot. In addition, the method allows the user to select an option to add a password to the acquired screen shot in order to enhance the privacy of the screen shot. Next, at step 618, the method creates a copy of the captured screenshot after deleting the selected metadata and adding a password (key) to the screenshot to secure. Thereafter, at step 620, copies of the acquired screen shots and the restricted metadata are shared based on the user's request to share the acquired screen shots with other users.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary method flowchart [700] for inserting cues to acquired screenshots in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. In the present invention, the method starts at step 702. At step 702, it is checked whether metadata of the requested screenshot exists. Based on the user's input, a request to collect a screenshot is received from the user. For example, a user finds an article on a website and has no time to read the article, so the user sends a request to collect a screenshot of the article by using gesture-based input in order to read the article later. After receiving input of a screenshot, the method performs another step to collect associated metadata by checking whether various types of metadata are present in the requested screenshot. Thus, at step 704, the method determines whether metadata associated with the address or URL of the content is found. If the desired metadata is not found, the method proceeds to step 706. At step 706, a screenshot is taken and displayed to the user without a floating icon. If the required metadata is found, the method proceeds to step 708. At step 708, a screenshot is acquired and a floating icon is generated for the acquired screenshot based on the category of metadata. For example, floating icons for online and offline content are generated based on the type of URL present in the metadata of the screen shot. Next, at step 710, the method displays the screen shot and the generated floating icon to the user. Thereafter, at step 712, the method receives a request from the user to add a prompt to the acquired screenshot. For example, a user may wish to add a prompt or text to the acquired screenshot to receive a prompt at the date and time mentioned to perform a pending task. Next, at step 714, the method adds a prompt to the captured screenshot based on the request and based on information provided by the user, such as date, time, notes/text. Thereafter, at step 716, the method alerts the user (e.g., at a defined date/time) as to the reminder, and also navigates the user to the source of the screenshot when the corresponding floating icon of the acquired screenshot is tapped.

In one example, the user may easily create a reminder, add text to the captured screen shots to aid in doing daily tasks, e.g., the user may take a screen shot of an SMS incoming from a credit card/post-pay phone bill, and add a reminder specific to the amount and last date. The prompt alerts the user accordingly, and tapping the floating icon directly navigates the user to a particular SMS that may have been lost in the inbox. Similarly, hints may be added for various tasks. Such as attending a network seminar, purchasing groceries, etc., which makes the user's life easier.

Further, one or more aspects of the present disclosure relate to a user equipment for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon. The user equipment comprises a system [100]. The system is configured to receive an input configured to capture a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen. Next, the system is configured to collect, in real-time, a dataset associated with the screenshot. Next, the system is configured to collect the screen shot and the dataset in response to an input configured to collect the screen shot. Next, the system is configured to analyze the data set associated with the screen shots to generate floating icons for the acquired screen shots. Thereafter, the system is configured to display the screen shot to the user along with the floating icon. The floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot in response to a tap or click on the floating icon.

While emphasis has been placed herein on the disclosed embodiments to a great extent, it should be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other variations of embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is to be understood that the foregoing description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive.

Claims (21)

1. A method of displaying a screenshot with a floating icon, the method comprising:

-receiving an input at the transceiver unit [102], the input being configured to acquire a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen;

-collecting, by a processing unit [104] in real time, a dataset associated with the screenshot;

-in response to the input configured to acquire the screenshot, acquiring the screenshot and the dataset by the processing unit [104 ];

-analyzing, by the processing unit [104], the dataset associated with the screenshot to generate a floating icon for the screenshot; and

-displaying the screen shot and the floating icon for a user by means of a display unit [106 ]; wherein, in response to tapping or clicking on the floating icon, the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the input configured to capture the screenshot is one of a gesture-based input, a voice-based input, a touch-based input, a keyboard-based input.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the input is received to capture one of a full screen shot, a partial screen shot, a selective screen shot, a custom screen shot, an extended screen shot.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dataset comprises metadata of the screen shot, a location of the screen shot, a path of the screen shot, a source of the screen shot, a URL address associated with the screen shot, a resolution of the screen shot, a date and time of the screen shot, a size of the screen shot, location coordinates, device information, device owner information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the floating icon represents a source of the screenshot and the floating icon includes a source link of the screenshot, wherein the floating icon is generated for both an online or offline source of the screenshot.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

the screen shots and the data sets associated with the screen shots are stored in real time by a storage unit [108 ].

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the screen shot and the floating icon are displayed in a scaled down tiled view to quickly navigate the user to a source of the screen shot.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a shortcut icon for the acquired screenshot is created on the home screen page based on the user request by the processing unit [104 ].

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a list of metadata from the dataset is displayed to the user by the display unit [106] to retain at least some metadata from the list of metadata or to selectively delete at least some metadata from the list of metadata when sharing the acquired screen shots.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

one or more prompts or any text are added to the captured screenshot by the processing unit [104] in response to the user adding the prompts or any text input.

11. A system [100] for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon, the system [100] comprising:

-a transceiver unit [102], wherein the transceiver unit [102] is configured to accept an input configured to acquire a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen;

-a processing unit [104], wherein the processing unit [104] is connected with the transceiver unit [102], the processing unit being configured to:

the data sets associated with the screen shots are collected in real-time,

responsive to an input configured to collect the screenshot, collecting the screenshot and the dataset, analyzing the dataset associated with the screenshot to generate the floating icon for the collected screenshot; and

-a display unit [106], wherein the display unit [106] is connected with the transceiver unit [102] and the processing unit [104], the display unit [106] being configured to display the screen shots and the floating icons to the user; in response to a tap or click on the floating icon, the floating icon navigates the user to the source of the screenshot.

12. The system [100] of claim 11, wherein the input configured to capture the screenshot is one of gesture-based input, voice-based input, touch-based input, keyboard-based input.

13. The system [100] of claim 11, wherein the input is received to capture one of a full screen screenshot, a partial screenshot, a selective screenshot, a custom screenshot, an extended screenshot.

14. The system [100] of claim 11, wherein the dataset comprises metadata of the screen shot, a location of the screen shot, a path of the screen shot, a source of the screen shot, a URL address associated with the screen shot, a resolution of the screen shot, a date and time of the screen shot, a size of the screen shot, location coordinates, device information, device owner information.

15. The system [100] of claim 11, wherein the floating icon represents a source of the screenshot and the floating icon comprises a source link of the screenshot, wherein the floating icon is generated for both an online or offline source of the screenshot.

16. The system [100] according to claim 11, further comprising a storage unit [108], the storage unit [108] being connected to the transceiver unit [102], the processing unit [104] and the display unit [106], wherein the storage unit [108] is configured to store the screen shots and data sets associated with the screen shots in real time.

17. The system [100] of claim 11, wherein the screen shot and the floating icon are displayed in a scaled-down tile view to quickly navigate the user to a source of the screen shot.

18. The system [100] according to claim 11, wherein said processing unit [104] is configured to create a shortcut icon for the acquired screenshot on said home screen page based on said user request.

19. The system [100] according to claim 11, wherein the display unit [106] is configured to display a list of metadata from the dataset for the user to retain at least some metadata from the list of metadata or to selectively delete at least some metadata from the list of metadata when sharing the acquired screen shots.

20. The system [100] according to claim 11, wherein the processing unit [104] is configured to add one or more cues or any text to the captured screenshot in response to input of the user add cues or any text.

21. A user equipment for displaying a screenshot with a floating icon, the user equipment comprising:

System [100], configured to:

-receiving an input configured to acquire a screenshot of image data displayed on a screen;

-collecting in real time a dataset associated with the screenshot;

-acquiring the screenshot and the dataset in response to an input configured to acquire the screenshot;

-analyzing a dataset associated with the screenshot in order to generate the floating icon for the screenshot; and

-displaying the screen shot and the floating icon for the user; wherein, in response to a tap or click on a floating icon, the floating icon navigates the user to a source of the screenshot.