GROUPING OF WINDOWS BASED ON USER-DEFINED CONTEXTS

• US 20110131523A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Perepa, Bhargav R., Grant, Cristina L., Perepa, Sujatha, LaMar, Renee S., Lu, Fang
• Application Number:
  US12/627,401
• Publication Number:
  US 20110131523A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/777
• 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 grouping of windows based on user-defined contexts is disclosed. A computer-implemented method of grouping windows based on user-defined contexts in accordance with an embodiment includes: assigning a user-defined context to a plurality of elements in an environment; grouping the plurality of elements into at least one group based on the user-defined context assigned to each of the plurality of elements; and displaying a context window tab corresponding to each group of elements.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of grouping windows based on user-defined contexts, the method comprising:

assigning a user-defined context to a plurality of elements in an environment;

grouping the plurality of elements into at least one group based on the user-defined context assigned to each of the plurality of elements; and

displaying a context window tab corresponding to each group of elements.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a group of elements by selecting the context window tab corresponding to the group of elements.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the assigning of a user-defined context further comprises:

creating, by a user, a new user-defined context;

adding the new user-defined context to a context list; and

assigning the new user-defined context to an element.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the assigning of a user-defined context further comprises:

accessing a context list containing at least one existing user-defined context previously defined by a user; and

assigning a user-defined context from the context list to an element.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the environment is selected from the group consisting of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and a web browser.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the element is selected from the group consisting of a file and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a context list containing a plurality of user-defined contexts; and

managing the user-defined contexts in the context list.

8. A computer system comprising:

a component configured to group windows based on user-defined contexts by;

assigning a user-defined context to a plurality of elements in an environment;

grouping the plurality of elements into at least one group based on the user-defined context assigned to each of the plurality of elements; and

displaying a context window tab corresponding to each group of elements.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the component is further configured to group windows based on user-defined contexts by:

accessing a group of elements by selecting the context window tab corresponding to the group of elements.

10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the assigning of a user-defined context further comprises:

creating, by a user, a new user-defined context;

adding the new user-defined context to a context list; and

assigning the new user-defined context to an element.

11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the assigning of a user-defined context further comprises:

accessing a context list containing at least one existing user-defined context previously defined by a user; and

assigning a user-defined context from the context list to an element.

12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the environment is selected from the group consisting of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and a web browser, and wherein the element is selected from the group consisting of a file and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), respectively.

13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the component is further configured to group windows based on user-defined contexts by:

obtaining a context list containing a plurality of user-defined contexts; and

managing the user-defined contexts in the context list.

14. A computer program comprising program code embodied in at least one computer-readable medium, which when executed, enables a computer system to implement a method of grouping windows based on user-defined contexts, the method comprising:

assigning a user-defined context to a plurality of elements in an environment;

grouping the plurality of elements into at least one group based on the user-defined context assigned to each of the plurality of elements; and

displaying a context window tab corresponding to each group of elements.

15. The computer program of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

accessing a group of elements by selecting the context window tab corresponding to the group of elements.

16. The computer program of claim 14, wherein the assigning of a user-defined context further comprises:

creating, by a user, a new user-defined context;

adding the new user-defined context to a context list; and

assigning the new user-defined context to an element.

17. The computer program of claim 14, wherein the assigning of a user-defined context further comprises:

accessing a context list containing at least one existing user-defined context previously defined by a user; and

assigning a user-defined context from the context list to an element.

18. The computer program of claim 14, wherein the environment is selected from the group consisting of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and a web browser.

19. The computer program of claim 14, wherein the element is selected from the group consisting of a file and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

20. The computer program of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining a context list containing a plurality of user-defined contexts; and

managing the user-defined contexts in the context list.