Task switching on mobile devices
First Claim
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1. A computing device comprising:
- at least one processor;
a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and including components comprising;
a task switcher configured to obtain information from a data structure, the data structure containing data consisting of a subset of a set of tasks running on the computing device when the task switcher is invoked, the task switcher further configured to use the information to output a representation of each task of the subset of the set of tasks to a user interface, the representation of each task of the subset of the set of tasks comprising at least part of a screenshot corresponding to running that task in which the representation is refreshed while the task switcher is active; and
an interaction mechanism configured to detect user interaction directed towards invoking the task switcher, and when detected, to take action to invoke the task switcher, wherein the interaction mechanism comprises a hardware button, and wherein the interaction mechanism detects the user interaction by detecting a press-and-hold of the hardware button that occurs for at least a fixed threshold duration.
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Abstract
The subject disclosure is directed towards a task switching technology on a computing device such as a Smartphone. An application is comprised of one or more tasks. When a user requests that another task be executed, information about the previously executing task (e.g., including a screenshot) is preserved to a stack. If the user invokes a task switcher program, the user is presented with a view of the stack, e.g., containing the screenshots (and representative text) of the tasks that previously executed. The user may navigate among those presented task representations to arbitrarily select any one, with the selected task resumed upon selection.
112 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A computing device comprising:
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at least one processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and including components comprising; a task switcher configured to obtain information from a data structure, the data structure containing data consisting of a subset of a set of tasks running on the computing device when the task switcher is invoked, the task switcher further configured to use the information to output a representation of each task of the subset of the set of tasks to a user interface, the representation of each task of the subset of the set of tasks comprising at least part of a screenshot corresponding to running that task in which the representation is refreshed while the task switcher is active; and an interaction mechanism configured to detect user interaction directed towards invoking the task switcher, and when detected, to take action to invoke the task switcher, wherein the interaction mechanism comprises a hardware button, and wherein the interaction mechanism detects the user interaction by detecting a press-and-hold of the hardware button that occurs for at least a fixed threshold duration. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. In a computing environment, a method performed at least in part on at least one processor, comprising:
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detecting an invocation of an interactive user interface for navigating a plurality of tasks; maintaining information corresponding to only a subset of the plurality of tasks, at least one task of the subset corresponding to an application program that executed as a foreground application; updating the maintained information to save state data regarding an executing task before running a task of another application to replace the executing task and releasing data of the at least one task from the maintained information to provide memory space to save the state data regarding the executing task; in response to a change in the state data while the interactive user interface is invoked, outputting a representation of the executing task to the interactive user interface in which the representation comprises a screen capture corresponding to a last state of that task; detecting user interaction to select one of the subset of tasks as a selected task; and switching to the selected task by resuming the application in the last state corresponding to the selected task. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. Computer-readable storage hardware having computer-executable instructions, which in response to execution by a computer, cause the computer to perform steps, comprising:
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presenting a view of a stack of task data consisting of executing tasks of applications in time order, in which the view includes visible representation of only a most recent task in the stack; detecting interaction with the view to cause navigation in a forward direction or a backward direction, to a particular task representation; detecting interaction to select as a selected task an executing task corresponding to the particular task representation; and resuming execution of the selected task. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification