CA2298437A1 - Iconic groups - Google Patents
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Abstract
An icon management system and method in which a user can create and manage application groups. Each application group will be represented by a single icon, and will represent icons for software applications which relate to each other in a user-defined manner.
Each group contains multiple icons, and any icon can belong to multiple groups.
Each group contains multiple icons, and any icon can belong to multiple groups.
Description
ICONIC GROUPS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Technical Field:
The present invention generally relates to computer desktop management, and more particularly to management of graphic objects in a graphical user interface.
Still more particularly, the present invention relates to means for grouping icons according to application type, function, or any other user-defined way, so that any specific icon can be easily located by enabling the application group or groups to which that icon belongs, and screen clutter is significantly reduced.
Description of the Related Art:
In recent years, virtually all personal computers and workstations have adopted a graphical user interface (GUI) environment, which allows the user to manage the system and execute applications using a "point-and-click" method on objects shown on the computer display. The main GUI background is commonly referred to as the "desktop", and these objects typically include graphic icons, which represent some software application or function, and windows, which divide the desktop into different areas on the display for different applications.
As computer memory and storage capacity have both increased and become more affordable, 2 0 the number of software applications residing on a system (or available to that system over a network) has increased dramatically. Each of these applications will typically be represented by its own icon, and many of these icons will typically be displayed on the desktop.
As a result, many desktops are becoming too cluttered with icons to be effective. It is often difficult to locate a specific icon among dozens of others, and this problem is more acute when 2 5 various icons are "hidden" behind active windows, and cannot be seen until the window is moved or minimized.
Moreover, there is currently no efficient system for icon management. Typical systems allow icons to be manually arranged on the desktop, which can be a very time consuming process.
Alternatively, the system can attempt to automatically arrange the icons in a number of ways, including by type, name, or date. Arranging icons by "type," in conventional systems, simply means that system icons are grouped together, application icons are grouped together, etc., but no distinction is made between different application icons and the types of applications they represent.
None of these arrangements is very practical, since they do not (and cannot) take into account the nature of the software application represented by the icon.
Therefore, there exists a need for a more robust means to manage a GUI
desktop, and in particular the icons on a desktop, in such a way that the icons are both readily accessible and easily found. Further, there is a need for a means to reduce the "clutter" of icons on GUI desktop without sacrificing the convenience of access to those icons.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an improved computer desktop management system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved system for the management of icons in a graphical user interface.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a means for grouping icons according to application type, function, or any other user-defined way, so that any specific icon can be easily located by accessing the application group or groups to which that icon belongs, and so that screen clutter is minimized.
2 0 The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. An icon management system allows a user to create and manage application groups. Each application group will be represented by a single icon, and will represent icons for software applications which relate to each other in a user-defined manner. For example, a "Word Processing" group may contain icons for various word processing applications, or a "Quick Access" group may contain icons for various applications 2 5 unrelated to each other in function, but which the user frequently executes. Each group contains multiple icons, and any icon can belong to multiple groups.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of a computer system in which a preferred embodiment of the present invention may be implemented;
Figure 2 depicts an exemplary computer display showing an Application Groups Panel in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 3 is a "Create Group" dialog box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 4 depicts a "Delete Group" dialog box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 5 is a "Show Members" dialog box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 6 depicts a "Delete Members" dialog box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 7 is an exemplary computer system display showing grouped icons in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 2 0 Figure 8 depicts a high level flowchart for a process to determine which icons are shown in the main background desktop in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The following description details the operation and features of several preferred embodiments 2 5 of the present invention, but it will be understood by those of skill in the art that the scope of the invention is defined only by the issued claims, and not by any description herein.
With reference now to the figures, and in particular with reference to Figure 1, a block diagram of a data processing system in which a preferred embodiment of the present invention may be implemented is depicted. Data processing system 100 may be, for example, one of the desktop models of personal computers available from International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, New York. Data processing system 100 includes a processor 102, which in the exemplary embodiment is connected to a level two (L2) cache 104, which is connected in turn to a system bus 106. In the exemplary embodiment, data processing system 100 includes graphics adapter 118 connected to system bus 106, receiving user interface information for display 120.
Also connected to system bus 106 is system memory 108 and input/output (I/O) bus bridge 110. I/O bus bridge 110 couples I/O bus 112 to system bus 106, relaying and/or transforming data transactions from one bus to the other. Peripheral devices such as nonvolatile storage 114, which may be a hard disk drive, and keyboard/pointing device 116, which may include a conventional mouse, a trackball, or the like, are connected to I/O bus 112.
The exemplary embodiment shown in Figure 1 is provided solely for the purposes of explaining the invention and those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous variations are possible, both in form and function. For instance, data processing system 100 might also include a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) or digital video disk (DVD) drive, a sound card and audio speakers, and numerous other optional components. All such variations are believed to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Data processing system 100 and the particular Application Group Panel display examples below are provided solely as examples for the purposes of explanation and are not intended to imply architectural limitations.
