WINDOWING AND CONTROLLING SYSTEM THEREOF COMPRISING A COMPUTER DEVICE

• US 20100205560A1
• Filed: 02/24/2010
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Favourite Systems AS
• Inventors: GRITZMAN, Michael, LUNDE, Thorstein, LARSEN, Arve
• Granted Patent: US 8,281,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/800
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/04 Changes in size, position or resolution of an image
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

A method and a program system comprising a plurality of windows displayed as an evolving series of instances of said windows with different sizes is described. The content of said evolving series of instances of window sizes may be changed according to specific rules and a change is performed when a size is equal with at least one predefined reference size for a window. A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a possibility to display and manage a plurality of windows comprising standard input and output windows as well as system indicators on a small computer screen such as used in mobile telephones or Personal Digital Assistants.

Claims

1. A method for windowing and controlling system thereof comprising interactive user interfaces for communication services and computer related applications on a computer device providing user interactions via windows on a display, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

a) using a window for a specific interactive user interface application or service,

b) selecting a starting predefined graphical appearance for the window representing the specific interactive user interface or service from a set of predefined windows of different sizes for windows,

c) linking the selected starting predefined appearance of the window to at least one action related to the specific application of the interactive user interface or service provided for in this window,

d) displaying instances of the selected starting predefined appearance of the window on the display as a series of evolving instances of the window when a user or an interactive user interface application or service using the windowing system initiates the displaying, wherein each respective displayed instance is from the set of predefined windows of different sizes, wherein the first instance in the displayed series comprises the selected starting predefined appearance for the window,

e) continuing with steps a) to d) wherein step a) comprises selecting another window for another specific interactive user interface application or service, and continuing selecting other windows for other specific applications or services that are present in the computer device.

f) windows being displayed in step e) being selected for use by user interactions or processes using the windowing system is kept on the display while the other non selected windows are shrinking in size until they disappear from the display or reach a predefined size, thereby maximizing available space on the display for the windows that has been selected.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of retaining the selected predefined basic shape comprising the predefined graphical appearance of the starting instance of the evolving series of displayed instances throughout all the displayed instances of the window for a specific interactive user application or service.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the evolving series of displayed instances of a window for a specific application or service comprises displaying at least one instance with different shape or graphical appearance, respectively.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of linking the selected starting predefined graphical appearance for a window to a specific interactive user application or service further comprises using at least one parameter determining the graphical appearance of the displayed instances of the window.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the evolving series of displayed instances of a window for a specific application or service comprises three different displayed sizes of the instances, respectively.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the evolving series of displayed instances of a window for a specific application or service comprises two different displayed sizes of the instances, respectively.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the evolving series of instances of a window for a specific application or service may be interrupted by user actions or system actions, thereby causing the interrupted instance of the window to be resized and displayed in a larger predefined size.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the evolving series of instances of a window for a specific application or service may be interrupted by user actions or system actions, thereby causing the interrupted instance of the window to be resized and displayed in a smaller predefined size.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the evolving series of instances of a window for a specific application or service further comprises controlling the displaying according to a parameter defining an importance parameter for the window.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the importance parameter is a number between zero and one, one being the highest importance.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the importance parameter of a window for a specific application or service is used to scale a size of an instance of the window proportional to the value of the importance parameter.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the series of evolving instances comprises displaying at least one graphical image representing a state of a communication service or a computer related application running in the computer device in all the instances of the respective windows for the communication service and the computer related application.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the series of evolving instances of windows further comprises:

providing a parameter indicating a state of an application or a service running in the computer device,

arranging at least one window as a window representing the state of the application or service,

modifying the size of the at least one arranged window, or modifying a location for displaying the at least one arranged window, respectively, on the display in accordance with a value of the parameter indicating the state of the application or service.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

arranging at first window as an user interface to an application or service running in the computer device,

capturing a value in a second window for a parameter related to the application or service in the first window,

dragging and dropping the second window onto the first window thereby transferring the value to the parameter related to the application and service running in the first window via the user interface.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

arranging at least one window as an user interface for an application or service,

reading or mirroring a value for at least one parameter for the application or service via the user interface;

displaying a content comprised in the series of evolving instances for the at least one window, wherein the content is changed as a function of the value of the at least one parameter and the size of the instance of the at least one window being displayed.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a basic geometrical shape and graphical appearance for a window for a specific interactive user application or service is provided for in a remote computer device or system, and then downloaded as needed via a network in communication with the computer device.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving input from an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a stylus or artifact, a soft keyboard in communication with the computer device either directly connected to the computer device, or via a network in communication with the computer device,

transferring the input via a user interface arranged in at least one window for an application or service in the computer device, wherein the window is activated by the application, user interaction with the computer device, or service, or actions in the computer device,

if the recently activated window is not provided for to receive input, provide another new window enabling receiving input,

displaying the input in the activated window.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of receiving input in the activated window comprises activating a parsing application for received text in the activated window.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the activating of the parsing is provided for by dragging and dropping the window receiving the input on to another window comprising the parsing application.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the evolving instances of a window for a specific application or service comprises starting the displaying when touching or stroking a surface of the display with an artifact, or a finger.

21. A computer device comprising a display system providing interactive user communications between users of the computer device and interactive user interface applications and communication services provided for in the computer device, wherein the computer device comprises a memory comprising computer instructions that when executed performs a method according to any claim 1.