WORKSPACE MANAGEMENT METHOD, WORKSPACE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM

• US 20090064035A1
• Filed: 11/05/2008
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Matsunaga, Yoshifumi, Komura, Akinori, Shibata, Hirohito
• Granted Patent: US 8,607,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/803
• 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

A workspace management method for managing a plurality of windows displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface, the method including: managing management information regarding the windows; detecting a change in a state of each of the windows; detecting, in a case where a movement of one window of the windows is detected in the detecting of the change, the other windows positioned in the neighborhood of the one window or overlapping the one window by referring to the management information; displaying, in a case where the other windows are detected in the detecting of the other windows, a docking position to be docked in each of the one window and the other windows; and docking, in a case where a stop of the movement of the one window is detected in the detecting of the change, the one window with the other windows via the docking position.

Claims

1. A workspace management method for managing a plurality of windows displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface, the method comprising:

managing management information regarding the windows;

detecting a change in a state of each of the windows;

detecting, in a case where a movement of one window of the windows is detected in the detecting of the change, the other windows positioned in the neighborhood of the one window or overlapping the one window by referring to the management information;

displaying, in a case where the other windows are detected in the detecting of the other windows, a docking position to be docked in each of the one window and the other windows; and

docking, in a case where a stop of the movement of the one window is detected in the detecting of the change, the one window with the other windows via the docking position.

2. The workspace management method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein

the windows are started by different applications.

3. The workspace management method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein

the windows are rectangular,

the one window is docked in a size adapted to a size of one side of the other windows, and

the one window and the other windows are a plurality of sub-windows that configures a docked window being rectangular.

4. The workspace management method as claimed in claim 1,

wherein

the display of the docking position comprises displaying the docking position on at least two sides of each of the one window and the other windows.

5. The workspace management method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

changing, in a case where a change in a size of one sub-window of the sub-windows is detected in the detecting of the change, a size of the other sub-windows by referring to the management information.

6. The workspace management method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

moving, in a case where a movement of the docked window is detected in the detecting of the change, the docked window as a whole.

7. The workspace management method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

canceling the docking of the docked window.

8. A workspace management method for managing a plurality of windows displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface, the method comprising:

displaying, in a case where one window of the windows is dragged to be closer to the other windows, a position at which the one window and the other windows are docked; and

docking, in a case where dragging the one window is stopped in a state where the docking position is displayed, the one window with the other windows to generate one docking window.

9. A workspace management system for managing a plurality of windows displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface, the system comprising:

a window management unit that stores management information regarding the windows displayed on a display;

a detection unit that detects a change in a state of each of the windows;

a window detection unit that detects, in a case where a movement of one window of the windows is detected by the detection unit, the other windows positioned in the neighborhood of the one window or overlapping the one window by referring to the management information;

a presentation unit that presents that the one window and the other windows can be docked in a case where the other windows are detected by the window detection unit; and

a docking unit that, in a case where a stop of the movement of the one window is detected by the detection unit, docks the one window with the other window via the presented docking position.

10. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9,

wherein

the presentation unit comprises a display unit that displays the position at which the one window is docked with the other window.

11. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 10,

wherein

the display unit displays a specific side of the window to be distinguishable from other sides.

12. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9,

wherein

the detection unit periodically monitors a state of an active window to detect an event change in the active window.

13. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9,

wherein

the detection unit detects a kind of event operated on the windows.

14. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9,

wherein

the windows are started by different applications.

15. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9,

wherein

the management information comprises at least identification information of identifying the windows, positional information of the windows and size information of the windows.

16. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9,

wherein

the windows are rectangular,

the one window is docked in a size adapted to a size of one side of the other windows, and

the one window and the other windows are a plurality of sub-windows that configures a docked window being rectangular.

17. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 10,

wherein

the presentation unit displays, in a case where the one window approaches the other windows, the docking position on at least two sides of each of the one window and the other windows.

18. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:

a size change unit that changes, in a case where a change in a size of one sub-window of the sub-windows is detected by the detection unit, a size of the other sub-windows by referring to the management information.

19. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:

a movement unit that moves, in a case where a movement of the docked window is detected by the detection unit, the docked window.

20. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:

a state saving unit that saves a state of the docked window; and

a state regeneration unit that regenerates the docked window based on the state saved by the state saving unit.

21. A workspace management system for managing a plurality of windows displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface, the system comprising:

a docking unit that docks one window of the windows with the other windows to generate a docked window including the one window and the other windows as a plurality of sub-windows;

a use history holding unit that holds operation history information for the sub-windows in the docked window; and

an arrangement recommendation unit that recommends an arrangement of the sub-windows in the docked window based on the operation history information.

22. The workspace management system as claimed in claim 21,

wherein

the arrangement recommendation unit calculates at least a use frequency of the sub-windows and a degree of similarity between the sub-windows based on the operation history information, and decide the arrangement of the sub-windows based on a calculation result obtained thereby.

23. A workspace management system for managing a plurality of windows displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface, the system comprising:

a detecting unit that detects that one window of the windows is dragged to be closer to the other windows;

a display unit that displays a docking position at which the one window and the other windows are docked in response to the detection; and

a docking unit that docks, in dragging the one window is stopped in a state where the docking position is displayed, the one window with the other windows to generate one docking window.

24. A computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for managing a plurality of windows displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface, the process comprising:

storing management information regarding the windows displayed on a display;

detecting a change in a state of each of the windows;

detecting, in a case where a movement of the one window is detected by the detection unit, the other windows positioned in the neighborhood of the one window or overlapping the one window by referring to the management information;

displaying, in a case where the other windows are detected by the window detection unit, a docking position to be docked in each of the one window and the other windows; and

docking, in a case where a stop of the movement of the one window is detected by the detection unit, the one window with the other windows via the docking position.

25. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 24,

wherein

the windows are rectangular,

the one window is docked in a size adapted to a size of one side of the other windows, and

the one window and the other windows are a plurality of sub-windows that configures a docked window being rectangular.

26. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 24, further comprising:

a movement unit that moves, in a case where a movement of the docked window is detected by the detection unit, the docked window.

27. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 24, further comprising:

a state saving unit that saves a state of the docked window; and

a state regeneration unit that regenerates the docked window based on the state saved by the state saving unit.

28. A computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for managing a plurality of windows displayed in response to start-up of an application as a workspace for user interface, the process comprising:

detecting that one window of the windows is dragged to be closer to the other windows;

displaying a docking position at which the one window and the other windows are docked in response to the detection; and

docking, in a case where dragging the one window is stopped in a state where the docking position is displayed, the one window with the other windows to generate one docking window.

29. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 28,

wherein

the display unit displays a specific side of the window to be distinguishable from other sides.

30. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 28,

wherein

the detection unit periodically monitors a state of an active window to detect a change of an event in the active window.

31. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 28,

wherein

the detection unit detects a kind of event operated on the windows.

32. The computer readable medium as claimed in claim 28,

wherein

the windows are started by different applications.