The preferred embodiment provides an icon management system which allows a user to 2 0 better manage icons by grouping them together according to function or use (or any other convenient criteria). Instead of showing each individual icon on the desktop, the preferred embodiment shows, in a separate icon manager window, icons representing application groups, where each application group contains a list of its member icons. When an application group is selected (activated) in the icon manager window, the member icons of that group are displayed on the desktop.
2 5 The application groups are, in the preferred embodiment, managed by an Application Groups Panel. This icon managent panel is preferably an extension of the operating system window manager, and is therefore integral with the windowed display. The application group panel is customized by each user, and the user is able to create, delete, and modify the contents of active application groups.
The Application Group Panel icon manager is started with the operating system, and follows the process shown in Figure 8. When the icon manager is started, it first composes a list of all main background (desktop) icons, but does not at this time display any of them (step 810). Next, the icon manager processes each of these icons, to determine if they belong to an application group (step 820). If an icon does not belong to a group, it is considered active and displayed on the main background (step 830). If it does belong to a group, the icon manager then determines whether that group is currently selected (step 840). If that group is currently selected, then the icon is considered active and is displayed on the desktop (step 830). If the group is not currently selected, then the icon is not displayed. The icon manager then determines if there are any icons left to process (step 850), and either continues processing the remaining icons (at step 820), or exits to standard window manager processing (step 860).
In use, the application groups allow the user to easily locate the icon for a specific software application by simply selecting or activating its associated group. For example, instead of having dozens of icons all showing on the desktop, these might be replaced with five or six application group icons in the application groups panel, each of which represent a group of related software applications. A typical computer system might contain several different text editors, for example, including Microsoft Word~, Wordpad~, and Lotus Word Pro~. Instead of having three icons, for these three applications, always on the desktop, they might be grouped together and represented by an "Editors" icon, as shown, e.g., as 240 in Figure 2. When the user wishes to start one of these 2 0 editors, instead of searching for the appropriate icon among many others on the desktop, she would merely select the Editors group, displaying the three editor icons on the desktop, and start the desired application. In this manner, the number of icons displayed on the desktop is significantly reduced, since the icons belonging to any group that is not active will not be displayed.
This approach also provides significant improvements over the conventional approach of 2 5 grouping several related icons together in a seperate "folder." In common GUI systems, a user can typically define a "folder" which contains icons or links to several different applications. When this "folder" is selected, a new window opens on the desktop containing each of the individual icons.
The great disadvantage to this approach is that it exchanges an icon management problem for a window management problem; e.g. since the "grouped" icons must appear in the window representing the group folder, in order to access these icons, each folder window must remain open, cluttering the desktop. The presently disclosed method avoids this problem by allowing icons belonging to selected groups to be displayed directly on the main background, without requiring each group of icons to be displayed in individual folders.
According to the preferred embodiment, there are several basic functions ofthe icon grouping system. Of course, in alternate embodiments, one or more of the functions described below may not be present, or other functions may also be included, within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Startup of the Application Groups Panel A sample application groups panel is shown in Figure 2. This panel shows the current set of application groups on a given system that exists at any given time. The panel also allows the user to manage group membership and group activation and deactivation. By default, the first time this panel is started on a given computer system (or on a given desktop if the operating system supports independent user desktops), no application groups exist. These groups must be created by the user.
Alternatively, if a computer system is marketed and shipped with pre-loaded software, certain application groups can be pre-defined to allow easy access to the pre-loaded applications.
In Figure 2, a sample Application Groups Panel 210 is shown on a desktop 200.
Three sample group icons are shown in the panel workspace 220, including the Browsers group 230, the Editors group 240, and the Tools group 250. In the menu bar are shown different application group 2 0 management options, including Create Group 260, Delete Member 270, Delete Group 280, and Show Members 290. The operation of these management options is described below.
Figure 3 is a "Create Group" dialog box. Here, the user is prompted for a name for the new Group. This dialog box would appear after clicking on menu option 260 in Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a "Delete Group" dialog box; the user here would select the groups to be deleted.
2 5 This dialog box would appear after clicking on menu option 280 in Figure 2.
Figure 5 is a "Show Members" dialog box, which allows the user to see the application icons which are present in each group. This dialog box would appear after clicking on menu option 290 in Figure 2.
Figure 6 is a "Delete Members" dialog box, which allows the user to delete specific member application icons from a group. This dialog box would appear after clicking on menu option 270 in Figure 2.
Figure 7 is an exemplary computer system display showing grouped icons. Here, the dotted lines, which are shown in the Figure for illustrative purposes but which would not actually appear on the display, indicate groups of icons, the "Editors" group 720 and the "Browsers" group 730 respectively, as the would be shown on the desktop 710. If the Editors group is activated, for example, its member icons would be displayed on the main background. In this figure, sample editor icons for "Wordpad~" 721, "Microsoft Word~" 722, and "Lotus Word Pro~" 723 are shown.
Conversely, if the Editors group is not selected, then these icons would not appear on the desktop.
The exemplary Browsers group is shown with sample member icons for "Netscape NavigatorC~" 732 and "Internet Explorer" 731.
If a given application icon has not been assigned to any application group, it is considered "uncategorized," and is not managed by the icon manager. An uncategorized icon, in the preferred embodiment, is always considered "active" and is always displayed on the main desktop. In an alternate embodiment, the user can select whether uncategorized icons, by default, are or are not displayed.
CreatinE/Deleting/Showin~ an Application Grouu_ The Application Group Panel allows users to fully manage their application groups. To 2 0 create a new group, the user selects the "Create Group" menu option from the menu bar of the Panel, as shown in Figure 2, and selects a name and icon, in a dialog box as shown in Figure 1, to represent the application group in the Panel work area. A newly created group initially contains no application icons.
Conversely, a user can delete an icon group by selecting "Delete Group" from the menu bar 2 5 shown in Figure 2, selecting the application group to delete from a dialog box as shown in Figure 4, then clicking on the "Delete" button. All icons belonging to the deleted group automatically revert back to "uncategorized" status and appear on the desktop.
To show all of the members that belong to a particular application group, the user selects "Show Members" from the menu bar shown in Figure 2, selects an application group from a dialog box as shown in Figure S, and clicks the "Show Members" button. This action will open a separate window which contains all of the application icons which belong to that application group.
Assisnin~/Removing an Icon to/from a Group To assign an icon to an existing application group, the user simply drags the icon from the main background desktop and drops it on the icon in the work area that for a given application group.
This action assigns that icon to that application group. Note that an icon can belong to more than one application group. A browser icon, for example, can belong both to a "browsers" group and a "tools" group.
To remove an icon from an application group, the user selects "Delete Member"
from the menu bar, then selects the group from which the icon will be deleted. This action brings up a dialog box as shown in Figure 6, and the user then selects the icon or icons to be deleted from the group, then clicks the "Delete Member" button. When an icon is removed from an application group and no longer belongs to any application group, its status reverts to "uncategorized," and it is displayed on the desktop.
Activate/Deactivate an Application Group All of the member icons of an "active" application group are displayed on the desktop.
Conversely, all icons which belong to only "inactive" application groups are not displayed at all.
2 0 If an icon belongs to both an active and an inactive group, it is displayed. If an icon belongs to no groups, it is "uncategorized", treated as active, and displayed.
An application group is activated and deactivated by clicking the application group icon in the Application Groups Panel of Figure 2. When the application group icon is "selected" it is activated, and when it is not selected it is deactivated. In the Application Groups Panel, selected 2 5 icons are shown normally, while unselected icons are shaded. Multiple groups can be active at the same time, and each time a user clicks on a group icon, it toggles between activated and deactivated.
If all group icon are simulaneously selected, then all of the member icons will be shown on the main desktop, as they would appear if the present grouping system were not used at all.
The innovative techniques of the preferred embodiment work well with present systems.
For example, present icon management functions, such as the "Arrange Icons"
and "Auto Arrange"
functions of Microsoft Windows~ systems, are still available. According to the preferred embodiment, these functions would operate on all active icons at any given time, including uncategorized icons and icons belonging to an activated application group.
Icons which are not shown, since they are part of a deactivated application group, are not affected by these functions at all. If an "auto arrange" option is set, when an application group is activated and the member icons are placed on the desktop, these icons would then be automatically positioned in a conventional manner.
Of course, the innovative techniques described above can be modified and varied by one skilled inn the art in any number of ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the specification and claims. For example, the application group icons above can also be displayed as "tray" icons in a Microsoft Windows~ based operating system, and still maintain the same fundamental function and advantages as placing those icons in the Applications Group Panel, allowing groups to be activated and deactivated by clicking a tray icon. Also, the application group icons can be displayed on the main desktop itself, instead of or in addition to the Application Groups Panel. Further, these techniques are not limited to icons representing only software applications, but apply equally well to any object or process which can be represented by an icon; for example, a "Documents" group can be formed containing shortcuts to word processing documents, which would then be opened by the default word processor. Further, these techniques apply well to any 2 0 number of GUI interfaces, including Microsoft Windows~ systems, Apple Macintosh~ systems, and other systems such as those running X-Windows/Motif and variants.
Other modifications and improvements may be made to this innovative system, and are well within the abilities of one skilled in the art. For example, the system can be configured to do some of the grouping automatically. One way to do so would be to group most icons by cross-referencing the filetype associations, or just by including a tag in the shortcut, e.g., marking each icon as refernng to an editor or browser. These and other improvements are well within the scope and spirit of this improved icon management system.
It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functional data processing system and/or network, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanism of the present invention is capable of being distributed in the form of a computer usable medium of instructions in a variety of forms, and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution.
Examples of computer usable mediums include: nonvolatile, hard-coded type mediums such as read only memories (ROMs) or erasable, electrically programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), recordable type mediums such as floppy disks, hard disk drives and CD-ROMs, and transmission type mediums such as digital and analog communication links.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Technical Field:
The present invention generally relates to computer desktop management, and more particularly to management of graphic objects in a graphical user interface.
