Method and system for aligning windows on a computer screen

• US 5,796,402 A
• Filed: 03/08/1996
• Issued: 08/18/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ellison-Taylor, Ian
• Primary Examiner(s): Powell, Mark R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): dela Torre, Crescelle N.
• Application Number:
  US08/620,748
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• Field of Search: 395/342, 395/340, 345/119, 345/120
• US Class Current: 715/792
• 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: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

A computer system aligns windows on a computer screen in a manner that approximates the relative position and size of the windows as they were before being aligned. A preferred method aligns "opposing sides" of all pairs of windows (the nearest parallel sides of each pair of different windows) where such alignment can take place without creating overlaps among any of the windows. The aligned windows are then expanded to fill the bounding window in which they are provided by aligning the sides of the windows with adjacent sides of the bounding window.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a computer, of automatically aligning windows on a computer screen, the windows being currently displayed in a way that the windows are not aligned with each other, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a position on the computer screen of a first side of a first window;

determining a position on the computer screen of a first side of a second window, the first side of the second window not being aligned with the first side of the first window;

moving at least one of the first sides of the first and second windows to a new position different from the determined position of the first side being moved, the new position being sufficient to align the first side of the first window with the first side of the second window, and the new position being selected based on the positions determined for the first sides of the first and second windows before being moved to produce aligned first and second windows; and

displaying the aligned first and second windows on the computer screen.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating a distance between the positions determined for the first sides; and

wherein the moving step comprises moving the first side of each of the first and second windows to a position that is a predetermined portion of the distance calculated between the positions determined for the first sides.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein both determining steps and the moving steps are performed for alternate first and second windows on the computer screen, wherein the alternate first and second windows include at least one window that is not one of the first and second windows.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the moving step comprises:

determining whether either of the first sides has been moved previously while automatically aligning the windows on the computer screen; and

when neither of the first sides is determined to have been moved previously, moving each of the first sides to a midpoint position between the positions determined for the first sides.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the moving step further comprises:

if the first side of the first window is determined to have been previously moved, then moving first side of second window to the position determined for the first side of the first window; and

if the first side of the second window is determined to have been previously moved, then moving the first side of the first window to the position determined for the first side of the second window.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether any of the windows would overlap if the moving step were performed to align the first sides of the first and second windows; and

wherein the method includes the moving step only if it is determined that an overlap would not result among any of the windows.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the moving step comprises moving, unless an overlap would result among any of the windows, the first side of the first window and the first side of the second window to a midpoint position between the positions determined for the first sides.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the moving step comprises moving, if an overlap would result among any of the windows in moving the first sides to the midpoint location, the first side of the first window to the position determined for the first side of the second window.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the moving step comprises moving, if an overlap would result among any of the windows in moving the first side of the first window to the position determined for the first side of the second window, the first side of the second window to the position determined for the first side of the first window.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a bounding window that is large enough to encompass all of the windows on the computer screen when the windows on the computer screen are positioned before the moving step; and

expanding the aligned windows to fill the bounding window.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the bounding window and each window on the computer screen has sides and the expanding step comprises aligning each side of the bounding window with the the sides of the windows that are closest to the side of the bounding window.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether the expanding step would result in an overlap among the windows; and

wherein the expanding step expanding to the bounding window only the windows that would not result in an overlap among the windows.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second windows overlap each other, the first window includes a plurality of sides, and the first side of the first window is the side of the first window that is parallel and closest to the first side of the second window.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, for each of the windows on the computer screen, a center point for the window before the window is automatically aligned;

determining whether the first window overlaps the center point for another of the windows on the computer screen and whether the second window overlaps the center point for another of the windows on the computer screen;

storing a first window indicator indicating whether the first window is determined to overlap the center point of another of the windows; and

storing a second window indicator indicating whether the second window is determined to overlap another of the windows.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining whether either of the first and second window indicators indicates that either of the first and second windows overlaps another of the windows; and

wherein the moving step aligns the first window with the second window only if neither of the first and second window indicator indicates that either the first window or the second window overlaps the center point of another of the windows.

