Positioning user interface components based on application layout and user workflows

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11099863-B2
Application number	US-202016813689-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2020
Priority date	Oct 1, 2019
Publication date	Aug 24, 2021
Grant date	Aug 24, 2021

Abstract

Technologies are disclosed herein for positioning application windows based on existing application layout and anticipated user workflows. When an existing application window and a recently launched application window are determined to be related to a workflow, and the default position of the recently launched application window is determined to overlap with the existing application window, the recently launched application window may be displayed in a non-default display region to avoid occlusion. By avoiding occlusion, the foldable device may provide a user-friendly application layout, reducing the number of times a user will move, resize, or switch between application windows in the workflow. This in turn may improve device performance and efficiency while reducing errors attributable to user input. The user-friendly layout may also enable a user to view more content at the same time, increasing productivity, reducing eye strain, facilitating operations such as cut and paste, etc.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for selecting a display region of a foldable device in which to display an application window, comprising:
analyzing activity data to identify a plurality of application windows associated with a workflow;
receiving an indication of an activation of a user interface (UI) element in a first display region of the foldable device, wherein the UI element is associated with displaying the application window;
determining that the application window and an existing application window are associated with the workflow by determining that identifying information of the existing application window matches identifying information of a first of the plurality of application windows and by determining that identifying information of the application window matches identifying information of a second of the plurality of application windows;
determining that the existing application window is located in a first display region of the foldable device;
determining that a default location of the application window is located in the first display region based on the UI element being located in the first display region;
in response to determining that the application window and the existing application window are associated with the workflow, and in response to determining that the existing application window and the default location of the application window are located in the first display region, displaying the application window in a second display region of the foldable device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of application windows comprise a previous instance of the existing application window and a previous instance of the application window, and wherein the activity data indicates that the plurality of application windows are associated with the workflow when the previous instance of the application window and the previous instance of the existing application window have accessed a same data resource.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of application windows comprise a previous instance of the existing application window and a previous instance of the application window, and wherein the activity data indicates that the plurality of application windows are associated with the workflow when the previous instance of the application window and the previous instance of the existing application have been displayed at a same time in adjacent display regions of the foldable device for more than a defined percentage of time or more than a defined amount of time.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of application windows comprise a previous instance of the existing application window and a previous instance of the application window, and wherein the activity data indicates that the plurality of application windows are associated with the workflow when user input caused the previous instance of the application window or the previous instance of the existing application to be moved to a different display region, causing the previous instance of the application window and the previous instance of the existing application to be displayed in different display regions.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of application windows comprise a previous instance of the existing application window and a previous instance of the application window, and wherein the activity data indicates that the plurality of application windows are associated with the workflow when content has been exchanged between the previous instance of the application window and the previous instance of the existing application window.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of application windows comprise a previous instance of the existing application window and a previous instance of the application window, and wherein the activity data indicates that the plurality of application windows are associated with the workflow when the previous instance of the application window and the previous instance of the existing application window have been launched consecutively more than a defined percentage of times or more than a defined number of times.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the existing application window comprises an application window of a plurality of application windows running on the foldable device that was most recently active.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the existing application window comprises a UI element that was used to launch the application window.

9. A foldable computing device for selecting a display region of the foldable device in which to display an application window, comprising:
one or more processors; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the foldable computing device to:
receive an indication of an activation of a user interface (UI) element in a first display region of the foldable computing device, wherein the UI element is associated with displaying the application window;
determine that a default location of the application window is located in the first display region;
determine that the application window and an existing application window are associated with a workflow based on a determination about a state of the application window and a state of the existing application window;
determine that the existing application window is located in the first display region; and
in response to determining that the application window and the existing application window are associated with the workflow, and in response to determining that the existing application window and the default location of the application window are located in the first display region, display the application window in a second display region of the foldable computing device.

10. The foldable computing device of claim 9 , wherein the determination about the state of the application window and the state of the existing application window comprises a determination that the application window and the existing application window have received data from a same data resource.

11. The foldable computing device of claim 9 , wherein the determination about the state of the application window and the state of the existing application window comprises a determination that more than a defined percentage of content displayed by the application window is related to content displayed by the existing application window.

12. The foldable computing device of claim 9 , wherein the application window is initially displayed in the default location, and wherein the determination that the application window and the existing application window are associated with the workflow occurs after the application window has been displayed.

13. The foldable computing device of claim 9 , wherein the UI element is activated by a gesture, and wherein determining that the default location of the application window is located in the first display region is based on the gesture ending in the first display region.

14. The foldable computing device of claim 9 , wherein the UI element is included in the existing application window, and wherein determining that the default location of the application window is located in the first display region comprises determining that the UI element is part of the existing application window.

15. The foldable computing device of claim 9 , wherein the existing application window is selec

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Klein Christian
• Edelmeier Lauren
• Pendlay Ryan

Classifications

• G09G2380/02

  Flexible displays · CPC title

• G09G2354/00

  Aspects of interface with display user · CPC title

• G09G2340/0464

  Positioning · CPC title

• G09G5/14

  Display of multiple viewports · CPC title

• G06F2203/04804

  Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows · CPC title