Assisted Presentation of Application Windows

• US 20160034159A1
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Published: 02/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Vranjes, Miron, Sundelin, Nils Anders, Doan, Christopher, Jones, Oliver R., Worley, Matthew I., Satterfield, Jesse Clay
• Granted Patent: US 10,592,080 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• 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

Abstract

This document describes techniques and apparatuses enabling assisted presentation of application windows. In some embodiments, these techniques and apparatuses enable sizing and positioning of application windows to provide an optimized layout of application windows.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying an available region of a multi-application environment, the multi-application environment having multiple regions in which to present application windows;

presenting, in the available region, visual representations of the application windows that are selectable for presentation in the available region;

receiving, via one of the visual representations, selection of a corresponding application window for presentation in the available region; and

presenting, responsive to receiving the selection, the selected application window in at least a portion of the available region of the multi-application environment.

2. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the selection received via the visual representation of the application window includes input selecting the available region or input selecting an edge of the available region.

3. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 2, wherein the input selecting the edge of the available region indicates selection of a predefined area of the multi-application environment that overlaps at least a portion of the available region.

4. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 3, further comprising altering a size or a position of the selected application window to fully occupy the predefined area of the multi-application environment.

5. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising determining which of the application windows are selectable by excluding:

fixed-size application windows;

application windows having respective minimum size preferences that are larger than the available region;

or

application windows that occupy other regions of the multi-application environment.

6. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, further comprising determining an order or layout in which the visual representations of the application windows are presented, the order or layout determined based on most-frequent-use, most-recent-use, or names of the application windows.

7. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the application windows that are selectable include one of:

a visible application window;

a minimized application window;

a partially-occluded application window;

an occluded application window;

or

an application window not fully occupying another region of the multi-application environment.

8. The computer-implemented method as described in claim 1, wherein the multi-application environment is a windowing environment that presents the application windows in one or more layers.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable media storing processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

presenting, in an available region of a multi-application environment having multiple regions, visual representations of application windows that are selectable for presentation in the available region; and

presenting one of the application windows in the available region of the multi-application environment in response to received input selecting a corresponding one of the visual representations.

10. The system as described in claim 9, wherein the visual representations of the application windows are presented in response to presentation of another application window in another region of the multi-application environment.

11. The system as described in claim 9, wherein the visual representations of the application windows are presented in response to receiving input via an application-selection control that is presented in the available region, in a corner of the available region, or along an edge of the available region.

12. The system as described in claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise identifying the available region of the multi-application environment by:

determining that space of the available region is not occupied by an un-occluded application window;

determining that the available region or a predefined area corresponding to the available region is not fully occupied by another application window;

or

determining that the space of the available region is finable by one of the application windows.

13. The system as described in claim 12, wherein the visual representations of the application windows are presented in response to identifying that the available region of the multi-application environment is available.

14. The system as described in claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise determining an order or layout in which the visual representations of the application windows are presented, the order or layout determined based on most-frequent-use, most-recent-use, or names of the application windows.

15. The system as described in claim 9, wherein the application windows that are selectable include one of:

a visible application window;

an occluded application window;

a partially-occluded application window;

a minimized application window;

or

an application window grouped with another application window occupying another region of the multi-application environment.

16. The system as described in claim 9, wherein at least one of the visual representations of the application windows includes text, an icon, or image of the application window.

17. The system as described in claim 16, wherein the reduced-sized image of the application window visibly indicates a previous state or default state of content presented by the application window.

18. One or more computer-readable media storing processor-executable instructions that, responsive to one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

presenting a first application window in a first region of a multi-application environment in response to received input selecting the first region for presentation of the first application window, the multi-application environment having multiple regions by which to present multiple respective application interfaces;

identifying a second region of the multi-application environment as an available region of the multi-application environment; and

presenting, without receiving input, a second application window in the second region of the multi-application environment to automatically fill the second region of the multi-application environment.

19. The one or more computer-readable media as described in claim 18, wherein identifying the second region as an available region comprises:

determining that space of the second region is not occupied by an un-occluded application window;

determining that the available region or a predefined area corresponding to the available region is not fully occupied by another application window;

or

determining that the space of the space region is fillable by the second application window.

20. The one or more computer-readable media as described in claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the second application window from a group of most-frequently-used application windows, most-recently-used application windows, or application windows grouped with the first application window.