Full-Screen Heterogeneous Desktop Display and Control

• US 20100050111A1
• Filed: 08/20/2008
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Duffy, Maureen Emily
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,935 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Described herein is a method and apparatus for generating and managing multiple desktops. The desktops can be tied to virtual software environments, remote desktops, separate user account desktops, shared desktops, full screen applications or similar sources. The desktops are managed through a desktop management interface that displays a scale image of each current desktop. The desktops can also be marked by type in the interface. The desktop management system queries a user during start-up for each program to determine whether a new desktop is to be generated for the program. The desktop management system also manages the switching between the available desktops.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

generating a query during a source initialization to obtain desktop data;

generating a new desktop for the source in response to the desktop data; and

assigning the new desktop to a user interface element in a desktop management interface.

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

populating the desktop management interface with executing processes based on configuration data.

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

displaying an overlay for a desktop that provides a description of the desktop.

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

displaying a scaled version of the new desktop through the desktop management interface.

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

retrieving meta-data for a desktop.

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

automatically switching to the new desktop in response to user selection of an element of the desktop management interface.

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

moving the new desktop or source to the desktop management interface using an animation.

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

generating a query window during source initialization to obtain the desktop data.

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

marking desktops in the desktop management interface with an indicator for at least any one of a virtual, a remote or a full screen desktop.

10. A computer readable storage medium, having instructions stored therein, which when executed, cause a computer to perform a set of operations comprising:

generating a query during source initialization to obtain desktop data;

generating a new desktop for the source in response to the desktop data; and

assigning the new desktop to a user interface element in a desktop management interface.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, having further instructions therein, which when executed, cause the computer to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:

populating the desktop management interface with executing processes based on configuration data.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, having further instructions therein, which when executed, cause the computer to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:

displaying an overlay for a desktop that provides a description of the desktop.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, having further instructions therein, which when executed, cause the computer to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:

displaying a scaled version of the new desktop through the desktop management interface.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, having further instructions therein, which when executed, cause the computer to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:

retrieving meta-data for a desktop.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, having further instructions therein, which when executed, cause the computer to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:

automatically switching to the new desktop in response to user selection of an element of the desktop management interface.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, having further instructions therein, which when executed, cause the computer to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:

moving the new desktop or source to the desktop management interface using an animation.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, having further instructions therein, which when executed, cause the computer to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:

generating a query window during source initialization to obtain the desktop data.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, having further instructions therein, which when executed, cause the computer to perform a further set of operations, further comprising:

marking desktops in the desktop management interface with an indicator for at least any one of a virtual, a remote or a full screen desktop.

19. A system comprising:

a processor;

a system memory coupled to the processor; and

a desktop management module coupled to the processor to provide a desktop management interface and generate a new desktop in response to user selection during source initialization.

20. The system of claim 20, wherein the desktop management module interfaces with a remote connection manager to generate a remote desktop.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the desktop management module interfaces with a sharing manager to generate a shared desktop.