System and method that facilitates computer desktop use via scaling of displayed objects with shifts to the periphery

• US 8,230,359 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2003
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Robertson, George G., Horvitz, Eric J., Robbins, Daniel C., Smith, Gregory R., Czerwinski, Mary P., Baudisch, Patrick Markus
• Primary Examiner(s): HAILU, TADESSE
• Application Number:
  US10/374,351
• Publication Number:
  US 20040165010A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,437 Days
• Field of Search: 715/782, 715/848, 715/764, 715/839, 715/767, 715/805, 715/517, 715/781, 715/788, 715798-802
• US Class Current: 715/801
• 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

Abstract

The system described herein facilitates multi-tasking in a computing environment. A focus area component defines a focus area within a display space—the focus area occupying a subset area of the display space area. A scaling component scales display objects as a function of proximity to the focus area, and a behavior modification component modifies respective behavior of the display objects as a function their location of the display space. Thus, and more particularly the subject invention provides for interaction technique(s) and user interface(s) in connection with managing display objects on a display surface.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates multi-tasking in a computing environment, comprising:

a display space that presents one or more interactive window objects;

a focus area component that defines;

a focus area occupied within the display space;

a progressive shrink area occupied within the display space; and

a boundary that separates the focus area and the progressive shrink area;

a scaling component that scales an interactive window object as a function of proximity to the boundary, the scaling of the interactive window object being initiated responsive to an instruction to move the interactive window object from the focus area to the progressive shrink area within the display space ; and

a behavior component that regulates behavior of the interactive window object dependent on whether the interactive window object is displayed in the focus area or the progressive shrink area, wherein the interactive window object exhibits standard behavior when displayed in the focus area.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the scaling component scales down the interactive window object from a first display size to a second display size smaller than the first display size as the interactive window object moves from the focus area to the progressive shrink area.

3. The system of claim 1, the behavior component regulating a data communication refresh rate of the interactive window object dependent on whether the interactive window object is displayed in the focus area or the progressive shrink area.

4. The system of claim 1, the behavior component making the interactive window object static when the interactive window object is outside of the focus area.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction is automatic and the scaling component automatically moves a location of the interactive window object.

6. The system of claim 5, the interactive window object migrating from the focus areas to the progressive shrink area as a function of predetermined parameters, learned parameters, or both.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the scaling component preserves a former focus position of the interactive window object when the interactive window object moves outside of the focus area to the progressive shrink area, the scaling component to return the interactive window object to the former focus position upon a selection of the interactive window object while located in the progressive shrink area.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction is received from a user and the scaling component moves the interactive window object outside of or into the focus area manually.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising an inference component operable to move the interactive window object outside of or into the focus area automatically.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the inference component moves the interactive window object as a function of inferring a user'"'"'s intentions with respect to manipulating the interactive window object.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the inference component employs machine learning techniques to facilitate the moving.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the inference component employs a utility based analysis to perform the moving.

13. The system of claim 1, the behavior component effecting the interactive window object to behave with full functionality when located in the focus area.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein when the interactive window object is located in the progressives shrink area, the behavior component alters a transparency value of the interactive window object to cause the interactive window object to increasingly fade as it progresses toward an edge of the display space.

15. The system of claim 14, the fading increasing as a function of distance from the boundary, use of the interactive window object, a priority of the interactive window object, or a combination thereof.

16. The system of claim 1, the behavior component modifying behavior of the interactive window object, while located in the progressive shrink area, as a function of a number of interactive window objects within the display space.

17. The system of claim 16, the behavior component modifying behavior of the interactive window object as a function of a number of interactive window objects within the focus area.

18. The system of claim 16, the behavior component modifying behavior of the interactive window object as a function of a number of interactive window objects within the progressive shrink area.

19. The system of claim 16, the behavior component applying at least one of the following metrics in connection with modifying behavior of the interactive window object:

processing overhead, display space, relative location of window objects, priority associated with respective window objects, time of day, and user state.

20. The system of claim 1, the behavior component effecting shifts of multiple interactive window objects so as to automatically move older, less active interactive window objects into the progressive shrink area of the display space.

21. The system of claim 1, the behavior component modifying a minimum density or resolution of the interactive window object while in the progressive shrink area.

23. The system of claim 1, the behavior component implicitly returning older interactive window objects to respective previous states as newer interactive window objects are closed.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the focus area component is operable to modify a geometry of the focus area.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the focus area component modifies one or more of a horizontal and a vertical dimension of the focus area.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the focus area component is operable to modify a geometry of the progressive shrink area.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the focus area component is operable to modify a size of the progressive shrink area.

