CN107092421B

CN107092421B - Method and device for displaying control of application

Info

Publication number: CN107092421B
Application number: CN201710242135.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 马伟涛
Original assignee: Samsung Guangzhou Mobile R&D Center; Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Guangzhou Mobile R&D Center; Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-04-12
Filing date: 2017-04-12
Publication date: 2020-03-27
Anticipated expiration: 2037-04-12
Also published as: CN107092421A

Abstract

A method and a device for displaying a control of an application are provided. The method comprises the following steps: displaying a control of an application on a desktop; receiving an operation on the control; in response to the operation, the control is switched from a first mode to a second mode, wherein the first mode is one of an icon mode and a component mode, and the second mode is the other of the icon mode and the component mode. According to the method and the device, direct switching between the icons and the components of the applications can be realized, the operation of a user is facilitated, and the problem that the icons and the components of the same application occupy more desktop space when being displayed at the same time is avoided.

Description

Method and device for displaying control of application

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of electronic terminals, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for displaying a control of an application.

Background

Currently, controls of applications displayed on a desktop of an electronic terminal (e.g., a smart phone) are mainly classified into two types: an icon of an application and a component of the application. However, the setting operation of the components of the display application is often cumbersome, for example, a setting menu needs to be entered to set the components of the display application, or the components of the application need to be dragged onto a desktop. Also, while the components of an application are additionally displayed in response to user operations, typically on the basis of displaying icons of the application, displaying both icons and components of the same application at the same time tends to take up more of the limited desktop space.

Disclosure of Invention

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for displaying a control of an application, which can implement direct switching between an icon and a component of the application, facilitate user operations, and avoid a problem that the icon and the component of the same application occupy more desktop space when displayed at the same time.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of displaying a control of an application, including: displaying a control of an application on a desktop; receiving an operation on the control; in response to the operation, the control is switched from a first mode to a second mode, wherein the first mode is one of an icon mode and a component mode, and the second mode is the other of the icon mode and the component mode.

Optionally, the first mode is an icon mode, the second mode is a component mode, and the operation is a first operation, wherein the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode includes: and replacing the icon of the application with a different component style of the application according to a different first operation.

Optionally, the first operation is a sliding operation, wherein the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode includes: determining a sliding direction of the sliding operation; determining a component style corresponding to the sliding direction; replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

Optionally, the first operation is a stretching operation of an icon of the application, wherein the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode includes: determining a size to which a border of an icon of the application is stretched; determining a component style corresponding to the dimension; replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

Optionally, in the process of receiving a first operation on the icon of the application, thumbnails of one or more component styles of the application are displayed, so that the user completes the first operation with reference to the thumbnails to select the component styles.

Optionally, in the course of receiving a first operation on an icon of the application, a projection of one or more component styles of the application is displayed, so that a user selects a component style by referring to the projection completion first operation.

Optionally, the first operation includes a selection operation on an icon of the application and a sliding operation starting from the icon of the application, wherein when the selection operation on the icon of the application is received, a projection of one or more component styles of the application is displayed, wherein the sliding operation is a sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component style desired to be selected.

Optionally, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the desired selected component style is: sliding to a predetermined position on the projection of the desired component pattern.

Optionally, when there is an overlapping projection among the projections of the plurality of component patterns, the overlapping projections are alternately highlighted, and when the component pattern corresponding to one of the overlapping projections is the component pattern desired to be selected, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component pattern desired to be selected is: sliding to a predetermined position on one of the overlaid projections of the highlight.

Optionally, the first mode is an icon mode, the second mode is a component mode, and the operation is a first operation, wherein the step of receiving the first operation on the icon of the application includes: receiving a first operation on an icon of the application when the icon exists a corner indicating unread information; wherein the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode comprises: replacing the icon of the application with a component of the application that presents information corresponding to the corner mark.

Optionally, the first mode is a component mode, the second mode is an icon mode, and the operation is a second operation, wherein the second operation is to reduce the component of the application to a predetermined size.

Optionally, the method further comprises: receiving an operation of changing a size of a component of the application displayed on a desktop; displaying elements corresponding to the sizes in the assembly according to the changed sizes in a layout mode corresponding to the sizes; or, if an operation of making the size of the component larger is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying the elements at a predetermined position in the component after the size change, if an operation of making the size of the component smaller is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying a scroll bar; alternatively, the elements displayed in the assembly are resized to accommodate the changed dimensions of the assembly.

Optionally, if an operation is received to enlarge the size of the component, a new element is also displayed in a free area in the resized component.

Optionally, the method further comprises: displaying icons of other components and/or other applications at least one preset position of the components of the applications displayed on the desktop.

Optionally, the method further comprises: combining a plurality of components to combine the plurality of components into a single component.

Optionally, the method further comprises: storing the single component as a new component for subsequent use.

Optionally, the step of combining a plurality of components comprises: receiving a selection of the plurality of components; providing a combination style according to the selected component; receiving a selection of a combination style; and combining the plurality of components according to the selected combination style.

Optionally, the method further comprises: when the component of the application displayed on the desktop covers other icons and/or components, the other icons and/or components covered by the component are moved to a preset area on the desktop.

Optionally, the predetermined area is a free area on a floating window or a desktop.

Optionally, the method further comprises: other icons and/or components within the predetermined area are placed to desired positions according to the user's operation.

Optionally, the step of placing other icons and/or components of the predetermined area to a desired position according to the user's operation includes: receiving batch selections of the other icons and/or components by a user; receiving an operation that a user drags other icons and/or components selected in batches to a desired position; arranging the other icons and/or components selected in the batch at the expected position according to the layout mode before the other icons and/or components selected in the batch.

Optionally, the method further comprises: when the control is switched from the icon mode to the component mode, acquiring the content, which needs to be displayed, of the displayed component of the application, and displaying the acquired content through the component.

Optionally, the method further comprises: when the content needing to be displayed by the component comprises networking data, starting the updating of the networking data of the component, wherein the step of acquiring the content needing to be displayed by the component comprises the following steps: and acquiring real-time data which needs to be displayed by the component from a network.

Optionally, the method further comprises: and when the control is switched from the component mode to the icon mode, stopping acquiring the content required to be displayed by the component.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for displaying a control of an application, including: the control display unit is used for displaying the control of the application on the desktop; the operation receiving unit is used for receiving the operation of the control; and the mode switching unit is used for responding to the operation and switching the control from a first mode to a second mode, wherein the first mode is one of an icon mode and a component mode, and the second mode is the other one of the icon mode and the component mode.

Optionally, the first mode is an icon mode, the second mode is a component mode, and the operation is a first operation, wherein the mode switching unit replaces the icon of the application with a different component style of the application according to a different first operation.

Optionally, the first operation is a sliding operation, wherein the mode switching unit includes: a direction determination unit configured to determine a sliding direction of the sliding operation in response to the sliding operation; a pattern determination unit for determining a component pattern corresponding to the sliding direction; and the replacing unit is used for replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

Optionally, the first operation is a stretching operation of an icon of the application, wherein the mode switching unit includes: a size determination unit configured to determine a size to which a border of the icon of the application is stretched in response to a stretching operation; a style determination unit for determining a component style corresponding to the size; and the replacing unit is used for replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

Optionally, the operation receiving unit further displays thumbnails of one or more component styles of the application in the process of receiving a first operation on the icon of the application, so that the user completes the first operation with reference to the thumbnails to select the component styles.

Optionally, the operation receiving unit further displays projection of one or more component styles of the application in the process of receiving the first operation on the icon of the application, so that the user selects the component styles by referring to the projection completion first operation.

Optionally, the first operation includes a selection operation on an icon of the application and a sliding operation starting from the icon of the application, wherein the operation receiving unit displays a projection of one or more component styles of the application when receiving the selection operation on the icon of the application, wherein the sliding operation is a sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component style desired to be selected.

Optionally, the operation receiving unit alternately highlights the overlapped projections when there is an overlapped projection among the projections of the plurality of component patterns, and when the component pattern corresponding to one of the overlapped projections is the component pattern desired to be selected, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component pattern desired to be selected is: sliding to a predetermined position on one of the overlaid projections of the highlight.

Optionally, the first mode is an icon mode, the second mode is a component mode, and the operation is a first operation, wherein the operation receiving unit receives the first operation on the icon when the icon of the application has a corner indicating unread information; wherein the mode switching unit replaces the icon of the application with a component of the application presenting information corresponding to the corner mark.

Optionally, the operation receiving unit further receives an operation of changing a size of a component of the application displayed on the desktop; the mode switching unit is also used for displaying elements corresponding to the sizes in the assembly according to the changed sizes and the layout mode corresponding to the sizes; or, if an operation of making the size of the component larger is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying the elements at a predetermined position in the component after the size change, if an operation of making the size of the component smaller is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying a scroll bar; alternatively, the elements displayed in the assembly are resized to accommodate the changed dimensions of the assembly.

Alternatively, the mode switching unit may also display a new element in a free area in the component after the size change if an operation to enlarge the size of the component is received.

Optionally, the control display unit further displays icons of other components and/or other applications in at least one predetermined position of the components of the application displayed on the desktop.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: the device comprises a component combination unit, a component selection unit and a component selection unit, wherein the component combination unit is used for combining a plurality of components so as to combine the plurality of components into a single component.

Optionally, the component assembly unit further stores the single component as a new component for subsequent use.

Optionally, the component combining unit comprises: a first receiving unit for receiving a selection of the plurality of components; a style providing unit for providing a combined style according to the selected component; a second receiving unit for receiving a selection of a combination pattern; and the combination unit is used for combining the plurality of components according to the selected combination style.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: and the moving unit is used for moving other icons and/or components covered by the components to a preset area on the desktop when the components of the application displayed on the desktop cover other icons and/or components.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: and a placing unit for placing other icons and/or components within the predetermined area to a desired position according to a user's operation.

Optionally, the placing unit includes: the batch selection receiving unit is used for receiving batch selection of the other icons and/or components by the user; the dragging receiving unit is used for receiving the operation that the user drags other icons and/or components selected in batches to a desired position; and the arranging unit is used for arranging the other icons and/or components selected in batches at the expected positions according to the layout mode before the other icons and/or components selected in batches.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: and the acquisition unit is used for acquiring the displayed content required to be displayed by the application component when the control is switched from the icon mode to the component mode, and displaying the acquired content through the component.

Optionally, the apparatus further comprises: and the updating unit is used for starting the updating of the networking data of the component when the content needing to be displayed by the component comprises the networking data, wherein the acquiring unit acquires the real-time data needing to be displayed by the component from the network.

Optionally, the obtaining unit further stops obtaining the content that needs to be displayed by the component when the control is switched from the component mode to the icon mode.

In the method and the device for displaying the application control, direct switching between the application icon and the application component can be realized, user operation is facilitated, and the problem that more desktop space is occupied by displaying the same application icon and the same application component at the same time is solved.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.

Drawings

The above and other objects and features of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate exemplary embodiments, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart of a method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a display application control according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates examples of different component styles in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of a control of a display application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates another example of a control of a display application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates another example of a control of a display application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates another example of a control of a display application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of moving a covered control in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of moving a covered control according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of components of a display application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus to display a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

Fig. 1 illustrates a flowchart of a method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The method may be performed by an electronic terminal or may be implemented by a computer program. For example, the method may be performed by an application installed in the electronic terminal for managing a control of the application, or by a function program implemented in an operating system of the electronic terminal. As an example, the electronic terminal may be a mobile communication terminal (e.g., a smartphone), a smart wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch), a personal computer, a tablet, a game console, a digital multimedia player, etc. electronic terminals capable of installing applications.

In step S10, a control of the application is displayed on the desktop of the electronic terminal.

In step S20, an operation on the control is received.

In step S30, in response to the operation, the control is switched from a first mode to a second mode, wherein the first mode is one of an icon mode and a component mode, and the second mode is the other of the icon mode and the component mode.

Here, the icon mode of the control of the application is to display an icon of the application, and the icon of the application can be used to trigger the user interface of the application to be opened. The component mode of the application's controls is to display the components of the application that can accept some user interaction, similar to the user interface of an incompletely deployed application or a scaled user interface.

As an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: when the control is switched from the icon mode to the component mode, acquiring the content, which needs to be displayed, of the displayed component of the application, and displaying the acquired content through the component. As an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: when the content required to be displayed by the component comprises networking data, starting the updating of the networking data of the component, wherein the step of acquiring the content required to be displayed by the component can comprise the following steps: and acquiring real-time data which needs to be displayed by the component from a network. As an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: and when the control is switched from the component mode to the icon mode, stopping acquiring the content required to be displayed by the component.

When the first mode is an icon mode and the second mode is a component mode, the operation on the control of the application is a first operation; and when the first mode is a component mode and the second mode is an icon mode, the operation on the control of the application is the second operation.

As an example, the first operation may be a sliding operation, for example, the sliding operation may be a sliding in a preset direction (e.g., obliquely upward or obliquely downward) with an icon of the application as a starting point. The first operation may be a stretching operation of the icon of the application, for example, the stretching operation may be a magnifying operation of the icon of the application with two fingers by the user. The first operation may be a preset gesture operation, for example, the preset gesture operation may be sliding in a preset direction (e.g., obliquely upward or obliquely downward) with an icon of the application as a starting point, circling around the icon of the application, and the like. The first operation may be an operation of a pop-up menu of icons of the application. Therefore, the user can conveniently complete the first operation on the current desktop without switching the interface back and forth to execute the operation.

As an example, the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode may include: and replacing the icon of the application with a different component style of the application according to a different first operation.

By way of example, thumbnails of one or more component styles of the application may be displayed during receipt of a first operation on an icon of the application, such that a user completes the first operation with reference to the thumbnails to select the component styles.

As another example, a projection of one or more component styles of the application may be displayed during receipt of a first operation on an icon of the application, such that a user selects a component style with reference to the projection completing the first operation.

As an example, when the first operation is a sliding operation, the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode may include: determining a sliding direction of the sliding operation; then determining a component style corresponding to the sliding direction; and replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

As an example, the first operation may include a selection operation on an icon of the application and a sliding operation starting from the icon of the application, wherein a projection of one or more component styles of the application may be displayed when the selection operation on the icon of the application is received, wherein the sliding operation may be a sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component style desired to be selected. As a preferred example, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component style desired to be selected may be: sliding to a predetermined position on the projection of the desired component pattern. As an example, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the desired selected component style may be: starting from the icon of the application, the projected diagonal line along the component style desired to be selected is slid to a predetermined position of the diagonal line (e.g., the other end point of the diagonal line). As an example, a border of an icon of an application may be stretched with a sliding operation.

As an example, the selected operation on the icon of the application may include at least one of a long press, a pressure, a double click, a gesture operation (e.g., circle drawing), a slide over an icon, a shortcut option operation of a stylus for the icon of the application.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a display application control according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, when the user selects an icon of the clock application, the projection of different component styles of the application with the icon as a starting point can be displayed, and the user only needs to slide along the projection of the component style desired to be selected to a preset position on the projection from the icon, so that the icon of the clock application can be replaced by the component style of the clock application desired to be selected by the user.

As an example, when an application has a plurality of component styles, projections of the plurality of component styles may be displayed in a dotted border or a border of different colors, respectively. In addition, the projection of the component style corresponding to the position to which the user slides through the sliding operation may be displayed as a solid line frame or a preview of the control style corresponding to the projection may be directly displayed to prompt the user of the component style to be displayed if the sliding is stopped at the current position.

As an example, when there is an overlapping projection among the projections of the plurality of component patterns, the overlapping projections may be alternately highlighted, and when the component pattern corresponding to one of the overlapping projections is the component pattern desired to be selected, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component pattern desired to be selected may be: sliding to a predetermined position on one of the overlaid projections of the highlight. For example, the time interval for the alternate display may be about 1-2 s.

Specifically, when the user slides to a position through the sliding operation, there are a plurality of projections of the component style corresponding to the position, and the sliding operation is not finished (for example, the touch object does not leave the screen), the corresponding plurality of overlapped projections are highlighted alternately to remind the user that there are a plurality of selectable component styles at the current position. For example, when the user finishes the sliding operation (e.g., the touch object leaves the screen), the component style corresponding to one of the overlapped projections displayed last may be determined as the component style that the user wishes to select; alternatively, when the user ends the sliding operation, a prompt box for prompting the user to select one of the component styles corresponding to the overlapped projections may be displayed.

Fig. 3 shows an example of different component styles according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, with reference to the size of the icon being 1x1, the size occupied by the projection of the component pattern (1) is 2x2, the size occupied by the projection of the component pattern (2) is 2x1, and the sizes occupied by the projections of the component pattern (3) and the component pattern (4) are all 4x4 and the diagonals are the same. If the user slides along the diagonal of the projection of the component style (3) and the component style (4) to the other end point of the diagonal, the projection of the component style (3) and the projection of the component style (4) may be alternately highlighted so that the user selects the component style (3) or the component style (4).

As another example, when the first operation is a stretching operation of an icon of the application, the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode may include: determining a size to which a border of an icon of the application is stretched; then determining a component style corresponding to the size; and replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

It should be appreciated that the component style that is stretched to the closest size to the border of the application's control may be determined as the component style to be replaced. As an example, the determined component style may be displayed directly in accordance with its actual size. As another example, a border of the applicable control is stretched to size to display the determined closest component style. For example, if a border of a control of the application is stretched to a size greater than the determined closest component style, the background frame may be displayed with the border stretched to the size and the determined closest component style displayed at a predetermined position (e.g., centered) in the background frame; or the display elements in the determined closest component style may be displayed in an enlarged scale to accommodate the size of the background frame. For example, if a border of a control of the application is stretched to a size less than the determined closest component style, the background frame may be displayed with the border stretched to the size, the determined closest component style displayed in the background frame, and the scrollbar displayed; or the display elements in the determined closest component style may be scaled down to accommodate the size of the background frame. Fig. 4 and 5 illustrate another example of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 4 and 5, if the user stretches the border of the icon of the alarm application to a size of 4x2, but the alarm application does not have a component style of 4x2 size, the background frame may be displayed in a size of 4x2 and a component style of 2x1 size close to the size of 4x2 may be displayed centrally in the background frame as shown in fig. 4; or, as shown in fig. 5, a background frame may be displayed in a size of 4x2, and a component style of a size of 4x3 close to the size of 4x2 may be displayed in the background frame, and a scroll bar may be displayed.

Further, as an example, the first operation may include a selection operation on an icon of the application and a stretching operation on the icon of the application, wherein a thumbnail of one or more component styles of the application may be displayed when the selection operation on the icon of the application is received, wherein the stretching operation may be to stretch a border of the icon of the application to a size close to a component style desired to be selected, wherein the thumbnail of the component style may indicate the size of the component style.

FIG. 6 illustrates another example of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 6, when the user selects an icon of the clock application, thumbnails of different component styles of the clock application may be displayed at a specific position of the screen (e.g., the top of the screen), and the user may stretch the size of the icon of the clock application to a size close to the component style desired to be selected according to the size of the component style indicated by the thumbnail, and the icon of the clock application may be replaced with the component style of the clock application desired to be selected by the user.

As an example, the second operation may be to shrink the components of the application to a predetermined size. For example, the predetermined size may be equal to or smaller than the size of the icon. With the size of the icon being 1x1 as a reference, the second operation may be to shrink the components of the application to a size of 1x1 or less.

As an example, the second operation may include a selection operation on a component of the application and an operation of reducing a bezel of the component of the application to a predetermined size. For example, a border of a control of an application may be displayed upon receiving a user selected operation on a component of the application, and then the component of the application may be replaced with an icon of the application in response to the user zooming out the border of the control of the application to a predetermined size.

According to the above exemplary embodiment, the user can realize free conversion between the application icon and the application control through the telescopic operation of the border of the application control. And moreover, the frame of the control is stretched into different sizes, so that different component styles can be displayed. For example, with reference to the size of the icon being 1x1, the border of the control is stretched to 2x1, 4x1, 4x2, and 4x4 sizes, so that different component styles can be displayed respectively, and the icon can be displayed when the border of the control is reduced to 1x1 or less. The operation is simple, convenient and vivid, and the icons and controls of the same application do not need to be displayed simultaneously, so that the occupation of excessive limited desktop space is avoided.

Further, as an example, the step of receiving a first operation on an icon of the application may include: receiving a first operation on an icon of the application when the icon exists a corner indicating unread information; wherein the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode may comprise: replacing the icon of the application with a component of the application that presents information corresponding to the corner mark. Therefore, the unread information can be conveniently and quickly checked by the user, and corresponding processing is carried out. As an example, the first operation may be a sliding operation or a stretching operation on an icon of the application. For example, when the first operation is a stretching operation on the icon, a component that presents information corresponding to the corner mark may be displayed in accordance with a size to which the border of the icon is stretched, or a component style that is capable of presenting information corresponding to the corner mark may be displayed in accordance with a size to which the border of the icon is stretched.

FIG. 7 illustrates another example of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 7, when the information application has a new message, the user may perform a first operation on the icon of the information application, the icon of the information application may be replaced with a component for presenting the new message, and the component may be displayed (e.g., floating) on the current interface so as not to disturb the original interface layout. After the user views the new message, the border of the component is reduced to be smaller than or equal to the size of the icon, so that the component of the information application is switched into the icon of the information application.

In addition, the operation of replacing the component style of the application by the user can be received, and the current component style is replaced by the component style which is expected to be selected by the user in response to the user operation. As an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: an operation to change a size of a component of the application displayed on a desktop is received. Then, according to the changed size, displaying elements corresponding to the size in a layout mode corresponding to the size in the assembly; or, if an operation of making the size of the component larger is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying the elements at a predetermined position in the component after the size change, if an operation of making the size of the component smaller is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying a scroll bar; alternatively, the elements displayed in the assembly are resized to accommodate the changed dimensions of the assembly. Further, as an example, if an operation to enlarge the size of the component is received, a new element may also be displayed in a free area in the size-changed component.

When the size of the converted component of the application is large, other icons and/or components on the desktop may be overlaid. Thus, as an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: when the component of the application displayed on the desktop covers other icons and/or components, the other icons and/or components covered by the component are moved to a preset area on the desktop. As a preferred example, the predetermined area may be a free area on a floating window or desktop. As a preferred example, the other icons and/or components covered by the component may be displayed in a predetermined area on the desktop arranged in the layout originally on the desktop.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of moving a covered control according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 8, in response to a user's stretching operation of an icon of the cool dog music application, components of the cool dog music application corresponding to the stretching to the size are displayed. But the icons of the samsung video application are overlaid due to the large size of the components of the displayed cool dog music application. Accordingly, the icon of the samsung video application may be moved to a blank area at the top of the desktop.

Further, by way of example, icons that are no longer obscured and/or components may revert to a position originally on the desktop for display when the components are reduced in size (e.g., replaced with a smaller size component or switched to an icon).

As an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: other icons and/or components within the predetermined area are placed to desired positions according to the user's operation. As an example, the step of placing other icons and/or components of the predetermined area to a desired position according to the user's operation may include: receiving batch selections of the other icons and/or components by a user; receiving an operation that a user drags other icons and/or components selected in batches to a desired position; arranging the other icons and/or components selected in the batch at the expected position according to the layout mode before the other icons and/or components selected in the batch. It should be understood that the selected icon or component may also be dropped to a desired position in response to a single selection operation and drag operation of the user on the icon or component within the predetermined area.

FIG. 9 illustrates another example of moving a covered control according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 9, in response to a user's stretching operation of an icon of the cool dog music application, components of the cool dog music application corresponding to the stretching to the size are displayed. But because of the large size of the components of the displayed cool dog music application, icons of multiple applications and components of applications are covered. Thus, covered icons and components can be moved to a blank area at the top of the desktop. And may drop the selected icon and component at the dragged position in response to a user's selection operation (single selection or batch selection) and drag operation of the overlaid icon and component.

Further, as an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: displaying icons of other components and/or other applications at least one preset position of the components of the applications displayed on the desktop. For example, icons for other components and/or other applications may be displayed in areas of the components of the application that do not display substantial content. Fig. 10 illustrates an example of components of a display application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, icons of other applications, components of other applications, other components of a clock application may be displayed in a space area within a component of the clock application.

As an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: combining a plurality of components to combine the plurality of components into a single component. For example, the user can select components of the same application or different applications to combine into a single component according to the needs of the user.

Further, as an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: storing the single component as a new component for subsequent use. In addition, new components may also be uploaded to the server for sharing. As a preferred example, the step of combining the plurality of components may include: receiving a selection of the plurality of components; providing a combination style according to the selected component; receiving a selection of a combination style; and combining the plurality of components according to the selected combination style.

Further, as an example, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: and modifying the component style in response to the modification operation of the component style by the user. For example, the modification operation may include a modification of an addition, a deletion, a replacement, a color of a display element, a font of a display element, and the like of the component style. Further, as an example, the user-designed component styles may also be uploaded to a server for sharing.

