KR100756590B1 - Windows focusing method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

In a graphical user interface including a display area for displaying a plurality of windows 530-600, a method for controlling the arrangement of windows in display area 500, wherein each predetermined portion of the window is visible to the user. Arranging a window in the display area. As the window gains focus 590, it repositions the windows in the display area to be visible to the user and rearranges the other windows so that each remains a visible portion of the predetermined portion of the window.

Focus, window, graphical user interface, cascade, display area

Description

Window focusing method and apparatus

The present invention relates to graphical user interfaces, and more particularly, to a system and method for arranging windows within a graphical user interface.

In computer-based systems using a window-based display environment, the amount of space available within the display area of the system in which the window can be displayed is typically limited by the size of the screen of the computer system and the resolution of the display area. .

Each window is typically used to display each application, although one application may use more than one window at the same time to display different types of data and allow the user to enter different data. Multiple document interface applications (MDI) allow opening and displaying several documents simultaneously in each separate window. For example, MDI can be used to create a spreadsheet application that allows a user to open multiple spreadsheets at the same time. MDI applications typically share a workspace window, often called a parent, and other windows, often called child windows, are used to display documents, questions, and other data. In general, child windows cannot be moved out of range of the parent window.

Depending on the particular application, the window has a fixed size or occupies a variable amount of display area that can be resized by the user or computer system.

In general, the user will only pay attention to the user at any one time in a window or a single child window in an MDI application. Most environments activate a window to receive commands from an input device and give the window what is called 'focus', and if the computer system is a single task, it gives the window a processable resource. The window is shown to be in focus to the user by moving it to the foreground of the display area so that it is in front of all other windows, and the color of the window's title bar can be changed. Windows can generally be located and relocated by a user or computer system. Even in a multitasking environment where multiple operations can be performed simultaneously, such as displaying a video stream within one window while the computer system allows the user to surf the World Wide Web in another window, the user is typically a single moment. You can't focus on more than one window.

Windows generally gain or lose focus either by being selected or unselected by the user (by clicking a mouse in the window or by using a predetermined combination of keys) or through some operation of the computer system. For example, if an error occurs, the error window is given focus to identify the user or when the email arrives, the email application is given focus to notify the user of the mail.

A particular problem with window-based display environments is that the window with focus hides the extent of the title and content of another window that is open for the user to be invisible. Where there are a large number of windows, or many very large windows, windows that are completely hidden by other windows, when the user is required to select to view the title bar or content of a partially hidden window, to find another window There is an inconvenience in that it is required to close the window.

In an attempt to allow the user to reduce window hiding, some window-based display environments have cascade, tile, and stack arrangement methods.

The cascading arrangement method is a method of arranging windows to be positioned above each window from the top left of the display area to the bottom right corner. The first window is generally located at pixel coordinates (0, 0) of the display area, and each successive window is positioned overlapping a predetermined number of pixels to the right of the preceding window, shifted down within the display area, At least each title bar of the window is visible. Cascading can begin at any location within the display area, and the window can be cascaded in any direction, not necessarily straight lines.

The tiling arrangement method is a method of arranging windows like a mosaic so as to fill a client area of the control application and no window overlaps another window. This is done by resizing the resizable window, filling the display area as much as possible in the combination. In general, all tiled windows are resized to have the same size. This severely reduces the size of the window so that if a large number of windows are tiled, only a small portion of the title and window area can be seen. In order to use a tiled window, it is necessary to resize the window.

Stacking arrange is a way of tiling a window only vertically so that the window fills the client area of the control application and can be resized so that no window overlaps another window. This arrangement, of course, has similar limitations to tiling.

Current window-based display environments provide a method of arranging through menu options that only have to be manually selected each time you want to rearrange the windows.

Each of these approaches provides an array of windows once per user's request, and once a window is selected, it has the limitation of bringing it to focus and hiding another window. Examples of this problem are shown with reference to FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C. In FIG. 1A, four windowed applications are shown. 1B shows each of four windows after cascading. 1C illustrates the occlusion that may occur after multiple windows are selected in succession.

According to a feature of the invention, within a graphical user interface including a display area for displaying a plurality of windows, a method for controlling the arrangement of windows in the display area includes arranging windows in the display area, each of The predetermined portion of the window is visible to the user when the window gains focus, the windows within the display area are rearranged for the user to view, and the other is arranged so that at least a substantial portion of the predetermined portion is visible to the user in each window. Reposition the window.

Preferably, the window is repositioned on the z-axis of the display area when focusing is obtained. The window is also rearranged on the x-axis and / or y-axis in the display area.

The window may be arranged to be cascaded within the display area such that the window is cascaded from the window having focus. Preferably, the windows are arranged in the display area to be vertically cascaded, and the window with focus may be arranged to protrude from the cascade. A window without focus can be straight in a row vertically. Alternatively, they can be staggered horizontally through some or all of the display area.

The focused window may be rearranged horizontally to protrude from the cascade. The display area of the window can be rearranged vertically so that it is within the entire display area. After repositioning, a window without focus having a significant portion of the predetermined portion obscured by the window gaining focus may be repositioned horizontally.

An advantage of the present invention is that the window with or without focus is arranged to best see. This is preferably done dynamically as the focus changes each (some event that causes the position of the window and the starscape within the focus), and the windows are arranged for the best visibility.

The display area of the window without focus visible to the user may be covered.

By covering the display area of the window, it becomes clear to the user that the uncovered window does not have focus. Additionally, system sources are needed that need to maintain the contents of the window in accordance with the data.

The rank will be associated with each window and the arrangement of the windows in the display area will be performed according to the rank. The rank is defined in terms of the vertical position and / or z-axis position of the window in the display area.

In combination with the rank representing the vertical position associated with each window in the first arrangement within the cascade type arrangement, subsequent rearrangements are based on the rank, and processing of the vertical position is avoided.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a media display apparatus for displaying a window comprising a window corresponding to a plurality of received signals, the apparatus comprising a display area and a processor, the processor comprising a window in the display area. Display the received signal within, and the window is arranged according to the method described above.

The received signals may include selected from among television, audio, email, world wide web data, teletext, and electronic program guide.
Examples of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1A-1C show examples of known focusing techniques.

2A and 2B are schematic diagrams of multiple application windows in a window-based display environment arranged in accordance with the method of the present invention.

3A-3D illustrate multiple application windows in a window-based display environment arranged in accordance with another method of the present invention.

4A-4D illustrate multiple application windows in a window-based display environment arranged in accordance with another method of the present invention.

5 is an illustrative diagram of a television device of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

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2A and 2B illustrate multiple application windows in a window-based display environment arranged in accordance with the method of the present invention.

In FIG. 2A, the window is cascaded from the upper right to the lower left. No window is currently selected and therefore does not have focus. In FIG. 2B, one of the application windows is selected by the user and therefore gets focus. The window-based display environment is arranged to automatically cascade a window without focus from having focus as shown in FIG. 2B. When changing each focus, the cascade operation is repeated to maximize the display area of the unfocused window.

3A and 3B illustrate different application windows within a window-based display environment arranged in accordance with another method of the present invention.

In FIG. 3A, multiple application windows are shown, none of which have focus. The window is cascaded vertically down to the left of the display area within the tower style. When the application window is given focus as if selected by the user, the foreground of the display area is shifted to the right of the display area and prevented from being overlapped by other windows, as shown in FIG. 3B for the fifth application window. moved to the foreground. For example, when an application window in focus loses focus, such as when a user selects another application window, the application window returns to the left side of the display area to the appropriate location within the tower.

The algorithm of the arranged method is shown as follows.

Algorithm A: Position when no window is in focus

1. Position the first window in the upper left of the display area.

2. Position successive windows that are offset vertically with respect to each other.

Algorithm A ': Position when a window is the given focus

1. Reposition the window according to Algorithm A.

2. Position the selected window on the right edge of the window relative to the right edge of the display area.

When there is a limited display area, the windows can be located in a tower arrangement where only their title bars are visible. Algorithm A 'is changed and in addition to positioning the selected window relative to the right end of the display area, the selected window can also be moved vertically so that the entire contents of the window are within the display area so that it can be viewed. An example of this is shown in FIG. 3C and shows that the window for the eleventh application moves up and to the right because the eleventh window is partially out of the display area within the original cascade.

In another alternative to arranging windows in a linear tower, the outside of the focus window can be arranged to indicate a certain amount of indentation to reveal a greater proportion of the perimeter of each window. An example of such an arrangement is shown in FIG. 3D, wherein the windows are arranged in a saw blade pattern. Within this arrangement, during the process of positioning the windows according to Algorithm A, the x-axis position of each window depends on the selected window and is located relative to the right side of the display area. This may ensure that the selected window does not overlap the title bar of another window.

In another arrangement according to the method of the present invention, the available width of the display area is used to snake the windows from top to bottom from right to left to ensure a substantial position to view the title bar of each window. An example of this is shown in FIG. 4A.

The algorithm for arranging windows in this way is represented by:

Algorithm B

1. Position the first window at coordinates (0,0) of the display area (upper right for the arrangement shown in FIG. 4A).

