Maximizing window display area using window flowing

• US 7,437,678 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2005
• Issued: 10/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Burkes, Philip Bernard, Awada, Faisal M., Brown, Joe Nathan
• Primary Examiner(s): HAILU, TADESSE
• Application Number:
  US11/260,614
• Publication Number:
  US 20070101289A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,083 Days
• Field of Search: 715781-809
• US Class Current: 715/784
• 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 3/0481 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 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191

Abstract

A method, system, and a computer program product that enables a second window opened on a display screen to “flow” into and fill/occupy all available space within the displayable area of the display screen without overlapping a first window occupying less than the maximum width and/or length of the display area. A window flowing utility enables multiple windows to concurrently coexist and fill the maximum displayable area of the display screen. The window flowing utility determines which areas of the display screen are not currently being utilized by the first window, and allows the second window to occupy all of the available space remaining on the display device surrounding the first window.

Claims

1. In a data processing system, a method comprising:

generating a first window that persistently occupies a set, first space of a total output space, said first space having first and second linear dimensions that are less than the corresponding linear dimensions of the total output space, wherein a remaining, available output space is irregularly shaped;

configuring a second window to occupy the remaining, available output space, wherein the second window is irregularly shaped relative to a standard rectangular window shaped, wherein said configuring configures said second window to occupy one of;

(a) an L-shaped space, wherein a particular position of the L is dependent on the location of the first window within the display space; and

(b) the available space without overlapping the first window;

wherein the output space is the space on a display screen of the data processing system, and said method further comprises;

displaying the first window on the display screen, said first window persistently occupying a first space on the display screen, which first space area has first and second linear dimensions that are less than the similarly-oriented, corresponding linear dimensions of the display screen; and

displaying the second window in a second area of the display screen, wherein the second area corresponds to a contiguous portion of the available output space on the display screen with a first portion of the contiguous portion extending in the first linear dimension adjacent to the first window and a second portion of the contiguous portion extending in the second linear dimension adjacent to the second window;

providing a vertical scroll bar within the second window that extends only to an edge of the second window that is positioned along the right edge of the display screen;

enabling vertical scrolling of the content utilizing the vertical scroll bar, wherein when the vertical scroll bar is shorter than the linear vertical dimension of the display screen, a portion of the vertically scrolled content moves up into an area of the second widow that is not adjacent to the right edge of the display screen;

said first window is opened subsequent to the second window, and the method comprises, responsive to a placement of the first window in an area of the display screen currently occupied by the second window, dynamically displacing the second window to occupy the remaining space around the area in which the first window is placed;

determining, prior to configuring said second window, if window-flowing functionality is activated within a window generating system;

when the window flowing functionality is activated, dynamically performing said configuring step; and

when the window flowing functionality is not activated, enabling a user to select whether the second window should flow into the available space, wherein said enabling includes;

displaying the second window with a standard shape and dimension;

providing a selectable feature for enabling the second window to be reconfigured to occupy the remaining available space of the display space, wherein the selectable feature is a flow handle, and wherein the flow handle is provided in at least one the direction in which the window may be reconfigured, and the method includes;

enabling user-selection and dragging of the flow handle; and

automatically reconfiguring a border of the window corresponding to the location of the flow handle to move into and out of the available space depending on the direction in which the user moves the flow handle; and

when the user selects the selectable feature, automatically reconfiguring the second window to occupy the remaining available space, wherein the second window is reconfigured into the irregular shaped window.