USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS FOR MULTIPLE DISPLAYS
First Claim
1. A method of managing windows for a computing device, the method comprising:
- executing a windowing system that automatically maintains a tiled arrangement of application windows for applications executing on the computing device, the windowing system enabling tiled display of the application windows on a first display connected with the computing device and on a second display connected with the computing device, wherein when one or more application windows are displayed by the windowing system on either of the displays those application windows substantially fully occupy the displays on which they are displayed;
executing an application launcher on the computing device, the application launcher comprising indicia of applications on the computing device, wherein responsive to a first user input the application launcher is displayed on the first display; and
while the application launcher is displayed on the first display, maintaining, by the windowing system, two or more of the application windows in a tiled arrangement on the second display.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein are techniques for a computing device executing a windowing system that automatically maintains a tiled arrangement of application windows on a first display and on a second display. A user interface element has indicia of applications that can be used to open the applications. Responsive to a first user input the user interface element is displayed on the first display, and while the user interface element is displayed on the first display, the windowing system maintains two or more of the application windows in a tiled arrangement on the second display. The user interface element may be part of a system user interface and may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, it may be a full-screen set of application representations, possibly user selected, or a list of recently used applications, or a list of open applications, etc.
84 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of managing windows for a computing device, the method comprising:
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executing a windowing system that automatically maintains a tiled arrangement of application windows for applications executing on the computing device, the windowing system enabling tiled display of the application windows on a first display connected with the computing device and on a second display connected with the computing device, wherein when one or more application windows are displayed by the windowing system on either of the displays those application windows substantially fully occupy the displays on which they are displayed; executing an application launcher on the computing device, the application launcher comprising indicia of applications on the computing device, wherein responsive to a first user input the application launcher is displayed on the first display; and while the application launcher is displayed on the first display, maintaining, by the windowing system, two or more of the application windows in a tiled arrangement on the second display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computing device comprising a processor, storage, and a first display, the storage storing a windowing system that when executed by the processor displays application windows of applications executing by the processor, the computing device further comprising:
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the windowing system, when executing, being capable of displaying application windows on the first display and on a second display when a second display is locally connected with the computing device, the windowing system further comprising a user interface element, wherein the windowing system displays application windows on either display such that when an application window is displayed on either display the application window either substantially fully occupies that display or the application window and any other application windows on that display substantially fully occupy that display; and the user interface element, which at one time is capable of being displayed on the first display and is capable of being displayed on the second display, being configured to respond to user interactions with the user interface element by displaying application windows on whichever display is currently displaying the user interface element. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. One or more computer storage devices storing information to enable a computing device to perform a process, the process comprising:
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executing applications having respective application windows displayable by a windowing system executing on the computing device; displaying a first application window on a first display connected with the computing device and displaying a second application window on a second display connected with the computing device, each application window substantially fully occupying the display on which it is displayed; enabling a user to direct input to the first display to interact with the first application window while concurrently enabling the user to direct input to the second display to interact with the second application window; providing an application-list comprising a set of application representations that when displayed can be interacted with by the user to open application windows of respectively represented applications, the application-list able to be displayed, at any given time, responsive to user input, by either (i) only one display at a time or (ii) by both displays at a time; responsive to user input directed to an arbitrary one of the displays, displaying the application-list over either the first application window or the second application window, according to which one of the displays the user input is directed to; and responsive to further user input selecting one of the application representations;
undisplaying the application-list and displaying a third application window corresponding to the selected application representation on the one of the displays while maintaining the displaying of the first or second application window on the display other than the one of the displays. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification