Window scroll bar

• US 20030193524A1
• Filed: 05/08/2003
• Published: 10/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Day, Paul Reuben, Bates, Cary Lee, Ryan, Jeffrey Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,490,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/786
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

A method, system, and program product for generating a window scroll-bar. In the preferred embodiment, a controller displays the window scroll-bar on a display screen. The window scroll-bar contains sections associated with respective windows on the display. The window scroll-bar also contains a slider, which moves within a section and between sections. As the slider moves within a particular section, the window associated with that section moves on the display toward the nearest boundary of the display. Thus, by moving the window scroll-bar slider, the user can move overlapping windows out of the way and find the window of interest.

Claims

1. A method for manipulating a plurality of windows on a display, comprising:

displaying a window scroll-bar on said display, wherein the window scroll-bar comprises a plurality of sections and a single moveable slider common to all of said sections, each section being associated with a different respective window of said plurality of respective windows on the display;

moving said slider within said window scroll-bar responsive to interactive user input; and

responsive to moving said slider within any section of said window scroll-bar, moving at least one of a horizontal position on said display or a vertical position on said display of the respective window associated with the section in which the slider is located.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of moving at least one of a horizontal position or a vertical position of the respective window further comprises:

moving the associated window toward the closest boundary of the display as the slider moves from the top of the section to the bottom of the section.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the boundary is a corner of the display.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the boundary is an edge of the display.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of moving at least one of a horizontal position or a vertical position of the respective window further comprises:

moving the associated window toward the closest boundary in proportion to the slider moving within the section.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of sections contains at least one of the set consisting of:

(a) a color of the respective associated window, (b) a title of the respective associated window, and (c) an icon representing the respective associated window.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of displaying a window scroll-bar further comprises ordering the plurality of sections in the window scroll-bar using at least one of the set consisting of:

(a) last use of the respective associated window, (b) most use of the respective associated window, (c) time since activation of the respective associated window, and (d) user choice.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of displaying a window scroll-bar further comprises creating a respective size of each of the plurality of sections, wherein the section size is proportional to use of the respective, associated window.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of displaying a window scroll-bar further comprises changing a z-order of the plurality of windows to match the order of the plurality of sections in the window scroll-bar.

10. A program product that manipulates a plurality of windows on a display, comprising:

a controller that displays a window scroll-bar on said display, wherein the window scroll-bar comprises a plurality of sections, each section associated with a different respective one of said plurality of windows on said display, and wherein the controller displays a user-moveable slider within the window scroll-bar, wherein when the slider moves within a section, at least one of a horizontal position or a vertical position of a respective window associated with the section moves on the display; and

signal-bearing media bearing the controller.

11. The program product of claim 10, wherein the associated window moves toward the closest boundary of the display as the slider moves from the top of the section to the bottom of the section.

12. The program product of claim 11, wherein the closest boundary is a corner of the display.

13. The program product of claim 11, wherein the associated window moves toward the closest corner in proportion to the slider moving within the section.

14. The program product of claim 11, further comprising:

when the slider crosses a boundary between sections, the associated respective window switches.

15. The program product of claim 10, wherein each of said plurality of sections contains at least one of the set consisting of:

(a) a color of the respective associated window, (b) a title of the respective associated window, and (c) an icon representing the respective associated window.

16. The program product of claim 10, wherein said controller orders the plurality of sections in the window scroll-bar using at least one of the set consisting of:

(a) last use of the respective associated window, (b) most use of the respective associated window, (c) time since activation of the respective associated window, and (d) user choice.

17. The program product of claim 10, wherein the controller further creates a size of each of the plurality of sections, wherein the section size is proportional to use of the respective, associated window.

18. The program product of claim 10, wherein the controller further changes a z-order of the plurality of windows to match the order of the plurality of sections in the window scroll-bar.

19. An apparatus that manipulates a plurality of windows on a display, comprising:

a processor;

memory coupled to the processor;

a controller residing in the memory and executing on the processor, wherein the controller displays a window scroll-bar on said display, wherein the window scroll-bar comprises a plurality of sections, each section associated with a different respective one of said plurality of windows on the display, and wherein the controller displays a user-moveable slider within the window scroll-bar, wherein when the slider moves within a section, at least one of a horizontal position or a vertical position of a respective window associated with the section moves on the display.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the associated window moves toward the closest boundary of the display as the slider moves from the top of the section to the bottom of the section.