16. A method, performed by a computer, of automatically aligning windows on a computer screen, comprising the steps of:

(a) aligning a first side of a first window with a second side of a second window based on a position of the first window relative to the second window to produce aligned windows;

(b) displaying the aligned windows on the computer screen;

(c) determining, prior to performing step (a), whether a first overlapping side of a first overlapping window overlaps a second overlapping side of a second overlapping window by less than a predetermined distance; and

(d) aligning the first overlapping side with the second overlapping side only if the first overlapping side and the second overlapping side overlap by less than the predetermined distance.

17. A method, performed by a computer, of automatically aligning windows on a computer screen, comprising the steps of:

(a) aligning a first side of a first window with a second side of a second window based on a position of the first window relative to the second window to produce aligned windows;

(b) displaying the aligned windows on the computer screen;

(c) determining, prior to performing step (a), whether a first overlapping side of a first overlapping window overlaps a second overlapping side of a second overlapping window by at least a predetermined distance; and

(d) storing, prior to performing step (a), an indicator indicating whether the first overlapping window and the second overlapping window overlap by at least the predetermined distance; and

wherein

step (a) comprises aligning the first side of the first window with the second side of the second window only when the indicator indicates that the first window and the second window do not overlap by at least the predetermined distance.

18. A computer system for aligning display windows on a computer screen, comprising:

an input device;

a display device displaying the computer screen and the display windows;

a computer connected to the input device and the display device, the computer including;

a central processing unit;

a memory connected to the central processing unit and storing;

a computer program comprising instructions for determining a position of a first side of a first display window;

determining a position of a first side of a second display window, the first side of the second window being parallel to and spaced from the first side of the first window, and aligning the first side of the first display window with the first side of the second display window based on the positions determined for the first sides of the first and second display windows before being aligned to produce aligned display windows when executed by the central processing unit, the aligning including moving at least one of the first sides to a new position different from the position determined for the first side being moved; and

an operating system comprising instructions for controlling the central processing unit to execute the computer program upon receiving an instruction from a user via the input device and instructions for providing the aligned display windows to the display device upon executing the computer program.

19. The computer system of claim 18 wherein:

the memory stores a first data structure which indicates whether the first side of the first display window has been previously moved by the computer program and a second data structure which indicates whether the first side of the second display window has been previously moved by the computer program; and

the computer program further includes instructions for moving each of the first sides to a position between the positions determined for the first sides unless the first data structure indicates that the first side of the first display window has been previously moved or the second data structure indicates that the first side of the second display window has been previously moved.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the computer program further includes instructions for moving the first side of the first display window to the position determined for the first side of the second display window when the second data structure indicates that the first side of the second display window has been previously moved by the computer program.

21. The computer system of claim 18 wherein the computer program includes instructions for determining whether any overlap would result among the display windows if the first sides of the first and second display windows were aligned and instructions which align the first side of the first display window with the first side of the second display window only if an overlap does not result among any of the display windows.

22. A method, performed by a computer, of automatically aligning a plurality of windows on a computer screen, each window of the plurality of windows having a plurality of sides and a center point, each side having an old position on the computer screen, the method comprising:

determining whether a first window of the plurality of windows would occupy the position of the center point of another of the plurality of windows before being aligned if a first side of the first window were moved to a new position at which the first side aligns with one of the sides of a second window of the plurality of windows; and

moving the first of the first window to the new position only if the determining step determines that the first window would not occupy the position occupied by the center point of another of the plurality of windows before being aligned, thereby aligning the first window with the second window; and

displaying the aligned first and second windows on the computer screen.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

calculating a distance between the positions of the first sides of the first and second windows; and

wherein the moving step comprises moving the first side of each of the first and second windows to a position that is a predetermined portion of the distance calculated between the positions determined for the first sides.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the moving step comprises:

determining whether either of the first sides has been moved previously while automatically aligning the windows on the computer screen; and

when neither of the first sides is determined to have been moved previously, moving each of the first sides to a midpoint position between the positions of first sides.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the moving step further comprises:

when the first side of the second window is determined to have been previously moved, moving the first side of the first window to the position of the first side of the second window.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining whether any of the windows would overlap if the first side of the second window were moved to an intermediate position between the positions of the first sides of the first and second windows; and

when the movement of the first side of the second window to the intermediate position is determined not to cause any of the windows to overlap, moving each of the first sides of the first and second windows to the intermediate position.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

establishing a bounding window that is large enough to encompass all of the windows on the computer screen when the windows on the computer screen are positioned before the moving step; and

adjusting the sides of the windows to completely fill the bounding window with no over lap between the windows without moving any windows off of the position occupied by the window'"'"'s center point before the automatic aligning began.

