Tab Trimming

• US 20130014047A1
• Filed: 07/08/2011
• Published: 01/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Joo, Young Kun, Venkatachalapathy, Vinay Kumar, Olson, Jason R., Oustiougov, Maxim B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,928,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/777
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Various embodiments proactively monitor and efficiently manage resource usage of individual tabs. In at least some embodiments, one or more tabs can be dehydrated in accordance with various operational properties, and rehydrated when a user actually activates a particular tab. In at least some embodiments, rehydration can occur on a tab-by-tab basis, while at least some tabs remain dehydrated. Dehydrated tabs can, in some embodiments, be visually presented to a user in a manner in which normal, active tabs are presented.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

monitoring one or more operational properties associated with multiple tabs;

ascertaining whether at least one dehydration criterion associated with at least one tab has been met; and

responsive to said at least one dehydration criterion being met, dehydrating said at least one tab.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one operational property comprises system resource usage.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one operational property comprises memory usage.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said monitoring comprises monitoring multiple operational properties at least one of which comprising a last time a particular tab was accessed.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one operational property comprises an operational property associated with a tab'"'"'s effect on an associated system as a result of dehydration and subsequent rehydration.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said dehydrating comprises saving state information associated with said at least one tab.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said dehydrating comprises saving state information associated with said at least one tab, and wherein said state information comprises one or more of:

a URL associated with said at least one tab, a travel log associated with said at least one tab, form data, scroll state/position, zoom level, or state of media playback.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said dehydrating comprises saving state information associated with said at least one tab and terminating a process associated with said at least one tab.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising ascertaining whether there has been an attempt to return to a dehydrated tab;

and, responsive to there being an attempt to return to the dehydrated tab, rehydrating the dehydrated tab.

10. One or more computer readable storage media embodying computer readable instructions which, when executed, implement a method comprising:

monitoring multiple operational properties associated with multiple respective tabs;

assigning a rating to individual operational properties that are being monitored;

computing, from individually-rated operational properties, an overall rating for individual tabs;

ascertaining whether a tab'"'"'s overall rating warrants dehydration; and

responsive to a tab'"'"'s overall rating warranting dehydration, dehydrating an associated tab.

11. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 10, wherein at least one operational property comprises system resource usage.

12. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 10, wherein at least one operational property comprises memory usage.

13. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 10, wherein said monitoring comprises monitoring multiple operational properties at least one of which comprising a last time a particular tab was accessed.

14. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 10, wherein said dehydrating comprises saving state information of the associated tab.

15. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 10, wherein said dehydrating comprises saving state information of the associated tab, wherein said state information comprises one or more of:

a URL associated with the associated tab, a travel log associated with the associated tab, form data, scroll state/position, zoom level, or state of media playback.

16. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 10, wherein said dehydrating comprises saving state information of the associated tab and terminating a process of the associated tab.

17. The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 10, further comprising ascertaining whether there has been an attempt to return to a dehydrated tab;

and, responsive to there being an attempt to return to the dehydrated tab, rehydrating the dehydrated tab.

18. A system comprising:

one or more computer readable storage media;

a web browser embodied on the one or more computer readable storage media and configured to implement a method comprising;

displaying visualizations associated with an active tab and one or more dehydrated tabs, the visualizations associated with the one or more dehydrated tabs being of the same type as that of the active tab;

ascertaining whether a dehydrated tab has been selected by a user via touch input; and

responsive to a dehydrated tab being selected, rehydrating a selected tab.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said visualizations include a title.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein said visualizations include a thumbnail image.