Still more particularly, the present invention relates to means for grouping icons according to application type, function, or any other user-defined way, so that any specific icon can be easily located by enabling the application group or groups to which that icon belongs, and screen clutter is significantly reduced.
Description of the Related Art:
In recent years, virtually all personal computers and workstations have adopted a graphical user interface (GUI) environment, which allows the user to manage the system and execute applications using a "point-and-click" method on objects shown on the computer display. The main GUI background is commonly referred to as the "desktop", and these objects typically include graphic icons, which represent some software application or function, and windows, which divide the desktop into different areas on the display for different applications.
As computer memory and storage capacity have both increased and become more affordable, 2 0 the number of software applications residing on a system (or available to that system over a network) has increased dramatically. Each of these applications will typically be represented by its own icon, and many of these icons will typically be displayed on the desktop.
As a result, many desktops are becoming too cluttered with icons to be effective. It is often difficult to locate a specific icon among dozens of others, and this problem is more acute when 2 5 various icons are "hidden" behind active windows, and cannot be seen until the window is moved or minimized.
Moreover, there is currently no efficient system for icon management. Typical systems allow icons to be manually arranged on the desktop, which can be a very time consuming process.
Alternatively, the system can attempt to automatically arrange the icons in a number of ways, including by type, name, or date. Arranging icons by "type," in conventional systems, simply means that system icons are grouped together, application icons are grouped together, etc., but no distinction is made between different application icons and the types of applications they represent.
None of these arrangements is very practical, since they do not (and cannot) take into account the nature of the software application represented by the icon.
Therefore, there exists a need for a more robust means to manage a GUI
desktop, and in particular the icons on a desktop, in such a way that the icons are both readily accessible and easily found. Further, there is a need for a means to reduce the "clutter" of icons on GUI desktop without sacrificing the convenience of access to those icons.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an improved computer desktop management system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved system for the management of icons in a graphical user interface.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a means for grouping icons according to application type, function, or any other user-defined way, so that any specific icon can be easily located by accessing the application group or groups to which that icon belongs, and so that screen clutter is minimized.
2 0 The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. An icon management system allows a user to create and manage application groups. Each application group will be represented by a single icon, and will represent icons for software applications which relate to each other in a user-defined manner. For example, a "Word Processing" group may contain icons for various word processing applications, or a "Quick Access" group may contain icons for various applications 2 5 unrelated to each other in function, but which the user frequently executes. Each group contains multiple icons, and any icon can belong to multiple groups.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of a computer system in which a preferred embodiment of the present invention may be implemented;
Figure 2 depicts an exemplary computer display showing an Application Groups Panel in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 3 is a "Create Group" dialog box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 4 depicts a "Delete Group" dialog box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 5 is a "Show Members" dialog box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 6 depicts a "Delete Members" dialog box in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 7 is an exemplary computer system display showing grouped icons in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 2 0 Figure 8 depicts a high level flowchart for a process to determine which icons are shown in the main background desktop in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The following description details the operation and features of several preferred embodiments 2 5 of the present invention, but it will be understood by those of skill in the art that the scope of the invention is defined only by the issued claims, and not by any description herein.
With reference now to the figures, and in particular with reference to Figure 1, a block diagram of a data processing system in which a preferred embodiment of the present invention may be implemented is depicted. Data processing system 100 may be, for example, one of the desktop models of personal computers available from International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, New York. Data processing system 100 includes a processor 102, which in the exemplary embodiment is connected to a level two (L2) cache 104, which is connected in turn to a system bus 106. In the exemplary embodiment, data processing system 100 includes graphics adapter 118 connected to system bus 106, receiving user interface information for display 120.
Also connected to system bus 106 is system memory 108 and input/output (I/O) bus bridge 110. I/O bus bridge 110 couples I/O bus 112 to system bus 106, relaying and/or transforming data transactions from one bus to the other. Peripheral devices such as nonvolatile storage 114, which may be a hard disk drive, and keyboard/pointing device 116, which may include a conventional mouse, a trackball, or the like, are connected to I/O bus 112.
The exemplary embodiment shown in Figure 1 is provided solely for the purposes of explaining the invention and those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous variations are possible, both in form and function. For instance, data processing system 100 might also include a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) or digital video disk (DVD) drive, a sound card and audio speakers, and numerous other optional components. All such variations are believed to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Data processing system 100 and the particular Application Group Panel display examples below are provided solely as examples for the purposes of explanation and are not intended to imply architectural limitations.
The preferred embodiment provides an icon management system which allows a user to 2 0 better manage icons by grouping them together according to function or use (or any other convenient criteria). Instead of showing each individual icon on the desktop, the preferred embodiment shows, in a separate icon manager window, icons representing application groups, where each application group contains a list of its member icons. When an application group is selected (activated) in the icon manager window, the member icons of that group are displayed on the desktop.
2 5 The application groups are, in the preferred embodiment, managed by an Application Groups Panel. This icon managent panel is preferably an extension of the operating system window manager, and is therefore integral with the windowed display. The application group panel is customized by each user, and the user is able to create, delete, and modify the contents of active application groups.
The Application Group Panel icon manager is started with the operating system, and follows the process shown in Figure 8. When the icon manager is started, it first composes a list of all main background (desktop) icons, but does not at this time display any of them (step 810). Next, the icon manager processes each of these icons, to determine if they belong to an application group (step 820). If an icon does not belong to a group, it is considered active and displayed on the main background (step 830). If it does belong to a group, the icon manager then determines whether that group is currently selected (step 840). If that group is currently selected, then the icon is considered active and is displayed on the desktop (step 830). If the group is not currently selected, then the icon is not displayed. The icon manager then determines if there are any icons left to process (step 850), and either continues processing the remaining icons (at step 820), or exits to standard window manager processing (step 860).
In use, the application groups allow the user to easily locate the icon for a specific software application by simply selecting or activating its associated group. For example, instead of having dozens of icons all showing on the desktop, these might be replaced with five or six application group icons in the application groups panel, each of which represent a group of related software applications. A typical computer system might contain several different text editors, for example, including Microsoft Word~, Wordpad~, and Lotus Word Pro~. Instead of having three icons, for these three applications, always on the desktop, they might be grouped together and represented by an "Editors" icon, as shown, e.g., as 240 in Figure 2. When the user wishes to start one of these 2 0 editors, instead of searching for the appropriate icon among many others on the desktop, she would merely select the Editors group, displaying the three editor icons on the desktop, and start the desired application. In this manner, the number of icons displayed on the desktop is significantly reduced, since the icons belonging to any group that is not active will not be displayed.
This approach also provides significant improvements over the conventional approach of 2 5 grouping several related icons together in a seperate "folder." In common GUI systems, a user can typically define a "folder" which contains icons or links to several different applications. When this "folder" is selected, a new window opens on the desktop containing each of the individual icons.
The great disadvantage to this approach is that it exchanges an icon management problem for a window management problem; e.g. since the "grouped" icons must appear in the window representing the group folder, in order to access these icons, each folder window must remain open, cluttering the desktop. The presently disclosed method avoids this problem by allowing icons belonging to selected groups to be displayed directly on the main background, without requiring each group of icons to be displayed in individual folders.
According to the preferred embodiment, there are several basic functions ofthe icon grouping system. Of course, in alternate embodiments, one or more of the functions described below may not be present, or other functions may also be included, within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Startup of the Application Groups Panel A sample application groups panel is shown in Figure 2. This panel shows the current set of application groups on a given system that exists at any given time. The panel also allows the user to manage group membership and group activation and deactivation. By default, the first time this panel is started on a given computer system (or on a given desktop if the operating system supports independent user desktops), no application groups exist. These groups must be created by the user.
Alternatively, if a computer system is marketed and shipped with pre-loaded software, certain application groups can be pre-defined to allow easy access to the pre-loaded applications.
In Figure 2, a sample Application Groups Panel 210 is shown on a desktop 200.
Three sample group icons are shown in the panel workspace 220, including the Browsers group 230, the Editors group 240, and the Tools group 250. In the menu bar are shown different application group 2 0 management options, including Create Group 260, Delete Member 270, Delete Group 280, and Show Members 290. The operation of these management options is described below.
Figure 3 is a "Create Group" dialog box. Here, the user is prompted for a name for the new Group. This dialog box would appear after clicking on menu option 260 in Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a "Delete Group" dialog box; the user here would select the groups to be deleted.
2 5 This dialog box would appear after clicking on menu option 280 in Figure 2.
Figure 5 is a "Show Members" dialog box, which allows the user to see the application icons which are present in each group. This dialog box would appear after clicking on menu option 290 in Figure 2.
Figure 6 is a "Delete Members" dialog box, which allows the user to delete specific member application icons from a group. This dialog box would appear after clicking on menu option 270 in Figure 2.
Figure 7 is an exemplary computer system display showing grouped icons. Here, the dotted lines, which are shown in the Figure for illustrative purposes but which would not actually appear on the display, indicate groups of icons, the "Editors" group 720 and the "Browsers" group 730 respectively, as the would be shown on the desktop 710. If the Editors group is activated, for example, its member icons would be displayed on the main background. In this figure, sample editor icons for "Wordpad~" 721, "Microsoft Word~" 722, and "Lotus Word Pro~" 723 are shown.
Conversely, if the Editors group is not selected, then these icons would not appear on the desktop.
The exemplary Browsers group is shown with sample member icons for "Netscape NavigatorC~" 732 and "Internet Explorer" 731.
If a given application icon has not been assigned to any application group, it is considered "uncategorized," and is not managed by the icon manager. An uncategorized icon, in the preferred embodiment, is always considered "active" and is always displayed on the main desktop. In an alternate embodiment, the user can select whether uncategorized icons, by default, are or are not displayed.
