Dynamic grouping of application components

• US 8,042,110 B1
• Filed: 06/24/2005
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Ludolph, Frank E., Kawahara, Hideya, Byrne, Paul V.
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Meng
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, TAMMY EUNHYE
• Application Number:
  US11/166,756
• Time in Patent Office: 2,307 Days
• Field of Search: 715/781, 715/234, 715/205, 718/100
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Application boundary decomposition and dynamic grouping of application components may provide a user with a task-oriented, user-configurable, dynamic user interface. An operating system may include various individual application components and a user may be able to organize the application components to create custom task groupings for performing specific tasks. The components of a single task grouping may be displayed within a single task frame or border. Alternatively, the components may be displayed upon on the user'"'"'s desktop without such a border along with other desktop icons. Application components may be dynamically rearranged, either by the user or automatically in response to user context changes or according to a priority relationship among the application components. Additionally, multiple application components may access a single shared copy of data and task groupings may be shared among different users using different computer systems.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor, and

a memory, wherein the memory comprises program instructions executable by the processor to implement;

a plurality of independent application components, wherein each of the plurality of application components is an independent portion of a respective software application and executes a service or user interface of the respective software application, and wherein at least one of the plurality of application components is an independent portion that is less than an entire respective software application; and

a task grouping mechanism configured to provide a task grouping user interface comprising a plurality of application component representations, wherein each application component representation corresponds to one or more of the application components, and wherein at least two of the plurality of application component representations correspond to application components that are independent portions of different software applications;

wherein the task grouping user interface is configured to allow user selection of a plurality of the application component representations;

wherein the task grouping mechanism is further configured to include in the plurality of application component representations one or more application component representations dependent on a user'"'"'s current context, wherein the user'"'"'s current context comprises current activities of the user; and

in response to said user selection, the task grouping mechanism is further configured to associate, as a single task group of application components used to complete a task, application components corresponding to the selected application component representations, wherein the single task group of associated application components comprises at least two associated application components that are independent portions of different software applications, and wherein the single task group of associated application components is configured to be user manipulated to act as a single unit to complete the task.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of application component representations correspond to a respective one or more executing instances of the application components, wherein in response to a user selecting a representation corresponding to one of the executing instances of the application component, the task grouping mechanism is further configured to associate the executing application component corresponding to the selected representation with the single task group.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to store information defining the single task group, wherein the information specifies the associated application components.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the stored information comprises a structured data description format.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the structured data description format comprises XML.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the program instructions are further executable to send the stored information to another system, wherein the stored information is configured for use on the another system for generating a version of the task grouping.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to store information specifying a current state of the single task group.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the program instructions are further executable to store the information specifying the current state of the single task group to a shared storage device via a network, wherein the stored information is configured to be accessed by other computer systems via the network.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the program instructions are further executable to access the stored information specifying the current state of the single task group to return the single task group to the current state.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein in response to received user input indicating selection of another of the plurality of application component representations, the task grouping mechanism is further configured to include in the single task group one or more other application components corresponding to the selected another application component representation.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the task grouping mechanism is further configured to store information indicating the inclusion of the one or more other application components in the single task group.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the task grouping mechanism is further configured to display one or more user interface elements indicating user initiated changes to the single task group, wherein the displayed one or more user interface elements include information indicating the inclusion of the one or more other application components in the single task group.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the task grouping mechanism is further configured to restore the single task group to a state of the single task group existing prior to the inclusion of the one or more other application components in the single task group.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the task grouping mechanism is further configured to spatially arrange the one or more associated application components of the single task group according to a priority relationship among the one or more associated application components.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the task grouping mechanism is further configured to move one or more of the associated application components of the single task group to maintain a spatial arrangement of one or more user interface elements of the single task group in relation to one of the associated application components moved by a user.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the task grouping mechanism is further configured to display a user interface component representing the single task group as an icon in a menu bar of an operating system executing on the system.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the task grouping mechanism is part of an operating system executing on the system.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the task grouping mechanism is configured to access services and software libraries of an operating system executing on the system.

19. A method, comprising:

providing a task grouping user interface mechanism comprising representations of a plurality of application components, wherein each representation corresponds to one or more of the application components, wherein one or more of the representations is dependent on a user'"'"'s current context, wherein the user'"'"'s current context comprises current activities of the user, wherein each of the plurality of application components is an independent portion of a respective software application and executes a service or user interface of the respective software application, wherein at least one of the plurality of application components is an independent portion that is less than an entire respective software application, and wherein at least two of the representations correspond to application components that are independent portions of different software applications;

receiving user input selecting a plurality of the application component representations; and

in response to said user input, associating, as a single group of application components used to complete a task, application components corresponding to the selected application component representations, wherein the single task group of associated application components comprises at least two associated application components that are independent portions of different software applications, and wherein the single task group of associated application components is configured to be manipulated to act as a single unit to complete the task.

20. A non-transitory computer accessible medium, comprising program instructions executable to implement:

providing a task grouping user interface mechanism comprising representations of a plurality of application components, wherein each representation corresponds to one or more of the application components, wherein one or more of the representations is dependent on a user'"'"'s current context, wherein the user'"'"'s current context comprises current activities of the user, wherein each of the plurality of application components is an independent portion of a respective software application and executes a service or user interface of the respective software application, wherein at least one of the plurality of application components is an independent portion that is less than an entire respective software application, and wherein at least two of the representations correspond to application components that are independent portions of different software applications;

receiving user input selecting a plurality of the application component representations; and

in response to said user input, associating, as a single task group of application components used to complete a task, application components corresponding to the selected application component representations, wherein the single task group of associated application components comprises at least two associated application components that are independent portions of different software applications, and wherein the single task group of associated application components is configured to be manipulated to act as a single unit to complete the task.