Most-Recently-Used Task Switching among Parent and Child Windows
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for task switching among active windows on a graphical user interface (“
- GUI”
) of a computing device, comprising;
determining, for each of a plurality of active windows on the GUI, how recently each of the windows had focus, wherein at least one of the windows is a child window of a parent window;
displaying, responsive to an indication from a user of the computing device, a task selection window comprising a plurality of selectable iconic representations, each of the selectable iconic representations associated with a different one of at least two of the windows, the selectable iconic representations being arranged in the task selection window in an order according to the determined recency of the focus of the associated one of the windows; and
moving a selection indicator, responsive to an action of the user, through the selectable iconic representations in the order of the determined recency of the focus.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Task switching among windows on a graphical user interface. Responsive to user action (such as simultaneously pressing the ALT and TAB keys), a task selection window is displayed in which an iconic representation is provided for a plurality of windows, including at least one child window, and the iconic representations are arranged according to how recently the associated window had focus. Responsive to user action (such as pressing the TAB key while the ALT key remains depressed), a selection indicator moves through the selectable iconic representations in the order of the recency of the focus.
265 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method for task switching among active windows on a graphical user interface (“
- GUI”
) of a computing device, comprising;determining, for each of a plurality of active windows on the GUI, how recently each of the windows had focus, wherein at least one of the windows is a child window of a parent window; displaying, responsive to an indication from a user of the computing device, a task selection window comprising a plurality of selectable iconic representations, each of the selectable iconic representations associated with a different one of at least two of the windows, the selectable iconic representations being arranged in the task selection window in an order according to the determined recency of the focus of the associated one of the windows; and moving a selection indicator, responsive to an action of the user, through the selectable iconic representations in the order of the determined recency of the focus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
- GUI”
-
19. A system for task switching among active windows on a graphical user interface (“
- GUI”
) of a computing device, comprising;a determining module for determining, for each of a plurality of active windows on the GUI, how recently each of the windows had focus, wherein at least one of the windows is a child window of a parent window; a displaying module for displaying, responsive to an indication from a user of the computing device, a task selection window comprising a plurality of selectable iconic representations, each of the selectable iconic representations associated with a different one of at least two of the windows, the selectable iconic representations being arranged in the task selection window in an order according to the determined recency of the focus of the associated one of the windows, wherein the order is from most-recently-used to least-recently-used, with regard to the determined recency of the focus; and a movement module for moving a selection indicator, responsive to an action of the user, through the selectable iconic representations in the order of the determined recency of the focus.
- GUI”
-
20. A computer program product comprising at least one computer useable media, the media embodying computer-usable program code for task switching among active windows on a graphical user interface (“
- GUI”
) of a computing device, wherein the computer-usable program code, when executing on the computing device, causes the computing device to;determine, for each of a plurality of active windows on the GUI, how recently each of the windows had focus, wherein at least one of the windows is a child window of a parent window; display, responsive to an indication from a user of the computing device, a task selection window comprising a plurality of selectable iconic representations, each of the selectable iconic representations associated with a different one of at least two of the windows, the selectable iconic representations being arranged in the task selection window in an order according to the determined recency of the focus of the associated one of the windows; move a selection indicator, responsive to an action of the user, through the selectable iconic representations in the order of the determined recency of the focus; and responsive to a signal from the user after moving the selection indicator to a selected one of the iconic representations, remove the task selection window from the GUI and bring a selected one of the windows to foreground of the GUI and giving the focus to the selected one in the foreground, the selected one of the windows comprising that one of the windows which is associated with the selected one of the iconic representations.
- GUI”
Specification