CreatinE/Deleting/Showin~ an Application Grouu_ The Application Group Panel allows users to fully manage their application groups. To 2 0 create a new group, the user selects the "Create Group" menu option from the menu bar of the Panel, as shown in Figure 2, and selects a name and icon, in a dialog box as shown in Figure 1, to represent the application group in the Panel work area. A newly created group initially contains no application icons.
Conversely, a user can delete an icon group by selecting "Delete Group" from the menu bar 2 5 shown in Figure 2, selecting the application group to delete from a dialog box as shown in Figure 4, then clicking on the "Delete" button. All icons belonging to the deleted group automatically revert back to "uncategorized" status and appear on the desktop.
To show all of the members that belong to a particular application group, the user selects "Show Members" from the menu bar shown in Figure 2, selects an application group from a dialog box as shown in Figure S, and clicks the "Show Members" button. This action will open a separate window which contains all of the application icons which belong to that application group.
Assisnin~/Removing an Icon to/from a Group To assign an icon to an existing application group, the user simply drags the icon from the main background desktop and drops it on the icon in the work area that for a given application group.
This action assigns that icon to that application group. Note that an icon can belong to more than one application group. A browser icon, for example, can belong both to a "browsers" group and a "tools" group.
To remove an icon from an application group, the user selects "Delete Member"
from the menu bar, then selects the group from which the icon will be deleted. This action brings up a dialog box as shown in Figure 6, and the user then selects the icon or icons to be deleted from the group, then clicks the "Delete Member" button. When an icon is removed from an application group and no longer belongs to any application group, its status reverts to "uncategorized," and it is displayed on the desktop.
Activate/Deactivate an Application Group All of the member icons of an "active" application group are displayed on the desktop.
Conversely, all icons which belong to only "inactive" application groups are not displayed at all.
2 0 If an icon belongs to both an active and an inactive group, it is displayed. If an icon belongs to no groups, it is "uncategorized", treated as active, and displayed.
An application group is activated and deactivated by clicking the application group icon in the Application Groups Panel of Figure 2. When the application group icon is "selected" it is activated, and when it is not selected it is deactivated. In the Application Groups Panel, selected 2 5 icons are shown normally, while unselected icons are shaded. Multiple groups can be active at the same time, and each time a user clicks on a group icon, it toggles between activated and deactivated.
If all group icon are simulaneously selected, then all of the member icons will be shown on the main desktop, as they would appear if the present grouping system were not used at all.
The innovative techniques of the preferred embodiment work well with present systems.
For example, present icon management functions, such as the "Arrange Icons"
and "Auto Arrange"
functions of Microsoft Windows~ systems, are still available. According to the preferred embodiment, these functions would operate on all active icons at any given time, including uncategorized icons and icons belonging to an activated application group.
Icons which are not shown, since they are part of a deactivated application group, are not affected by these functions at all. If an "auto arrange" option is set, when an application group is activated and the member icons are placed on the desktop, these icons would then be automatically positioned in a conventional manner.
Of course, the innovative techniques described above can be modified and varied by one skilled inn the art in any number of ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the specification and claims. For example, the application group icons above can also be displayed as "tray" icons in a Microsoft Windows~ based operating system, and still maintain the same fundamental function and advantages as placing those icons in the Applications Group Panel, allowing groups to be activated and deactivated by clicking a tray icon. Also, the application group icons can be displayed on the main desktop itself, instead of or in addition to the Application Groups Panel. Further, these techniques are not limited to icons representing only software applications, but apply equally well to any object or process which can be represented by an icon; for example, a "Documents" group can be formed containing shortcuts to word processing documents, which would then be opened by the default word processor. Further, these techniques apply well to any 2 0 number of GUI interfaces, including Microsoft Windows~ systems, Apple Macintosh~ systems, and other systems such as those running X-Windows/Motif and variants.
Other modifications and improvements may be made to this innovative system, and are well within the abilities of one skilled in the art. For example, the system can be configured to do some of the grouping automatically. One way to do so would be to group most icons by cross-referencing the filetype associations, or just by including a tag in the shortcut, e.g., marking each icon as refernng to an editor or browser. These and other improvements are well within the scope and spirit of this improved icon management system.
It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functional data processing system and/or network, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanism of the present invention is capable of being distributed in the form of a computer usable medium of instructions in a variety of forms, and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution.
Examples of computer usable mediums include: nonvolatile, hard-coded type mediums such as read only memories (ROMs) or erasable, electrically programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), recordable type mediums such as floppy disks, hard disk drives and CD-ROMs, and transmission type mediums such as digital and analog communication links.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims (21)
1. A method for selectively displaying icons on a computer display, comprising:
compiling a list of all icons to be displayed on a main background; and for each icon in the list:
determining if the icon belongs to a first group of associated icons;
displaying the icon on the main background if the icon belongs to the first group and the first group is selected.
compiling a list of all icons to be displayed on a main background; and for each icon in the list:
determining if the icon belongs to a first group of associated icons;
displaying the icon on the main background if the icon belongs to the first group and the first group is selected.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
displaying the icon on the main background if the icon does belong to the first group and the first group is not selected, and also belongs to a second group and the second group is selected.
displaying the icon on the main background if the icon does belong to the first group and the first group is not selected, and also belongs to a second group and the second group is selected.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
displaying the icon on the main background if the icon does not belong to any group.
displaying the icon on the main background if the icon does not belong to any group.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the icons represent software applications on a computer system, and the members of the first group are icons representing similar software applications.
