WINDOW DISPLAY MANAGEMENT IN A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

• US 20110283226A1
• Filed: 05/15/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Basson, Sara H., Kanevsky, Dimitri, Pickover, Clifford A., Sainath, Tara N.
• Application Number:
  US12/780,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20110283226A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/794
• 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 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

The present invention provides a computer implemented method and data processing system for effectively presenting popup and related windows on a computer GUI. An example system may include a computer processor coupled to the computer readable memory. The computer processor is configured to receive content of a new window for display in the display screen, perform a text analysis on the content of the new window to determine a relevance of the new window to the user, and determine a display position of the new window on the display screen based on the relevance of the new window to the user and a cursor position in the GUI displaying keyboard input such that the new window is displayed on the display screen at the determined display position.

Claims

1. A method for displaying to a user a graphical user interface on a display screen, the method comprising:

receiving content of a new window for display in the display screen;

performing a text analysis on the content of the new window using a computer processor to determine a relevance of the new window to the user;

automatically determining a display position of the new window on the display screen based on at least the relevance of the new window to the user and a cursor position in the graphical user interface displaying keyboard input; and

displaying the new window on the display screen at the determined display position.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a transparent region in a portion of the new window, the transparent region encompassing the cursor position; and

maintaining the same keyboard focus before and after the new window is displayed.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the relevance of the new window to a relevance of an existing window positioned at least partially at the display position of the new window; and

adjusting the display position of the new window if the relevance of the new window is less than the relevance of the existing window.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing in computer memory a plurality of relevances associated with a respective one of a plurality of display positions; and

wherein determining the display position of the new window includes retrieving the display position associated with the relevance of the new window from the computer memory.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein for at least some of the plurality of relevances, the display position associated with the relevance is based on the user'"'"'s historical positioning of windows with the same relevance.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein for at least some of the plurality of relevances, the display position associated with the relevance is based on the user'"'"'s specified position preference.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a window shape of the new window on the display screen based on the relevance of the new window to the user; and

displaying the new window on the display screen in the determined window shape.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the relevance of the new window to a relevance of an existing window containing the cursor position; and

maintaining cursor position at the existing window if the relevance of the new window is less than the relevance of the existing window.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the text analysis on the content of the new window includes searching the content of the new window for at least one of a person'"'"'s name, an email address, and a keyword.

10. A system for displaying to a user a graphical user interface on a display screen, the system comprising:

computer readable memory; and

a computer processor coupled to the computer readable memory, the computer processor configured to receive content of a new window for display in the display screen, perform a text analysis on the content of the new window to determine a relevance of the new window to the user, and automatically determine a display position of the new window on the display screen based on at least the relevance of the new window to the user and a cursor position in the graphical user interface displaying keyboard input such that the new window is displayed on the display screen at the determined display position.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor is further configured to:

provide a transparent region in a portion of the new window, the transparent region encompassing the cursor position; and

maintain the same keyboard focus before and after the new window is displayed.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor is further configured to:

compare the relevance of the new window to a relevance of an existing window positioned at least partially at the display position of the new window; and

adjust the display position of the new window if the relevance of the new window is less than the relevance of the existing window.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a plurality of relevances associated with a respective one of a plurality of display positions stored in the computer readable memory; and

wherein the computer processor, in determining the display position of the new window, is further configured to retrieve the display position associated with the relevance of the new window from the computer readable memory.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein for at least some of the plurality of relevances, the display position associated with the relevance is based on the user'"'"'s historical positioning of windows with the same relevance.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein for at least some of the plurality of relevances, the display position associated with the relevance is based on the user'"'"'s specified position preference.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor is further configured to:

determine a window shape of the new window on the display screen based on the relevance of the new window to the user; and

displaying the new window on the display screen in the determined window shape.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor is further configured to:

comparing the relevance of the new window to a relevance of an existing window containing the cursor position; and

maintaining the cursor position at the existing window if the relevance of the new window is less than the relevance of the existing window.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor, in performing the text analysis on the content of the new window, is further configured to search the content of the new window for at least one of a person'"'"'s name, an email address, and a keyword.

19. A computer program product for displaying to a user a graphical user interface on a display screen, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to;

receive content of a new window for display in the display screen;

perform a text analysis on the content of the new window using a computer processor to determine a relevance of the new window to the user;

automatically determine a display position of the new window on the display screen based on at least the relevance of the new window to the user and a cursor position in the graphical user interface displaying keyboard input; and

display the new window on the display screen at the determined display position.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising computer readable program code to:

provide a transparent region in a portion of the new window, the transparent region encompassing the cursor position; and

maintain the same keyboard focus before and after the new window is displayed.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising computer readable program code to:

compare the relevance of the new window to a relevance of an existing window positioned at least partially at the display position of the new window; and

adjust the display position of the new window if the relevance of the new window is less than the relevance of the existing window.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising computer readable program code to:

store in computer memory a plurality of relevances associated with a respective one of a plurality of display positions; and

wherein the computer readable program code to determine the display position of the new window includes computer readable program code to retrieve the display position associated with the relevance of the new window from the computer memory.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising computer readable program code to:

determine a window shape of the new window on the display screen based on the relevance of the new window to the user; and

display the new window on the display screen in the determined window shape.

24. A method for displaying to a user a graphical user interface on a display screen, the method comprising:

receiving content of a new window for display in the display screen;

automatically providing a transparent region in a portion of the new window, the transparent region encompassing a cursor position in the graphical user interface displaying keyboard input;

displaying the new window on the display screen; and

maintaining the same keyboard focus before and after the new window is displayed.