CONTROLLING DISPLAY OF A PLURALITY OF WINDOWS

• US 20070192733A1
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Horiuchi, Yoshio
• Granted Patent: US 8,984,437 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/788
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor

Abstract

A control method for controlling display on a display apparatus displaying a plurality of windows in an overlapping manner comprises detecting that contents to be displayed on at least one of the plurality of windows are updated, and displaying an update notification including information identifying a window having the updated display contents on an update notification window provided common to the plurality of windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents.

Claims

1. A control apparatus for controlling display on a display apparatus displaying a plurality of windows in an overlapping manner, comprising:

a detection unit for detecting that contents to be displayed on at least one of the plurality of windows are updated; and

an update notification unit for displaying an update notification including information identifying a window having updated display contents on an update notification window provided common to the plurality of windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents by the detection unit.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a displaying unit for displaying the update notification window on the display apparatus such that the update notification window is not hidden by the plurality of windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents by the detection unit;

wherein the update notification unit displays the update notification on the update notification window displayed by the displaying unit.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the displaying unit does not display the update notification window on condition that display contents of a topmost window among the plurality of windows are updated;

and

the displaying unit displays the update notification window on condition that display contents of any of the plurality of windows other than the topmost window are updated.

4. The control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the displaying unit displays the update notification window in a position where the update notification window does not overlap with the topmost window among the plurality of windows on condition that display contents of the topmost window are updated;

and

the displaying unit displays the update notification window above the plurality of windows on conditions that display contents of any of the plurality of windows other than the topmost window are updated.

5. The control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the displaying unit displays the update notification window in a display position on the display apparatus determined based on the combination of windows where updates of the display contents are detected.

6. The control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the display apparatus displays a plurality of first windows overlapping with each other and a plurality of second windows overlapping with each other;

and

the displaying unit displays the update notification on a first update notification window provided common to the plurality of first windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents on at leas one of the plurality of first windows, and displays the update notification on a second update notification window provided common to the plurality of second windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents on at least one of the plurality of second windows.

7. The control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein in response to movement of one of the plurality of first windows to a position where the one window overlaps with the plurality of second windows, the displaying unit displays the update notification about the one window on the second update notification window, on condition that display contents of the one window are updated.

8. The control apparatus according to claim 6, wherein in response to movement of one of the plurality of first windows to a position where the one window overlaps with the plurality of second windows, the displaying unit moves the updates notification about the one window displayed on the first update notification window onto the second update notification window.

9. The control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a topmost window setting unit for displaying, in response to selection of one update notification displayed on the update notification window by a user, a window which corresponds to the update notification and has the updated contents as the topmost window among the plurality of windows.

10. The control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the displaying unit displays, in response to a predetermined input made by a user, the update notification window including the already displayed update notification such that the update notification window is not hidden by the plurality of windows.

11. A computer program product for controlling display on a display apparatus displaying a plurality of windows in an overlapping manner comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to detect the contents to be displayed on at least one of the plurality of windows are updated; and

computer usable program code configured to display an update notification including information identifying a window having updated display contents on an update notification window provided common to the plurality of windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising computer usable program code configured to display the update notification window on the display apparatus such that the update notification window is not hidden by the plurality of windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 further comprising computer usable program code configured to not display the update notification window on condition that display contents of a topmost window among the plurality of windows are updated;

and

computer usable program code configured to display the update notification window on condition that display contents of any of the plurality of windows other than the topmost window are updated.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to display the update notification window in a position where the update notification window does not overlap with the topmost window among the plurality of windows on condition that display contents of the topmost window are updated; and

computer usable program code configured to display the update notification window above the plurality of windows on condition that display contents of any of the plurality of windows other than the topmost window are updated.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising computer usable program code configured to display the update notification window in a display position on the display apparatus determined based on the combination of windows where updates of the display contents are detected.

17. A control method for controlling display on a display apparatus displaying a plurality of windows in an overlapping manner, comprising:

detecting that contents to be displayed on at least one of the plurality of windows are updated; and

displaying an update notification including information identifying a window having the updated display contents on an update notification window provided common to the plurality of windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising displaying the update notification window on the display apparatus such that the update notification window is not hidden by the plurality of windows, in response to the detection of an update of the display contents.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising not displaying the update notification window on condition that display contents of a topmost window among the plurality of windows are updated;

and

displaying the update notification window on condition that display contents of any of the plurality of windows other than the topmost window are updated.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

displaying the update notification window in a position where the update notification window does not overlap with the topmost window among the plurality of windows on condition that display contents of the topmost window are updated; and

displaying the update notification window above the plurality of windows on condition that display contents of any of the plurality of windows other than the topmost window are updated.