28. The system of claim 1, the scaling component scaling the interactive window object, while displayed in the progressive shrink area, as a function of a variety of predetermined, learned metrics, or both.

29. The system of claim 28, the scaling component scaling the interactive window object as a function of distance from a reference point of the focus area.

30. The system of claim 28, the scaling component scaling the interactive window object as a function of speed of movement of the interactive window object relative center of mass, or both.

31. The system of claim 1, wherein the scaling component scales the window object using non-liner based techniques.

32. A desktop computing system employing the system of claim 1.

33. A portable computing device employing the system of claim 1.

34. A wireless telephone employing the system of claim 1.

35. A personal data assistant employing the system of claim 1.

36. A vehicle employing the system of claim 1.

37. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction is a cursor instruction employed to move the object.

38. The system of claim 1, the behavior component effecting one of object occlusion avoidance behavior and object cluster occlusion avoidance behavior.

39. The system of claim 38, at least one of the scaling component or behavior component updating properties of a moved object based at least in part upon new location.

40. The system of claim 1, preserving a former focus position of the interactive window object upon the interactive window object being moved to the progressive shrink area.

41. The system of claim 40, the interactive window object moving back to the focus area upon a user clicking the interactive window object when the interactive window object is in the progressive shrink area.

42. The system of claim 1, preserving a former periphery position of the interactive window object upon the interactive window object moving to the focus area.

43. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction is a user clicking the interactive window object when the interactive window object is in the focus area.

44. The system of claim 1, wherein a transition point effects the scaling, behavior modification, or both, of the interactive window object based on at least one of:

a center of the interactive window object crossing the boundary, a leading or trailing edge of the interactive window object crossing the boundary, and a position of a cursor that is employed in connection with manipulation of the interactive window object.

45. The system of claim 1, the scaling component effecting scaling on the interactive window object as a linear function of proximity to the focus area or an edge of the display space.

46. The system of claim 1, the scaling component effecting scaling on the interactive window object displayed within the focus area as a nonlinear function of proximity of the interactive window object to the boundary so as to mitigate abrupt change in a size of the interactive window object.

47. The system of claim 1, the scaling component effecting scaling on the interactive window object at a corner of the display space based at least in part upon minimums of scales defined by a horizontal and a vertical position of the interactive window object.

22. The system of 1, the behavior component automatically shifting and moving off and on interactive window objects, in a manner that keeps the respective interactive window objects on a screen usable.

48. A method that facilitates optimizing display space utilization, comprising:

defining a focus area within a display space, the focus area occupying a subset area of the display space;

defining a progressive shrink area within the display space, the progressive shrink area located along a perimeter of the display space outside of the focus area;

defining a boundary that separates the focus area and the progressive shrink area;

scaling down, by one or more processors configured with executable instructions, one or more interactive window objects when the one or more interactive window objects move across the boundary from the focus area into the progressive shrink area, the scaling down relative to a proximity of the individual one or more interactive window objects to the boundary; and

eliding at least one component of the one or more interactive window objects during the scaling down.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising modifying behavior of at least one interactive window object as a function of location in the progressive shrink area.

50. The method of claim 49, the comprising modifying functionality of the at least one interactive window object.

51. The method of claim 48, further comprising automatically shifting at least one interactive window object between the focus area and the progressive shrink area as a function of at least one predetermined metric, learned metric or both.

52. The method of claim 48, wherein the focus area is located inside of the display space such that the focus area does not touch any edges of the display space.

53. The method of claim 48, further comprising placing interactive window objects that reach an edge of the display space into a side bar.

54. The method of claim 53, further comprising organizing the interactive window objects within the side bar as a function of predetermined constraints.

55. The method of claim 48, further comprising changing behavior of a first interactive window object when the first interactive window object crosses the boundary, and automatically modifying behavior of secondary interactive window objects as a function of the change to the first interactive window object.

56. The method of claim 55, the modification of behavior to the first and secondary interactive window objects being based at least in part on optimizing utilization of the display space.

57. The method of claim 48, further comprising reducing functionality associated with the one or more interactive window objects as the one or more interactive window objects respectively progress through the progressive shrink area toward an edge of the display space, wherein the one or more interactive window objects exhibit standard functionality when located in the focus area.

