Managing arbitrary window regions for more effective use of screen space

• US 20050240873A1
• Filed: 04/26/2004
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Meyers, Brian, Robertson, George G., Czerwinski, Mary, Tan, Desney S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,487,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/740
• 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 present invention enables the management of arbitrary regions of a window. A surrogate window is created to contain a region of interest in a source window. A surrogate window may also be shared among multiple devices. A user may interact with the content in a source window or its surrogate window(s). A surrogate window is updated to reflect any content change in the region of interest in the source window. In the case that a user resizes a surrogate window, the entire content of the surrogate window is scaled accordingly so the entire content remains visible.

Claims

1. A method for managing arbitrary regions of a window on a display screen of a computer, comprising:

in response to receiving a region of interest in a window (“

source window”

) displayed on said display screen, automatically creating a read-only window (“

local surrogate window”

) containing said region of interest on said display screen; and

updating content in said local surrogate window to keep said content consistent with content in said region of interest in said source window.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to activating a surrogate window enabler, enabling a user to start defining said region of interest; and

in response to deactivation of said surrogate window enabler, stopping the enablement of said user to define said region of interest.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a predefined keyboard modifier combination.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a menu item.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a list containing available source windows on said display screen.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving an instruction to resize said local surrogate window, scaling entire content of said local surrogate window so that said entire content remains visible.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

duplicating said local surrogate window to form a read-only remote surrogate window on a display screen of another computer; and

also updating content of said remote surrogate window to keep said content consistent with content in said region of interest in said source window.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in response to receiving an instruction to be executed on said local surrogate window, executing said instruction on said local surrogate window; and

also updating said remote surrogate window to reflect changes resulted from executing said instruction on said local surrogate window.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in response to receiving an instruction to manage said remote surrogate window from said computer (“

source computer”

) containing said source window, enabling said remote surrogate window to be managed from said source computer; and

in response to an input instruction on said source computer, executing said input instruction on said remote surrogate window.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in response to receiving an instruction to resize said remote surrogate window, scaling entire content of said remote surrogate window so that said entire content remains visible.

11. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for managing arbitrary regions of a window on a display screen of a computer that when executed, comprise:

in response to receiving a region of interest of a window (“

source window”

) displayed on said display screen, automatically creating a read-only window (“

local surrogate window”

) containing said region of interest on said display screen; and

updating content in said local surrogate window to keep said content consistent with content in said region of interest in said source window.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

in response to activating a surrogate window enabler, enabling a user to start defining said region of interest; and

in response to deactivation of said surrogate window enabler, stopping the enablement of said user to define said region of interest.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a predefined keyboard modifier combination.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a menu item.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a list containing available source windows on said display screen.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

in response to receiving an instruction to resize said local surrogate window, scaling entire content of said local surrogate window so that said entire content remains visible.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

duplicating said local surrogate window to form a read-only remote surrogate window on a display screen of another computer; and

also updating content of said remote surrogate window to keep said content consistent with content in said region of interest in said source window.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

in response to receiving an instruction to be executed on said local surrogate window, executing said instruction on said local surrogate window; and

also updating said remote surrogate window to reflect changes resulted from executing said instruction on said local surrogate window.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

in response to receiving an instruction to manage said remote surrogate window from said computer (“

source computer”

) containing said source window, enabling said remote surrogate window to be managed from said source computer; and

in response to an input instruction on said source computer, executing said input instruction on said remote surrogate window.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

in response to receiving an instruction to resize said remote surrogate window, scaling entire content of said remote surrogate window so that said entire content remains visible.

21. A computer system for managing arbitrary regions of a window, comprising:

(a) a display screen;

(b) a data processor coupled to said display screen for;

(1) receiving a region of interest of a window (“

source window”

) displayed on said display screen;

(2) automatically creating a read-only window (“

local surrogate window”

) containing said region of interest on said display screen; and

(3) updating content in said local surrogate window to keep said content consistent with content in said region of interest in said source window.

22. The computer system of claim 21, further comprising a keyboard and wherein said data processor is coupled to said keyboard for:

enabling a user to define said region of interest when a surrogate window enabler is activated; and

preventing a user from further defining said region of interest when said surrogate window enabler is deactivated.

23. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a predefined keyboard modifier combination.

24. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a menu item implemented by computer-executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium.

25. The computer system of claim 22, wherein said surrogate window enabler comprises a list containing available source windows on said display screen, said list being storable on a computer-readable medium as a data structure.

26. The computer system of claim 21, wherein said data processor scales entire content of said local surrogate window so that said entire content remains visible, in response to receiving an instruction to resize said local surrogate window.

27. The computer system of claim 21, further comprising a network for:

duplicating said local surrogate window to form a read-only remote surrogate window on a display screen of another computer (“

remote computer”

) via said network; and

also updating content of said remote surrogate window via said network to keep said content consistent with content in said region of interest in said source window.

28. The computer system of claim 27, wherein said data processor updates said remote surrogate window with changes resulted from executing an instruction on said local surrogate window.

29. The computer system of claim 27, wherein said data processor enables managing said remote surrogate window from said computer system.

30. The computer system of claim 27, wherein said remote computer scales entire content of said remote surrogate window so that said entire content remains visible, in response to receiving an instruction to resize said remote surrogate window.