초록 ▼

A window grouping mechanism for creating, organizing and manipulating windows and, more specifically, window groups for display to a user of a computer system is disclosed. The window grouping mechanism preferably includes a series of linked data structures configured to organize information pertain

A window grouping mechanism for creating, organizing and manipulating windows and, more specifically, window groups for display to a user of a computer system is disclosed. The window grouping mechanism preferably includes a series of linked data structures configured to organize information pertaining to all windows defined by an application program executing on the computer system. According to an aspect of the invention, the application program interacts with the window grouping mechanism to further organize the information into any number of window groups each of which contains a different subset of the previously defined windows. These window groups may then be manipulated by the application program to efficiently create various permutations of window groups.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] In a computer system including a display screen and at least one application program for defining a respective set of application-specific windows that correspond to the application program and which may be displayed on the display screen, a window manager comprising:a wi

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] In a computer system including a display screen and at least one application program for defining a respective set of application-specific windows that correspond to the application program and which may be displayed on the display screen, a window manager comprising:a window grouping mechanism interactively coupled to the application program for efficiently organizing the set of application-specific windows into window groups for selective display on the display screen, the window grouping mechanism comprising:A. means for organizing the set of predefined application-specific windows for the at least one application program into a plurality of window groups such that each window group may contain a different subset of the respective application-specific windows;B. means for allowing a window group of the at least one application program to encompass one or more other window groups of the at least one application programs; andC. means for selecting, in response to opening the application program, one of the window groups so that the application program is represented on the display screen by the corresponding subset of the respective application-specific windows within the selected window group.