Managing hierarchically related windows in a single display

• US 9,817,541 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2016
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Z124 LLC (Flexis)
• Original Assignee: Z124 LLC (Flexis)
• Inventors: Sirpal, Sanjiv, Reeves, Paul E., de Paz, Alexander, Ficklin, Jared L., Burton, Denise, Wygonik, Gregg
• Primary Examiner(s): KLICOS, NICHOLAS GEORGE
• Application Number:
  US15/241,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20170046031A1
• Time in Patent Office: 452 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1641 the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components G06F1/1647 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1677 for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• 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 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• 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 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 : Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 : Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 : for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 : Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 : for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 : Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 : Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 : using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 : for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 : controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 : display composed of modules, e.g. video walls
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/02 : Affine transformations for image registration G06T3/147; for image mosaicing G06T3/4038
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 : Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2356/00 : Detection of the display position w.r.t. other display screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 : Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 : Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to methodologies and devices for handling the display of hierarchically related windows in a single-screen communication device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an input, by a gesture capture region in a communication device, the communication device including a position sensor to determine relative positions of two touch sensitive screens and an accelerometer to determine one or more of an orientation of the communication device and an orientation of the two touch sensitive screens, wherein the input in the gesture capture region is to display a selected window on at least one of the two touch sensitive screens, the gesture capture region being in a pixel-free first portion of a first of the touch sensitive screens and a touch sensitive display being in a second, different portion of the first of the touch sensitive screens;

determining whether a currently displayed window on the communication device is a parent window or a child window relative to the selected window, wherein the selected window and the currently displayed window are viewed as a linear progression in a side-by-side manner;

ceasing to display, by processor executable middleware, the currently displayed window based on the input received in the gesture capture region, the determining step and a determination of the relative positions of the two touch sensitive screens; and

displaying, by the processor executable middleware, the selected window, wherein the selected window and currently displayed window are associated with a multi-screen application running on an operating system of the communication device, and the selected window and currently displayed window are in a hierarchical tree-like sequence and are controlled by the multi-screen application, wherein the multi-screen application is capable of multiple modes including a single screen mode and a composite display mode, wherein in the composite display mode multiple screens are associated with a single frame buffer, wherein the multi-screen application dynamically adapts from a two-screen mode to a single-screen mode and a single-screen mode to a two-screen mode based on changes in the communication device and a mode of the multiple modes depending on which screen is assigned to the multi-screen application and a window stack position of a plurality of window stack positions, and

wherein the plurality of window stack positions are sorted ascending from the most recently accessed selected window in the multi-screen application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a common multi-screen application outputs the selected window.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selected window is the parent window and the currently displayed window is the child window, and wherein the parent window enters a display of the communication device from a second side and the currently displayed window exits the display from an opposing first side of the communication device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected window is the child window and the currently displayed window is the parent window, and wherein the parent window exits a display of the communication device from a second side and the currently displayed window enters the display from an opposing first side of the communication device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected window and currently displayed window are output by different applications, and wherein the communication device comprises multiple screens, a first screen being operable and a second screen being inoperable.

6. A non-transient and tangible computer readable medium comprising processor executable instructions to perform the steps of claim 1.

7. A method, comprising:

receiving, by processor executable middleware on a communication device, which includes a position sensor to determine relative positions of two touch sensitive screens and an accelerometer to determine one or more of an orientation of the communication device and an orientation of the two touch sensitive screens, an input to display a first window and cease display of a second window, the input received in a gesture capture region in a pixel-free first portion of a first of the touch sensitive screens and a touch sensitive display being in a second, different portion of the first of the touch sensitive screens, the first and second windows being related and being outputted by a multi-screen application;

determining whether the first window is a parent window or a child window relative to the second window, wherein the first window and the second window are viewed as a linear progression in a side-by-side manner; and

applying one or more of the following rules;

(i) when the first window is the parent window and the second window is the child window, the first window enters a display of the communication device from a second side and the second window exits the display from an opposing first side of the communication device based on the determining step and a determination of the relative positions of the two touch sensitive screens; and

(ii) when the first window is the child window and the second window is the parent window, the second window exits a display of the communication device from a second side and the first window enters the display from an opposing first side of the communication device based on the determining step and a determination of the relative positions of the two touch sensitive screens,

wherein the first window and the second window are associated with the multi-screen application running on an operating system of the communication device, and the selected window and currently displayed window are in a hierarchical tree-like sequence and are controlled by the multi-screen application, wherein the multi-screen application is capable of multiple modes including a single screen mode and a composite display mode, wherein in the composite display mode multiple screens are associated with a single frame buffer, wherein the multi-screen application dynamically adapts from a two-screen mode to a single-screen mode and a single-screen mode to a two-screen mode based on changes in the communication device and a mode of the multiple modes depending on which screen is assigned to the multi-screen application and a window stack position of a plurality of window stack positions, and

wherein the plurality of window stack positions are sorted ascending from the most recently accessed selected window in the multi-screen application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein when the input is received by the gesture capture region of the communication device, a first screen is operable and a second screen is inoperable.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein rule (i) is applied.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein rule (ii) is applied.

11. A non-transient and tangible computer readable medium comprising processor executable instructions to perform the steps of claim 7.

12. A communication device, comprising:

at least first and second touch sensitive displays to display windows;

a position sensor to determine relative positions of the touch sensitive displays and an accelerometer to determine one or more of an orientation of the communication device and an orientation of the touch sensitive displays;

a processor; and

a computer readable memory, the computer readable memory comprising processor executable middleware operable to;

receive, in a gesture capture region in a communication device, an input to display a selected window, each of the at least first and second touch sensitive displays including separate, respective pixel-free gesture capture regions;

determine whether a currently displayed window is a parent window or a child window relative to the selected window, wherein the selected window and the currently displayed window are viewed as a linear progression in a side-by-side manner;

cease to display, by processor executable middleware, the currently displayed window based on the input received in the gesture capture region, the determining step and a determination of the relative positions of the two touch sensitive screens; and

display, by the processor executable middleware, the selected window, wherein the selected window and currently displayed window are associated with a multi-screen application running on an operating system of the communication device, and the selected window and currently displayed window are in a hierarchical tree-like sequence and are controlled by the multi-screen application, wherein the multi-screen application is capable of multiple modes including a single screen mode and a composite display mode, wherein in the composite display mode multiple screens are associated with a single frame buffer, wherein the multi-screen application dynamically adapts from a two-screen mode to a single-screen mode and a single-screen mode to a two-screen mode based on changes in the communication device and a mode of the multiple modes depending on which screen is assigned to the multi-screen application and a window stack position of a plurality of window stack positions, and

wherein the plurality of window stack positions are sorted ascending from the most recently accessed selected window in the multi-screen application.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the selected window and currently displayed window are hierarchically related, and wherein a common multi-screen application outputs the selected window.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the selected window is the parent window and the currently displayed window is the child window, and wherein the parent window enters a display of the communication device from a second side and the currently displayed window exits the display from an opposing first side of the communication device.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein, when a second lower level window is opened and displayed, a first lower level window is closed automatically.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the input is a drag or a flick, wherein the lower level window is in a predetermined touch sensitive display when a gesture is received, and wherein a higher level window appears to move from the predetermined touch sensitive display to the other touch sensitive display, whereby the lower level window is displayed by the predetermined touch sensitive display and the higher level window is displayed by the other touch sensitive display.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the communication device is in a portrait display mode, and wherein the predetermined touch sensitive display is a right-most touch sensitive display.

18. The device of claim 12, wherein the selected window is the child window and the currently displayed window is the parent window, and wherein the parent window exits a display of the communication device from a second side and the currently displayed window enters the display from an opposing first side of the communication device.

19. The device of claim 12, wherein the selected window and currently displayed window are output by different applications.