5. A method of organizing icons into related groups, comprising:
creating a first group icon to represent a grouping of multiple first type icons;
selecting a first type icon from a main background on a video display;
assigning the selected first type icon to the grouping represented by the first group icon;
second selecting a first type icon from the main background on the video display;
assigning the second selected first type icon to the grouping represented by the first group icon; and displaying the first group icon on the video display in place of the first and second selected first type icons.
creating a first group icon to represent a grouping of multiple first type icons;
selecting a first type icon from a main background on a video display;
assigning the selected first type icon to the grouping represented by the first group icon;
second selecting a first type icon from the main background on the video display;
assigning the second selected first type icon to the grouping represented by the first group icon; and displaying the first group icon on the video display in place of the first and second selected first type icons.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
creating a second group icon to represent a grouping of multiple second type icons;
first selecting a second type icon from the main background on the video display; and assigning the first selected second type icon to the grouping represented by the second group icon.
creating a second group icon to represent a grouping of multiple second type icons;
first selecting a second type icon from the main background on the video display; and assigning the first selected second type icon to the grouping represented by the second group icon.
7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
deleting designated first type icons from assignment in the grouping represented by the first group icon; and showing the first type icons within the group then represented by the first group icon.
deleting designated first type icons from assignment in the grouping represented by the first group icon; and showing the first type icons within the group then represented by the first group icon.
8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:
deleting designated first type icons from assignment in the grouping represented by the first group icon; and showing the first type icons within the group then represented by the first group icon.
deleting designated first type icons from assignment in the grouping represented by the first group icon; and showing the first type icons within the group then represented by the first group icon.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the steps of assigning, deleting, and showing are executed in the context of an application groups panel.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the steps of assigning, deleting, and showing are executed in the context of an application groups panel.
11. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:
second selecting a second type icon from the main background on the video display assigning the second selected second type icon to the grouping represented by the second icon group; and displaying the second group icon on the main background in place of the first and second
second selecting a second type icon from the main background on the video display assigning the second selected second type icon to the grouping represented by the second icon group; and displaying the second group icon on the main background in place of the first and second
12 selected second type icons.
12. A computer program product within a computer usable medium, comprising:
instructions for creating a first group icon to represent a grouping of multiple first type icons;
instructions for first selecting a first type icon from a main background on a video display;
instructions for assigning the first selected first type icon to the grouping represented by the first group icon;
instructions for second selecting a first type icon from the main background on the video display;
instructions for assigning the second selected first type icon to the grouping represented by the first group icon; and instructions for displaying the first group icon on the main background in place of the first and second selected first type icons.
12. A computer program product within a computer usable medium, comprising:
instructions for creating a first group icon to represent a grouping of multiple first type icons;
instructions for first selecting a first type icon from a main background on a video display;
instructions for assigning the first selected first type icon to the grouping represented by the first group icon;
instructions for second selecting a first type icon from the main background on the video display;
instructions for assigning the second selected first type icon to the grouping represented by the first group icon; and instructions for displaying the first group icon on the main background in place of the first and second selected first type icons.
13. The product of claim 12, further comprising:
instructions for creating a second group icon to represent a grouping of multiple second type icons;
instructions for first selecting a second type icon from the main background on the video display; and instructions for assigning the first selected second type icon to the grouping represented by the second group icon.
instructions for creating a second group icon to represent a grouping of multiple second type icons;
instructions for first selecting a second type icon from the main background on the video display; and instructions for assigning the first selected second type icon to the grouping represented by the second group icon.
14. The product of claim 12, further comprising:
instructions for deleting designated first type icons from assignment in the grouping represented by the first type icon; and instructions for showing the first type icons within the group then represented by the first group icon.
instructions for deleting designated first type icons from assignment in the grouping represented by the first type icon; and instructions for showing the first type icons within the group then represented by the first group icon.
15. The product of claim 13, further comprising:
instructions for deleting designated first type icons from assignment in the grouping represented by the first group icon;
instructions for showing the first type icons within the group then represented by the first group icon.
instructions for deleting designated first type icons from assignment in the grouping represented by the first group icon;
instructions for showing the first type icons within the group then represented by the first group icon.
16. The product of claim 14, wherein the instructions for assigning, deleting, and showing are executed in the context of an icon groups panel.
17. The product of claim 15, wherein the instructions for assigning, deleting, and showing are executed in the context of an icon groups panel.
18. The product of claim 13, further comprising:
instructions for selecting a second type icon from the main background on the video display;
instructions for assigning the selected second type icon to the grouping represented by the second icon group; and instructions for displaying the second group icon on the main background in place of the first and second selected second type icons.
instructions for selecting a second type icon from the main background on the video display;
instructions for assigning the selected second type icon to the grouping represented by the second icon group; and instructions for displaying the second group icon on the main background in place of the first and second selected second type icons.