As shown in fig. 11, an apparatus for displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a control display unit 101, an operation receiving unit 102, and a mode switching unit 103.

Specifically, the control display unit 101 is used to display a control of an application on a desktop.

The operation receiving unit 102 is configured to receive an operation on the control.

The mode switching unit 103 is configured to switch the control from a first mode to a second mode in response to the operation, where the first mode is one of an icon mode and a component mode, and the second mode is the other of the icon mode and the component mode.

As an example, the apparatus for displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: an acquisition unit (not shown). The acquisition unit is used for acquiring the content which is displayed and needs to be displayed by the application component when the control is switched from the icon mode to the component mode, and displaying the acquired content through the component. Further, as an example, the apparatus for displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: an update unit (not shown). The updating unit is used for starting the updating of the networking data of the component when the content needing to be displayed by the component comprises the networking data, wherein the acquiring unit can acquire the real-time data needing to be displayed by the component from a network. As an example, the obtaining unit may further stop obtaining the content that needs to be displayed by the component when the control is switched from the component mode to the icon mode.

As an example, the mode switching unit 103 may replace an icon of the application with a different component style of the application according to a different first operation.

As an example, when the first operation is a sliding operation, the mode switching unit 103 may include: a direction determining unit (not shown), a pattern determining unit (not shown), and a replacing unit (not shown). The direction determination unit is used for responding to the sliding operation and determining the sliding direction of the sliding operation. The pattern determining unit is used for determining a component pattern corresponding to the sliding direction. The replacing unit is used for replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

As an example, when the first operation is a stretching operation of an icon of the application, the mode switching unit 103 may include: a size determining unit (not shown), a pattern determining unit (not shown), and a replacing unit (not shown). The size determination unit is configured to determine a size to which a border of the icon of the application is stretched in response to a stretching operation. The pattern determination unit is used for determining a component pattern corresponding to the size. The replacing unit is used for replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

As an example, the operation receiving unit 102 may further display thumbnails of one or more component styles of the application in the course of receiving a first operation on an icon of the application, so that the user completes the first operation with reference to the thumbnails to select the component styles.

As another example, the operation receiving unit 102 may further display a projection of one or more component styles of the application in the course of receiving the first operation on the icon of the application, so that the user selects the component style by referring to the projection completion first operation.

As an example, the first operation may include a selection operation on an icon of the application and a sliding operation starting from the icon of the application, wherein the operation receiving unit 102 may display a projection of one or more component styles of the application when the selection operation on the icon of the application is received, wherein the sliding operation may be a sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component style desired to be selected. As a preferred example, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component style desired to be selected may be: sliding to a predetermined position on the projection of the desired component pattern.

As an example, the operation receiving unit 102 may alternately highlight the overlapping projections when there is an overlapping projection among the projections of the plurality of component patterns, and when the component pattern corresponding to one of the overlapping projections is the component pattern desired to be selected, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component pattern desired to be selected may be: sliding to a predetermined position on one of the overlaid projections of the highlight.

As an example, the operation receiving unit 102 may receive a first operation on an icon of the application when the icon exists a logo indicating unread information; wherein the mode switching unit 103 may replace the icon of the application with a component of the application presenting information corresponding to the corner mark.

As an example, the second operation may be to shrink the components of the application to a predetermined size.

As an example, the operation receiving unit 102 may also receive an operation of changing a size of a component of the application displayed on a desktop; the mode switching unit 103 may also display, in the component, elements corresponding to the size in a layout manner corresponding to the size, according to the changed size; or, if an operation of making the size of the component larger is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying the elements at a predetermined position in the component after the size change, if an operation of making the size of the component smaller is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying a scroll bar; alternatively, the elements displayed in the assembly are resized to accommodate the changed dimensions of the assembly. As an example, the mode switching unit 103 may also display a new element in a free area in the component after the size change if an operation to enlarge the size of the component is received.

As an example, the apparatus for displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: a mobile unit (not shown). The mobile unit is used for moving other icons and/or components covered by the components to a preset area on the desktop when the components of the application displayed on the desktop cover other icons and/or components. As an example, the predetermined area may be a free area on a floating window or desktop.

As an example, the apparatus for displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: a placing unit (not shown). The placing unit is used for placing other icons and/or components in the preset area to a desired position according to the operation of a user.

As an example, the placing unit may include: a batch selection receiving unit (not shown), a drag receiving unit (not shown), and a placement unit (not shown). The batch selection receiving unit is used for receiving batch selection of the other icons and/or components by the user. The dragging receiving unit is used for receiving the operation of dragging other icons and/or components selected in batches to a desired position by a user. The arranging unit is used for arranging the other icons and/or components selected in batches at the expected positions according to the layout mode before the other icons and/or components selected in batches.

As an example, the control display unit 101 may also display icons of other components and/or other applications at least one predetermined position of the components of the application displayed on the desktop.

As an example, the apparatus for displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include: a component combining unit (not shown). The component combination unit is used for combining a plurality of components so as to combine the plurality of components into a single component. As an example, the component combination unit may also store the single component as a new component for subsequent use.