28. A computer-readable storage medium with executable instructions of a computer program that aligns a plurality of windows on a display screen of a computer, each window having sides, the executable instructions causing the computer to:

determine a position of a first side of a first window of the plurality of windows;

determine a position of a first side of a second window of the plurality of windows, the first side of the second window being parallel to and spaced from the first side of the first window; and

align the first side of the first window with the first side of the second window based on the positions determined for the first sides of the first and second display windows before being moved, thereby producing aligned display windows on the display screen when executed by the computer, the aligning including moving at least one of the first sides to a new position different from the position determined for the first side being moved.

29. The computer storage medium of claim 28, further comprising:

computer instructions for causing the computer to calculate a distance between the positions of the first sides of the first and second windows; and

wherein the instructions that cause the computer to align the first sides also cause the computer to move the first side of each of the first and second windows to a position that is a predetermined portion of the distance calculated between the positions determined for the first sides.

30. The computer storage medium of claim 28 wherein the instructions that cause the computer to align the first sides include:

computer instructions for determining whether either of the first sides has been moved previously while automatically aligning the windows on the computer screen; and

computer instructions for moving each of the first sides to a midpoint position between the positions of the first sides if neither of the first sides is determined to have been moved previously.

31. The computer storage medium of claim 30 wherein the instructions that cause the computer to align the first sides include:

computer instructions for moving the first side of the first window to the position of the first side of the second window if the first side of the second window is determined to have been previously moved.

32. The computer storage medium of claim 28, further comprising:

computer instructions for determining whether any of the windows would overlap if the first side of the second window were moved to an intermediate position between the positions of the first sides of the first and second windows; and

wherein the instructions include computer instructions for moving each of the first sides of the first and second windows to the intermediate position if the movement of the first side of the second window to the intermediate position is determined not to cause any of the windows to overlap.

33. A computer-implemented method of automatically aligning first and second windows on a computer screen, each of the first and second windows having sides, comprising:

determining which side of the first window is parallel to, spaced from, and nearest a side of the second window;

aligning the nearest parallel sides of the first and second windows by moving at least one of the nearest parallel sides toward the other nearest parallel side,

calculating a distance between the nearest parallel sides of the first and second windows before the nearest parallel sides are aligned; and

wherein the aligning step includes moving the nearest parallel side of each of the first and second windows to a position that is a predetermined portion of the distance calculated between the nearest parallel sides.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the aligning step includes:

determining whether either of the nearest parallel sides has been moved previously while automatically aligning the windows on the computer screen; and

moving each of the nearest parallel sides to a midpoint position between the positions of the nearest parallel sides if neither of the nearest parallel sides is determined to have been moved previously.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the aligning step includes:

moving the nearest parallel side of the first window to the position of the nearest parallel side of the second window if the nearest parallel side of the second window is determined to have been previously moved.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

determining whether any of the windows would overlap if the nearest parallel side of the second window were moved to an intermediate position between the positions of the nearest parallel sides of the first and second windows; and

wherein the aligning step includes moving each of the nearest parallel sides of the first and second windows to the intermediate position if the movement of the nearest parallel side of the second window to the intermediate position is determined not to cause any of the windows to overlap.

37. A method in a computer system for automatically repositioning a plurality of windows that are displayed on a computer screen, each of the plurality of windows having a size and a position, the method comprising:

determining an old size and an old position of each of the plurality of windows, wherein the windows do not overlap one another and at least one of the windows has no sides that are aligned with a side of another one of the windows; and

calculating a new size and a new position for each of the plurality of windows such that the windows have approximately the same relative positions with respect to each other after the windows are moved to their new positions as existed before the windows were moved to their new positions from their old positions and each of the windows includes at least one side that is aligned with a side of another one of the windows.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

determining whether any of the plurality of windows overlaps another of the windows before determining the old size and old position of each window; and

if any overlaps are determined to exist, removing the overlaps by placing the windows at their old positions and in their old sizes.