2. Place the next window on top of each conventional window, and each window is offset by dx and dy to the following conditions within the x and y axes, respectively: "The perimeter of the window is defined by the display area on the x axis. Exceeded the boundary? "Or are all windows positioned?

3. If all windows are at the end, set dx to-(dx).

4. Go to step (2).

When the application window gains focus, it is moved to the front of the display area, that is, to the highest position on the z axis, the remaining window is cascaded behind it as shown in FIG. 4B, and the third application window is brought into focus. The encased, cascaded window arrangement is adjusted as shown in FIG. 4D so that the window is positioned horizontally.

The algorithm of windows arranged in this way is shown next.

Algorithm C

1. Position the window with focus on the right edge on the right edge of the display area.

2. For a window perpendicular to the window with focus, cascade upwards to the right corner of the display area and, if necessary, move through the display area according to Step 2 of Algorithm B.

3. For the window below the vertical of the window with focus, cascade in the lower right direction of the display area and move the display area according to step 2 of the algorithm described above if necessary.

The offset dx can be changed to prevent the vertical edges of the window from being aligned while the snake pattern progresses in the display area. For example, instead of changing dx to-(dx), a change factor such as changing dx to (dx x -2/3) can be applied. Moreover, alternating or irregularly selected between two or more values may cause the change factor to change itself. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, 2/3 and 4/3 change factors are used alternatively.

Although no window has been focused, the contents of one window will continue to be visible to the user. To avoid confusion on the user side and to reduce load handling (since computer systems must be dedicated to maintaining the contents of the viewable window being loaded or updated), the mask only allows the title bar to be viewed as another window. It may be located in a viewable window area. In this way, the computer system should ensure that the content of the window that the user is not currently interested in recursively.

The windows are arranged in a cascaded manner such that each window is on top of the previous window, or when one window has focus, the windows above and below the selected window are arranged the tallest with the window closest to the window in focus, The next high window is positioned to be placed next. To prevent recalculation of the window position each time the window gains focus, the rank may be initially associated with each window and repositioned based on the rank.

To illustrate the preferred use of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a television device 500 having access to an electronic program guide and Internet service. The television device 500 includes a processor 510 capable of processing and displaying television screens and other data received via an antenna 520 and / or data connection, such as satellite data supply, network connection, or telephone line. Depending on the display format selected by the user or predetermined for a particular television device, the processor displays each received signal in separate windows 530-600 on the television device 500. Received signals other than standard television channels include electronic program guides and other signals for e-mail, teletext and world wide web browsing. Each window 530-600, which is located within the very limited display area of the television and processor 510, is programmed to arrange the window or subset window according to one of the previously described methods. A "tower cascade" as described above is more effective in this environment. Since the reception bandwidth may be limited, it would be desirable for the windows 540-600 to display the television signal to be masked when not in use (not in focus).

Other uses of the present invention may include use in mobile phones and telecommunications devices and in devices that utilize a substantially window-based user interface.

Claims (13)

A method of controlling an arrangement of windows in a display area in a graphical user interface comprising a display area displaying a plurality of windows, the method comprising: Arranging the windows in the display area such that a predetermined portion of each window is visible to the user; If the window gains focus, repositioning the focused window in the display area so that it is visible to the user without being overlaid by other windows; And Rearranging other windows such that at least a portion of the predetermined portion of each window remains visible to the user, And arranged in the display area such that the windows are cascaded and the focused window is arranged to protrude from the cascade. The method of claim 1, And the windows are vertically cascaded and repositioned horizontally such that the focused window protrudes from the cascade. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And when the window gains focus, repositions it on the z-axis of the display area. delete delete The method according to claim 1 or 2, And when the window gains focus, repositions it on the x-axis and / or y-axis of the display area. The method of claim 2, And the focused window is rearranged vertically such that the display area of the focused window is entirely within the display area. The method according to claim 2 or 7, And the non-focused windows having a substantial portion of the predetermined portion obscured by the focused window after the window is repositioned are horizontally repositioned. The method of claim 8, And a rank defines the relative vertical position and / or z-axis position of the window in the display area. A media display apparatus for displaying windows, comprising windows corresponding to a plurality of received signals, the method comprising: The apparatus includes a display area and a processor, wherein the processor displays the received signals in windows of the display area, The window of claim 1, wherein the windows are arranged in accordance with the method steps of claim 1. The method of claim 10, And the received signals comprise selected ones of television, audio, email, World Wide Web data, teletext, and electronic program guide. The method of claim 10, The windows also display selected ones of office applications, control applications for the media display device, and control applications for the received signals. A computer readable storage medium comprising executable instructions for performing the method steps of claim 1.

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