As an example, the component combining unit may further include: a first receiving unit (not shown), a pattern providing unit (not shown), a second receiving unit (not shown), a combining unit (not shown). The first receiving unit is used for receiving the selection of the plurality of components. The style providing unit is used for providing a combined style according to the selected components. The second receiving unit is for receiving a selection of a combination pattern. The combination unit is used for combining the plurality of components according to the selected combination style.

According to the method and the device for displaying the control of the application, disclosed by the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the direct switching between the icon and the component of the application can be realized, the operation of a user is convenient, and the problem that more desktop space is occupied by displaying the icon and the component of the same application at the same time is avoided.

Further, it should be understood that each unit in the apparatus for displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be implemented as a hardware component and/or a software component. The individual units may be implemented, for example, using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), depending on the processing performed by the individual units as defined by the skilled person.

Further, the method of displaying a control of an application according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be implemented as computer code in a computer-readable recording medium. The computer code can be implemented by those skilled in the art from the description of the method above. The computer code when executed in a computer implements the above-described method of the present invention.

Although a few exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a control of an application, comprising:

displaying a control of an application on a desktop;

receiving an operation on the control;

in response to the operation, the control switches from a first mode to a second mode,

wherein the first mode is one of an icon mode and a component mode, the second mode is the other of the icon mode and the component mode,

wherein when the control of the application is in an icon mode, displaying the icon of the application; displaying a component in a user interface of the application when a control of the application is in a component mode,

when the first mode is an icon mode, the second mode is a component mode, and the operation is a first operation, the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode includes: replacing the icon of the application with a different component style of the application according to a different first operation, wherein the different component styles are arranged in different ways, the size of the control of the application in the component mode is larger than that of the control of the application in the icon mode,

wherein the method further comprises: when the control is switched from the icon mode to the component mode, acquiring the content, which needs to be displayed, of the displayed component of the application, and displaying the acquired content through the component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation is a sliding operation, wherein switching the control from the first mode to the second mode comprises:

determining a sliding direction of the sliding operation;

determining a component style corresponding to the sliding direction;

replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation is a stretching operation of an icon of the application, wherein the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode comprises:

determining a size to which a border of an icon of the application is stretched;

determining a component style corresponding to the dimension;

replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein in receiving the first operation on the icon of the application, thumbnails of one or more component styles of the application are displayed so that a user completes the first operation with reference to the thumbnails to select the component styles.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein in receiving the first operation on the icon of the application, a projection of one or more component styles of the application is displayed so that a user selects a component style by referring to the projection completion first operation.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first operation includes a selection operation of an icon of the application and a sliding operation starting from the icon of the application,

wherein, when a selected operation on an icon of the application is received, a projection of one or more component styles of the application is displayed,

wherein the sliding operation is a sliding operation corresponding to a projection of a desired selected component style.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the desired selected component style is: sliding to a predetermined position on the projection of the desired component pattern.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein when there is an overlapping projection among the projections of the plurality of component patterns, the overlapping projections are alternately highlighted,

when the component style corresponding to one of the overlapped projections is the component style desired to be selected, the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the component style desired to be selected is: sliding to a predetermined position on one of the overlaid projections of the highlight.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a first operation on an icon of the application comprises: receiving a first operation on an icon of the application when the icon exists a corner indicating unread information;

wherein the step of switching the control from the first mode to the second mode comprises: replacing the icon of the application with a component of the application that presents information corresponding to the corner mark.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second operation is to reduce the component of the application to a predetermined size when the first mode is a component mode, the second mode is an icon mode, and the operation is the second operation.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an operation of changing a size of a component of the application displayed on a desktop;

displaying elements corresponding to the sizes in the assembly according to the changed sizes in a layout mode corresponding to the sizes; or, if an operation of making the size of the component larger is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying the elements at a predetermined position in the component after the size change, if an operation of making the size of the component smaller is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying a scroll bar; alternatively, the elements displayed in the assembly are resized to accommodate the changed dimensions of the assembly.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein if an operation is received to grow the size of the component, a new element is also displayed in a free area in the resized component.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying icons of other components and/or other applications at least one preset position of the components of the applications displayed on the desktop.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: combining a plurality of components to combine the plurality of components into a single component.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: storing the single component as a new component for subsequent use.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of combining a plurality of components comprises:

receiving a selection of the plurality of components;

providing a combination style according to the selected component;

receiving a selection of a combination style;

and combining the plurality of components according to the selected combination style.

17. The method of claim 1 or 11, further comprising: when the component of the application displayed on the desktop covers other icons and/or components, the other icons and/or components covered by the component are moved to a preset area on the desktop.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the predetermined area is a free area on a floating window or desktop.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

other icons and/or components within the predetermined area are placed to desired positions according to the user's operation.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of placing other icons and/or components of the predetermined area to a desired position according to the user's manipulation comprises:

receiving batch selections of the other icons and/or components by a user;

receiving an operation that a user drags other icons and/or components selected in batches to a desired position;

arranging the other icons and/or components selected in the batch at the expected position according to the layout mode before the other icons and/or components selected in the batch.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising: when the content required to be displayed by the component comprises networking data, starting the updating of the networking data of the component,

wherein, the step of obtaining the content required to be displayed by the component comprises the following steps: and acquiring real-time data which needs to be displayed by the component from a network.