19. A computer system, comprising:
a system board having at least one system processor and a memory operatively connected to communicate with the system processor; and a video display connected to receive and display output from the system processor;
wherein the system is connected and configured to display icons on the video display, by compiling a list of all icons to be displayed on a main background;
for each icon in the list:
determining if the icon belongs to a first group of associated icons;
if the icon does not belong to the first group, then displaying the icon on the main background;
if the icon does belong to the first group and the first group is selected, then displaying the icon on the main background; and if the icon does belong to the first group and the first group is not selected, then not displaying the icon.
a system board having at least one system processor and a memory operatively connected to communicate with the system processor; and a video display connected to receive and display output from the system processor;
wherein the system is connected and configured to display icons on the video display, by compiling a list of all icons to be displayed on a main background;
for each icon in the list:
determining if the icon belongs to a first group of associated icons;
if the icon does not belong to the first group, then displaying the icon on the main background;
if the icon does belong to the first group and the first group is selected, then displaying the icon on the main background; and if the icon does belong to the first group and the first group is not selected, then not displaying the icon.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein if the icon does belong to the first group and the first group is not selected, and also belongs to a second group and the second group is selected, then displaying the icon on the main background.
21. The system of claim 19, wherein the icons represent software applications on the computer system, and the members of the first group are icons representing similar software applications.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US28262399A | 1999-03-31 | 1999-03-31 | |
| US09/282,623 | 1999-03-31 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2298437A1 true CA2298437A1 (en) | 2000-09-30 |
Family
ID=23082350
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| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002298437A Abandoned CA2298437A1 (en) | 1999-03-31 | 2000-02-16 | Iconic groups |
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|---|---|
| JP (1) | JP2000305696A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2298437A1 (en) |
Cited By (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US7503009B2 (en) * | 2005-12-29 | 2009-03-10 | Sap Ag | Multifunctional icon in icon-driven computer system |
| CN102214070B (en) * | 2010-01-28 | 2014-11-05 | 华为终端有限公司 | Component processing method of mobile terminal and mobile terminal |
| US9256446B2 (en) | 2010-01-28 | 2016-02-09 | Huawei Device Co., Ltd. | Method and apparatus for component display processing |
| EP2995068A4 (en) * | 2013-05-08 | 2016-12-07 | Nokia Technologies Oy | An apparatus and associated methods |
Families Citing this family (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP2010171541A (en) * | 2009-01-20 | 2010-08-05 | Sharp Corp | Information display device |
| JPWO2012020497A1 (en) * | 2010-08-12 | 2013-10-28 | 富士通株式会社 | Information processing apparatus and information processing program |
| EP3634001A1 (en) | 2011-05-26 | 2020-04-08 | LG Electronics Inc. | Display apparatus for processing multiple applications and method for controlling the same |
| KR101821200B1 (en) | 2011-05-26 | 2018-01-23 | 엘지전자 주식회사 | Display apparatus for processing multiple applications and method for controlling the same |
| CN102819374B (en) * | 2012-08-24 | 2015-07-29 | 北京壹人壹本信息科技有限公司 | The touch control method of electric capacity and electromagnetic double-mode touch screen and hand-held electronic equipment |
| KR101522014B1 (en) * | 2013-04-19 | 2015-05-20 | 인텔렉추얼디스커버리 주식회사 | The method, device and recording medium for managing application icon |
| CN112099684A (en) * | 2020-09-04 | 2020-12-18 | 维沃移动通信有限公司 | Search display method and device and electronic equipment |
| CN113641886B (en) * | 2021-07-15 | 2024-11-26 | 维沃移动通信有限公司 | Search method, device and electronic device |
-
2000
- 2000-02-16 CA CA002298437A patent/CA2298437A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 2000-03-28 JP JP2000088642A patent/JP2000305696A/en active Pending
Cited By (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US7503009B2 (en) * | 2005-12-29 | 2009-03-10 | Sap Ag | Multifunctional icon in icon-driven computer system |
| CN102214070B (en) * | 2010-01-28 | 2014-11-05 | 华为终端有限公司 | Component processing method of mobile terminal and mobile terminal |
| US9256446B2 (en) | 2010-01-28 | 2016-02-09 | Huawei Device Co., Ltd. | Method and apparatus for component display processing |
| US10698563B2 (en) | 2010-01-28 | 2020-06-30 | Huawei Device (Dongguan) Co., Ltd. | Method and apparatus for component display processing |
| US10983668B2 (en) | 2010-01-28 | 2021-04-20 | Huawei Device Co., Ltd. | Method and apparatus for component display processing |
| EP2995068A4 (en) * | 2013-05-08 | 2016-12-07 | Nokia Technologies Oy | An apparatus and associated methods |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| JP2000305696A (en) | 2000-11-02 |
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| FZDE | Discontinued |