DISPLAYING THUMBNAIL COPIES OF RUNNING ITEMS

• US 20090193364A1
• Filed: 01/29/2008
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: ANDERSON, BRET P., SAREEN, CHAITANYA DEV, HOEFNAGELS, STEPHAN, JARRETT, ROBERT J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,490,019 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/838
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34

Abstract

Methods, user interfaces, and computer-readable media for displaying thumbnail copies of running items for a particular running application on a display are provided. The displayed thumbnail copies are interactive, and provide the user with an easy and efficient way to identify and manage multiple items, such as windows, that are concurrently running. The thumbnail copies are either snapshots or real-time displays of the corresponding running items, depending on whether the running item is minimized or maximized at the time the thumbnail copies are displayed. The user interacts with the thumbnail copies by choosing to either close a particular running item by selecting the closing icon on the corresponding thumbnail copy, or view a particular running item on the display by selecting the corresponding thumbnail in any location other than the closing icon.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying a thumbnail copy of each running item for a particular running application on a display, the method comprising:

presenting at least one icon representing a running application, wherein there are at least two running items associated with the running application;

receiving a user selection of one of the at least one icons; and

in response to the user selection, simultaneously presenting a thumbnail copy of each running item for the particular running application.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the thumbnail copy of each running item for the particular running application is located on a bottom portion of the display.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a closing icon on each thumbnail copy in response to receiving a user selection of one of the at least one icons.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a closing icon on one of the thumbnail copies in response to user selection of that thumbnail copy.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving user selection of the closing icon on the corresponding thumbnail copy to close one of the running items.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

closing the running item in response to user selection of the closing icon on the corresponding thumbnail copy.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of one of the thumbnail copies.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein in response to receiving the user selection of one of the thumbnail copies, presenting the running item corresponding to the selected thumbnail copy.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a thumbnail copy as a snapshot of the corresponding running item if the corresponding running item is minimized.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a thumbnail copy as a real-time display of the corresponding running item if the corresponding running item is maximized.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting the thumbnail copy of each running item for the particular running application comprises presenting the thumbnail copies in order from the corresponding running item open at an earliest time, to the corresponding running item open at a latest time.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting the thumbnail copy of each running item for the particular running application comprises scaling the size of each thumbnail copy based on the quantity of running items associated with the particular running application.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting the thumbnail copy of each running item for the particular running application comprises presenting only a sub-group of the thumbnail copies.

14. A user interface embodied on one or more computer-storage media, the user interface for displaying a thumbnail copy of each running item for a particular running application on a display, the user interface comprising:

an icon list area that displays at least one icon representing a running application, the running application having at least two running items associated therewith; and

a thumbnail display area that displays thumbnail copies of each running item for a particular running application simultaneously.

15. The user interface of claim 14, wherein the icon list area displays one icon for each running application.

16. The user interface of claim 14, wherein the icon list area is a toolbar.

17. The user interface of claim 15, wherein one of the icons representing a running application in the icon list area is highlighted in response to a user selection of that particular icon.

18. The user interface of claim 14, wherein one of the thumbnail copies in the thumbnail display area is highlighted in response to user selection of that particular thumbnail copy.

19. The user interface of claim 18, wherein the thumbnail copy that is highlighted displays a closing icon in response to user selection of that particular thumbnail copy.

20. One or more computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for displaying a thumbnail copy of each running item for a particular running application on a display, the method comprising:

presenting at least one icon representing a running application, wherein there are at least two running items associated with the running application;

receiving a user selection of one of the at least one icons;

in response to the user selection, presenting a thumbnail copy of each running item for the particular running application;

presenting a closing icon on the thumbnail copy;

receiving a user selection of the closing icon; and

in response to the user selection of the closing icon, closing the corresponding running item.