58. The method of claim 48, further comprising modifying geometry of at least one of the focus area and the progressive shrink area.

59. The method of claim 48, further comprising effecting object occlusion avoidance behavior.

60. The method of claim 48, further comprising effecting object cluster occlusion avoidance behavior.

61. The method of claim 48, further comprising updating properties of a moved interactive window object based at least in part upon a new location of the moved interactive window object within the progressive shrink area.

62. The method of claim 48, further comprising preserving a former focus position in the focus area of an interactive window object upon the an interactive window object being moved to the progressive shrink area.

63. The method of claim 48, further comprising preserving a former interactive window object periphery position upon the interactive window object being moved to the focus area.

64. The method of claim 48, further comprising moving an interactive window object to the progressive shrink area upon a user clicking the interactive window object when in the focus area.

65. The method of claim 48, further comprising moving an interactive window object back to the focus area upon a user clicking the interactive window object when the interactive window object is in the progressive shrink area, the interactive window object returning to a preserved former focus position when moved back to the focus area.

66. The method of claim 48, further comprising defining a transition point to effect scaling, behavior modification, or both, of an interactive window object based on at least one of:

a center of the interactive window object, leading and trailing edge of the object interactive window, and position of a cursor that is employed in connection with manipulation of the interactive window object.

67. The method of claim 48, further comprising effecting scaling on an interactive window object as a linear function of proximity to the boundary or an edge of the display space.

68. The method of claim 48, further comprising effecting scaling on an interactive window object as a non-linear function of proximity to the boundary or an edge of the display space so as to mitigate abrupt change in size of the interactive window object.

69. The method of claim 48, further comprising effecting scaling on an interactive window object at a corner of the display space based at least in part upon minimums of scales defined by horizontal and vertical positions.

70. A computer readable storage medium comprising processor executable instruction operable to perform the method of claim 48.

71. A method that facilitates optimizing display space utilization, comprising:

defining a focus area within a display space, the focus area occupying a subset area of the display space;

defining a progressive shrink area within the display space, the progressive shrink area located about an outside periphery of the focus area surrounding the focus area;

defining a boundary that separates the focus area and the progressive shrink area;

stabilizing, by one or more processors configured with executable instructions, size and functionality of window objects positioned within the focus area;

scaling, by the one or more processors configured with executable instructions, size and functionality of window objects positioned within the progressive shrink area as a function of proximity of the scaled window objects to the boundary; and

rendering at least one component of the scaled window objects during the scaling.

72. The method of claim 71, further comprising effecting behavior modification to a particular group of window objects en masse.

73. The method of claim 72, further comprising modifying respective behavior of window objects within the particular group uniformly.

74. The method of claim 72, further comprising modifying respective behavior of window objects within the particular group individually.

75. The method of claim 71, further comprising employing cluster occlusion avoidance behavior.

76. The method of claim 71, wherein the scaled window objects are a cluster of objects and the method further comprising employing cluster scaling.

77. The method of claim 76, further comprising revising a distance between a window object and a center of the cluster as a function of the cluster scaling.

78. The method of claim 71, further comprising preserving a state of the window objects.

79. The method of claim 71, the window objects positioned within the focus area being a cluster of objects and the method further comprising transitioning the cluster from the focus area to the progressive shrink area upon a user selecting a marker associated with the cluster.

80. The method of claim 71, the window objects positioned within the progressive shrink area being a cluster of objects and the method further comprising transitioning the cluster from the progressive shrink area to the focus area upon a user selecting a marker associated with the cluster.

81. The method of claim 80, further comprising effecting task switching between the window objects of the cluster.

82. A computer readable storage medium comprising processor executable instruction operable to perform the method of claim 71.

83. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory, coupled to the one or more processors, storing components executable by the one or more processors, the components comprising;

a focus area component that defines, within a display space, a focus area, a peripheral area, and a boundary that separates the focus area from the peripheral area;

a scaling component that scales down one or more interactive window objects as a function of proximity to the boundary when the one or more interactive window objects are respectively moved from the focus area, across the boundary, and into the peripheral; and

a behavior component that regulates functionality of the one or more interactive window objects dependent on whether the respective interactive window objects are located in the focus area or in the peripheral area, wherein the one or more interactive window objects exhibit standard functionality when located in the focus area and reduced functionality when located in the peripheral area.

84. The system of claim 83, wherein the regulated functionality is related to network communication functionality.

85. The system of claim 84, wherein the network communication functionality includes a refresh rate of web data associated with an interactive window object.