22. The method of claim 1 or 21, further comprising:

and when the control is switched from the component mode to the icon mode, stopping acquiring the content required to be displayed by the component.

23. An apparatus to display controls for an application, comprising:

the control display unit is used for displaying the control of the application on the desktop;

the operation receiving unit is used for receiving the operation of the control;

a mode switching unit for switching the control from a first mode to a second mode in response to the operation,

wherein, when the first mode is an icon mode, the second mode is a component mode, and the operation is a first operation, the mode switching unit replaces the applied icon with the applied different component styles according to different first operations, wherein, the layout modes of the different component styles are different, the size of the applied control in the component mode is larger than that of the applied control in the icon mode,

wherein the apparatus further comprises: and the acquisition unit is used for acquiring the displayed content required to be displayed by the application component when the control is switched from the icon mode to the component mode, and displaying the acquired content through the component.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the first operation is a sliding operation, wherein the mode switching unit comprises:

a direction determination unit configured to determine a sliding direction of the sliding operation in response to the sliding operation;

a pattern determination unit for determining a component pattern corresponding to the sliding direction;

and the replacing unit is used for replacing the icon of the application with the determined component style.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the first operation is a stretching operation of an icon of the application, wherein the mode switching unit comprises:

a size determination unit configured to determine a size to which a border of the icon of the application is stretched in response to a stretching operation;

a style determination unit for determining a component style corresponding to the size;

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the operation receiving unit further displays thumbnails of one or more component styles of the application in the course of receiving a first operation on the icon of the application, so that the user completes the first operation with reference to the thumbnails to select the component styles.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the operation receiving unit further displays a projection of one or more component styles of the application in the course of receiving the first operation on the icon of the application, so that the user selects the component style by referring to the projection completion first operation.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first operation includes a selection operation of an icon of the application and a sliding operation starting from the icon of the application,

wherein the operation receiving unit displays projection of one or more component styles of the application when receiving a selected operation on an icon of the application,

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the sliding operation corresponding to the projection of the desired selected component pattern is: sliding to a predetermined position on the projection of the desired component pattern.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the operation reception unit alternately highlights overlapping projections when there is an overlapping projection among the projections of the plurality of component patterns,

31. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the operation receiving unit receives a first operation on an icon of the application when the icon exists a logo indicating unread information;

wherein the mode switching unit replaces the icon of the application with a component of the application presenting information corresponding to the corner mark.

32. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the second operation is to reduce the component of the application to a predetermined size when the first mode is a component mode, the second mode is an icon mode, and the operation is the second operation.

33. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein,

the operation receiving unit also receives an operation of changing a size of a component of the application displayed on a desktop;

the mode switching unit is also used for displaying elements corresponding to the sizes in the assembly according to the changed sizes and the layout mode corresponding to the sizes; or, if an operation of making the size of the component larger is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying the elements at a predetermined position in the component after the size change, if an operation of making the size of the component smaller is received, not changing the size of the elements displayed in the component and displaying a scroll bar; alternatively, the elements displayed in the assembly are resized to accommodate the changed dimensions of the assembly.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the mode switching unit further displays a new element in a free area in the component after the size change if an operation to make the size of the component larger is received.

35. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the control display unit further displays icons of other components and/or other applications at least one predetermined location of the components of the application displayed on the desktop.

36. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

the device comprises a component combination unit, a component selection unit and a component selection unit, wherein the component combination unit is used for combining a plurality of components so as to combine the plurality of components into a single component.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the component assembly unit further stores the single component as a new component for subsequent use.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the component combining unit comprises:

a first receiving unit for receiving a selection of the plurality of components;

a style providing unit for providing a combined style according to the selected component;

a second receiving unit for receiving a selection of a combination pattern;

and the combination unit is used for combining the plurality of components according to the selected combination style.

39. The apparatus of claim 23 or 33, further comprising:

and the moving unit is used for moving other icons and/or components covered by the components to a preset area on the desktop when the components of the application displayed on the desktop cover other icons and/or components.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the predetermined area is a free area on a floating window or desktop.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising:

and a placing unit for placing other icons and/or components within the predetermined area to a desired position according to a user's operation.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the placing unit comprises:

the batch selection receiving unit is used for receiving batch selection of the other icons and/or components by the user;

the dragging receiving unit is used for receiving the operation that the user drags other icons and/or components selected in batches to a desired position;

and the arranging unit is used for arranging the other icons and/or components selected in batches at the expected positions according to the layout mode before the other icons and/or components selected in batches.

43. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

an updating unit, configured to start updating of networking data of the component when the content that the component needs to display includes networking data,

wherein, the acquisition unit acquires real-time data which needs to be displayed by the component from a network.

44. The apparatus of claim 23 or 43,

the acquisition unit also stops acquiring the content required to be displayed by the component when the control is switched from the component mode to the icon mode.