Multi-display control

• US 10,048,827 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2014
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Z124 LLC (Flexis)
• Original Assignee: Z124 LLC (Flexis)
• Inventors: Gimpl, Martin, de Paz, Alexander, Sirpal, Sanjiv
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kevin M
• Application Number:
  US14/524,938
• Publication Number:
  US 20150046858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,387 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1641 the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components G06F1/1647 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display

Abstract

A dual-screen user device and methods for controlling data displayed thereby are disclosed. Specifically, the data displayed by the multiple screens of the dual-screen user device is conditioned upon the type of user gesture or combination of user gestures detected. The display controls described herein can correlate user inputs received in a gesture capture region to one or more display actions, which may include maximization, minimization, or reformatting instructions.

Claims

1. A method of controlling data displayed by a multi-display device, comprising:

receiving a gesture at a first display of the multi-display device, wherein the gesture includes a movement of a body part or a tool in relation to the multi-display device;

determining that the gesture corresponds to instructions to maximize a display of an application currently being displayed on at least one of the first display or a second display of the multi-display device;

referencing maximization rules for the application to determine whether application data of the application should be displayed in a first output configuration or in a second output configuration, wherein in the first output configuration, a first set of data from the application is displayed via the first display while a second set of data that is not inclusive of the first set of data from the application is displayed via the second display, and in the second output configuration, at least some data from the application is displayed simultaneously by both the first display and the second display; and

based on the maximization rules for the application, causing data from the application to be displayed in accordance with the first output configuration or the second output configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the maximization rules for the application define that the application is to be displayed on all of the first display and on all of the second display when maximized and when the multi-display device is in a landscape state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first output configuration causes the application to be maximized in a configuration such that the first set of data from the application is displayed on the first display and the second set of data from the application is displayed on the second display.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second output configuration causes the application to be maximized in a landscape output configuration such that the first set of data from the application is displayed on both the first display and the second display.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a transition area that progressively fills the second display with data from the application; and

causing the transition area to replace a desktop display that was previously displayed on the second display.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the desktop display that was previously displayed on the second display corresponds to one of a plurality of desktop displays in a desktop display stack and wherein another desktop display in the desktop display stack is assigned to the first display and is covered by the application.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving another gesture that corresponds to instructions to minimize the application displayed on the first and second display of the multi-display device; and

reformatting the application such that the application is displayed on the first display similar to a way in which the application was displayed on the first display prior to receiving the gesture.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture corresponds to at least one of a (i) flick gesture and (ii) drag gesture.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture is received in a gesture capture region that is outside of the first display.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first output configuration is based on the gesture, maximization rules for the application, and an orientation of the multi-display device.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that cause a computing system to execute a method, the instructions comprising:

instructions configured to receive a gesture at a first display of a multi-display device, wherein the gesture includes a movement of a body part or a tool in relation to the multi-display device;

instructions configured to determine that the gesture corresponds to instructions to maximize a display of an application currently being displayed on at least one of the first display or a second display;

instructions configured to reference maximization rules for the application to determine whether application data of the application should be displayed in a first output configuration or in a second output configuration, wherein in the first output configuration, a first set of data from the application is displayed via the first display while a second set of data that is not inclusive of the first set of data from the application is displayed via the second display, and in the second output configuration, at least some data from the application is displayed simultaneously by both the first display and the second display; and

instructions configured to cause data from the application to be displayed in accordance with the first output configuration or the second output configuration based on the maximization rules for the application.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first display corresponds to a primary display and wherein the second display corresponds to a secondary display.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the maximization rules for the application define that the application is to be displayed on all of the first display and on all of the second display when maximized and when the multi-display device is in a landscape state.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first output configuration causes the application to be maximized in a landscape output configuration such that the first set of data from the application is displayed on the first display and the second set of data from the application is displayed on the second display.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the second output configuration causes the application to be maximized in a landscape output configuration such that the first set of data from the application is displayed on both the first display and the second display.

16. A multi-display device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a first display;

a second display; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for execution by the one or more processors that include;

a first set of instructions configured to receive a gesture at a first display of the multi-display device, wherein the gesture includes a movement of a body part or a tool in relation to the multi-display device,

a second set of instructions configured to determine that the gesture corresponds to instructions to maximize a display of an application currently being displayed on at least one of the first display or a second display,

a third set of instructions configured to reference maximization rules for the application to determine whether application data of the application should be displayed in a first output configuration or in a second output configuration, wherein in the first output configuration, a first set of data from the application is displayed via the first display while a second set of data that is not inclusive of the first set of data from the application is displayed via the second display, and in the second output configuration, at least some data from the application is displayed simultaneously by both the first display and the second display, and

a fourth set of instructions configured to cause data from the application to be displayed in accordance with the first output configuration or the second output configuration based on the maximization rules for the application.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the gesture includes at least one of a (i) drag gesture and (ii) flick gesture received at a gesture capture region.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the gesture includes a drag gesture and wherein the application replaces a second desktop that was displayed on the second display prior to receiving the gesture.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the data from the application is displayed on both the first and second display in a landscape max output configuration.

20. The device of claim 16, wherein the data from the application is displayed on both the first and second display in a landscape dual output configuration.