Method for dragging and dropping between multiple layered windows
First Claim
1. A method for manipulating a plurality of windows on a display, comprising the steps of:
- displaying a plurality of cascaded, open windows on a display to establish an original display layered order, wherein an active window is the window on a first display layer, windows on a display layer other than the first display layer are inactive windows and at least one of said inactive window is partially hidden;
receiving an indication of an icon being selected;
receiving an indication of the icon being dragged;
monitoring the current location of the icon;
starting a timer, if the icon is found being within a visible portion of first one of said inactive windows; and
displaying said first inactive window on the first display layer, if the icon is found to be held within a visible portion of said first inactive window until said timer is expired.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods for manipulating a plurality of layered windows on a display are described. Specifically, the manipulation of layered windows includes moving a pointer to a visible portion of a partially hidden window and holding the pointer at the visible portion for a predetermined period of time. Responsive to the holding for a predetermined period of time, the partially hidden window is revealed. The manipulation of the layered windows can be used to drag and drop an icon from an active window to an inactive window. During the drag of an object, holding down a predetermined key on the keyboard can send the top-most-layered window to the back thereby disclosing other windows. If no drop occurs at the end of a drag operation, windows are returned to their original layers. However, if a drop occurs, the window in which the object is dropped becomes the topmost layer while other windows return to their original layers.
141 Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A method for manipulating a plurality of windows on a display, comprising the steps of:
-
displaying a plurality of cascaded, open windows on a display to establish an original display layered order, wherein an active window is the window on a first display layer, windows on a display layer other than the first display layer are inactive windows and at least one of said inactive window is partially hidden;
receiving an indication of an icon being selected;
receiving an indication of the icon being dragged;
monitoring the current location of the icon;
starting a timer, if the icon is found being within a visible portion of first one of said inactive windows; and
displaying said first inactive window on the first display layer, if the icon is found to be held within a visible portion of said first inactive window until said timer is expired. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A computer readable medium containing a program which executes the steps of:
-
receiving an indication of an icon being selected;
receiving an indication of the icon being dragged;
monitoring the current location of the icon;
starting a timer, if the icon is found being within a visible portion of first one of said inactive windows; and
displaying said first inactive window on the first display layer, if the icon is found to be held within a visible portion of said first inactive window until said timer is expired. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A computer system comprising:
-
means for displaying a plurality of cascaded, open windows on a display to establish an original display layered order, wherein an active window is the window on a first display layer, windows on a display layer other than the first display layer are inactive windows and at least one of said inactive window is partially hidden;
means for receiving an indication of an icon being selected;
means for receiving an indication of the icon being dragged;
means for monitoring the current location of the icon;
means for starting a timer, if the icon is found being within a visible portion of first one of said inactive windows; and
means for displaying said first inactive window on the first display layer, if the icon is found to be held within a visible portion of said first inactive window until said timer is expired. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A computer system comprising:
-
a display device for displaying a plurality of cascaded, open windows on a display to establish an original display layered order, wherein an active window is the window on a first display layer, windows on a display layer other than the first display layer are inactive windows and at least one of said inactive window is partially hidden;
a cursor control device for receiving a request for selecting an icon and for moving the selected icon; and
a processor for monitoring the current location of the icon, wherein the processor starts a timer if the icon is found being within a visible portion of first one of said inactive window and reveals said first inactive window on the first display layer, if the icon is found to be held within a visible portion of said first inactive window until said timer is expired. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method for manipulating a first and second window on a display, comprising the steps of:
-
receiving an indication of a selected icon being dragged from the first window to the second window;
displaying said second window as an active window based on whether the icon is held within a visible portion of the second window for a predetermined amount of time. - View Dependent Claims (26)
-
Specification