Visual indication for hung applications
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsCharles Cummins, Gerald F. Maffeo, Lyon K. F. Wong, Reiner Fink
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and systems for providing a visual indication of hung applications are provided. When an application is in a hung state, an application window is replaced with a proxy window. The appearance of the proxy window is altered when a user attempts to interact with the proxy window.
Claims20
A computer implemented method of alerting a user that an underlying application is in an unexpected hung state, the method comprising:
- (a) capturing application display data for an application window, wherein the application window corresponds with the underlying application;
- (b) determining when the underlying application is in an unexpected hung state;
- (c) when the underlying application is in the unexpected hung state, creating a proxy window that includes the captured application display data, wherein the proxy window provides an indication, by altering the appearance of the proxy window from the captured application display data, that the underlying application is in an unexpected hung state;
- (d) replacing on a display device the application window with the proxy window;
- (e) determining when a user uses an input device to interact with the proxy window;
- and
- (f) when the user interacts with the proxy window, altering the appearance of the proxy window.
In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display and a user interface selection device, a method of alerting a user that an application is in an unexpected hung state, the method comprising:
- (a) displaying on the display an application window;
- (b) replacing the application window with a proxy window when the application is in an unexpected hung state;
- (c) receiving a command indicative of the user interface selection device attempting to interact with the proxy window;
- and
- (d) in response to (c), altering the appearance of the proxy window such that the appearance of the proxy window varies from the captured application display data to visually indicate the application is in an unexpected hung state.
A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for causing a computer device to perform the steps comprising:
- (a) displaying on a display an application window corresponding to an application;
- (b) capturing application display data for the application window;
- (c) determining if the application is in an unexpected hung state;
- (d) replacing the application window with a proxy window when the application is in the hung state;
- (e) when a user attempts to interact with the proxy window, changing the appearance of the proxy window, such that the appearance of the proxy window varies from the captured application display data to visually indicate the application is in an unexpected hung state;
- (f) determining when the application is no longer in the hung state;
- and
- (g) replacing the proxy window with an application window when the application is no longer in the hung state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.