US 12,079,294 B2
Navigation tab control organization and management for web browsers
William J. Devereux, Redmond, WA (US); Jerin R. Schneider, Seattle, WA (US); Olga Veselova, Redmond, WA (US); Patrick Evan Little, Redmond, WA (US); Warren C. Stevens, Redmond, WA (US); Darryl J. Brown, Seattle, WA (US); Michael H. Catbagan, Portland, OR (US); Aaron M. Butcher, Redmond, WA (US); and Daniel J. Krenn, Seattle, WA (US)
Assigned to MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed by Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed on Nov. 21, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/057,479.
Application 18/057,479 is a continuation of application No. 17/028,737, filed on Sep. 22, 2020, granted, now 11,531,719.
Prior Publication US 2023/0083527 A1, Mar. 16, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 3/0482 (2013.01); G06F 3/0483 (2013.01); G06F 16/954 (2019.01); G06F 3/0485 (2022.01)
CPC G06F 16/954 (2019.01) [G06F 3/0482 (2013.01); G06F 3/0483 (2013.01); G06F 3/0485 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for managing a graphical user interface (GUI) of a web browser, the method comprising:
displaying in the GUI a vertical tab strip comprising one or more navigation tab controls arranged in a vertical column, each navigation tab control of the one or more navigation tab controls enabling access to a corresponding one of a set of webpages via the GUI;
detecting a user hover interaction with the vertical tab strip while the vertical tab strip is displayed in a collapsed state;
in response to not detecting a user selection interaction with any of the one or more navigation tab controls during a first time period after the detection of the user hover interaction, displaying an animation of the vertical tab strip expanding to an expanded state during a second time period that follows the first time period while the user hover interaction is continued and wherein the second time period precedes a third time period in which the vertical tab strip is displayed in the expanded state;
in response to detecting a user selection interaction with a particular one of the one or more navigation tab controls during the second time period:
displaying an animation of the vertical tab strip collapsing to the collapsed state and then continuing to display the vertical tab strip in the collapsed state;
navigating to a webpage of the set of webpages associated with the particular navigation tab control; and
displaying contents of the webpage associated with the particular navigation tab control within a webpage content window of the GUI.