US 2002/0175947 A1 · COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE INCLUDING DRAWER-LIKE WINDOWS

Abstract

A window management mechanism allows a user to open a window as a drawer or, perhaps more appropriately named, a pop-up window. The drawer is an opened window that a user has dragged down to a drawer region at the bottom of the screen such that only the title bar or some drawer handle illustration is left showing. When the user does this, the window remains open but is kept offscreen. The user may momentarily pop the window back onto the screen by clicking on the window title bar or drawer handle, or by dragging the cursor into the window icon during a drag. The window stays onscreen as long as no other windows are selected. As soon as a user selects another window, or opens a file with a double click within the drawer, the window slides back offscreen. This allows the user to set up easy access windows. Another feature of a drawer window allows the user to open them during a drag. To do so, the user drags an object or the cursor into the drawer window that is desired to be opened. When the cursor touches the bottom of the screen, or an area within a threshold of the bottom of the screen, the drawer window slides open a notch at a time. As long as the user pushes against the bottom or remains in this threshold region, the drawer slides open.

Claims39

Dependent claims

An apparatus for organizing a graphic workspace on a computer including a display having a graphic workspace, comprising:

memory to store a plurality of objects in the memory, wherein objects comprise processing units which occupy a window on the display when opened;
first window management logic, coupled with the display, that manages and displays a plurality of opened windows within a window region of the graphic workspace, wherein windows in the plurality of windows may overlap and obscure other windows in the plurality windows within the window region;
and
second window management logic, coupled with the display and the first window management means, that provides a control region within the graphic workspace, and an identifier within the control region corresponding to a particular opened window, and is responsive to user input indicating selection of the identifier within the control region for moving the particular opened window into the window region.

1 more element

An apparatus for organizing a graphic workspace on a computer including a display having a graphic workspace and a pointing device by which a user positions a cursor on the display, comprising:

means for storing a plurality of objects in the memory, wherein objects comprise processing units which occupy a window in the graphic workspace on the display when opened;
first window management means, coupled with the display, for managing a plurality of windows within a window region in the graphic workspace on the display corresponding to opened objects;
second window management means, coupled with the display and the first window management means, for providing a control region in the graphic workspace outside the window region, and an identifier within the control region corresponding to a particular opened window, and responsive to user gestures of the pointing device indicating selection of the identifier within control region for moving the particular opened window into the window region;
means for receiving an input signal to indicate a drag operation of the cursor within the graphic workspace on the display;
and
enclosure opening means, coupled to the display and the pointing device, responsive to a drag during a drag operation of the pointer over an identifier corresponding to an a particular enclosure object which encloses other objects for opening a temporary window for the particular enclosure object to display identifiers within the temporary window corresponding to objects enclosed by the particular enclosure object.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Computer system with graphical user interface including drawer-like windows

Life of this patent

Computer system with graphical user interface including drawer-like windows

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims39