Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display driving control circuitry – Controlling the condition of display elements
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-10
2003-06-03
Kincaid, Kristine (Department: 2174)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display driving control circuitry
Controlling the condition of display elements
C345S215000, C345S215000, C345S562000, C345S001100, C345S001300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06573913
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to managing cursor and window displays in a multiple monitor environment.
2. The Prior State of the Art
A typical computer system as shown in
FIG. 1
includes a computer
300
having a central processing unit
304
, an input/output unit
306
and memory
302
containing various programs used by the computer
300
such as an operating system
303
and one or more application programs
305
. An end-user of the computer system communicates with computer
300
by means of various input devices (keyboard
320
, mouse
310
) which transfer information to the computer via input/output unit
306
. The computer
300
replies to this input data, among other ways, by providing responsive output to the end-user, for example, by displaying appropriate text and images on the screen of a display monitor
330
.
Operating systems often include a graphical user interface (“GUI”) by which the operating systems and any applications it may be running (e.g., a word-processing program) may communicate with an end-user. A commonly used GUI implementation employs a desktop metaphor in which the screen of the monitor is regarded as a virtual desktop. The desktop is an essentially two-dimensional working template area supporting various graphical objects, including one or more display regions. As shown in
FIG. 2
, information is displayed on the desktop
21
within display regions
23
(e.g., window, dialog box, pop-up menu, pull-down menu, drop-down list, icon), which are rectangular in shape. Each display region
23
may be dedicated to a specific application or to the operating system under which the applications are running. By manipulating a cursor
25
(such as with standard point & click and drag & drop techniques), an end-user can manage the display regions
23
as desired, for example, by creating new display regions or eliminating old ones, or by resizing or repositioning the display regions to fit the end-user's needs. The end-user may “activate” a particular display region and its associated application, for example, by “clicking” the cursor
25
when it appears within the desired region.
In a computer system using a single monitor
330
as shown in
FIG. 1
, a problem of screen clutter may occur when an end-user has a large number of display regions open on the monitor at the same time. Screen clutter tends to confuse the end-user and reduce his or her efficiency. Moreover, end-users of certain applications (desktop publishing, CAD/CAM/CAE, video conferencing, etc.) typically will want to be able to view and use two large display regions (e.g., an editing window and an output window) at substantially the same time, but often the most useful sizes of the two windows are too large to fit side-by-side on a single monitor.
To alleviate this problem, a computer system such as that shown in
FIG. 3
having two monitors
330
and
332
has been used. In the multiple monitor system of
FIG. 3
, the combination of the monitor spaces (two in the case shown—one monitor space
41
corresponding to monitor
330
and a second monitor space
43
corresponding to monitor
332
) may be treated as a single, contiguous virtual desktop
45
as shown in FIG.
4
. Through appropriate cursor manipulations, an end-user may move objects, such windows A, B, C, D and cursor
25
, back and forth between the two monitor spaces
41
and
43
or may even position one of these objects (e.g., window C in
FIG. 4
) so that it spans the two monitor spaces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In one aspect of the invention, a computer having a display engine displays a window across multiple monitor spaces by determining that a display window that appears entirely within a first monitor space is to be moved or resized so that a first portion of the display window remains in the first monitor space and a second portion of the display window appears in a second monitor space. The first portion of the display window is displayed in the first monitor space by performing a bit block transfer operation, and the second portion of the display window in the second monitor space by passing the second portion of the display window through the display engine. If, however, the second monitor space has substantially the same color characteristics as the first monitor, both portions of the display window are displayed by performing a bit block transfer operation.
Windows that are moved to span monitor boundaries are re-drawn in an intelligent and efficient manner. The portion of the window that remains in the same monitor space is redrawn by moving a block of bits from one portion to another of the frame buffer for that monitor. Only the portion of the window that appears on a different monitor is “repainted” from scratch. This reduces the number of necessary pixel calculations while maintaining the color characteristics of the various monitors being used.
In another aspect of the invention, a cursor image is displayed in one of multiple available monitor spaces upon an event being generated in response to movement of an input device, for example, a mouse. While the event is pending, a new position for the cursor image is determined based on an old position of the cursor image and the movement of the input device. If the new position of the cursor image is on a different one of the monitor spaces than the old cursor image, then the cursor image is displayed at its new position if a process running in the computer is not relying on the old position of the cursor image. Otherwise, an operation is placed in a queue to display the cursor image at its new position after the event has lapsed. Subsequently, the cursor image is displayed at its new position based on a queue of pending cursor image moves. In any event, all pending cursor image moves are performed before the applications are notified of the moves.
In one aspect of the invention, objects (e.g. a cursor image, a window or other display region) are displayed in one of multiple monitor spaces by comparing a position of the object with a position of each of the monitor spaces. A monitor space is chosen from among the multiple monitor spaces based on a result of the comparison, and the object is displayed in the chosen monitor space. If the object is a cursor image, for example, the comparison may be based on a squared distance between the position of the cursor and the positions of each of the monitor spaces. The cursor image may be displayed in the monitor space (for example, at a point on the edge of the monitor space) that has the smallest squared distance between it and the cursor.
Alternatively, the comparison may be accomplished by establishing a bounding rectangle for the monitor spaces by determining their union, and then comparing the position of the cursor with a position of the bounding rectangle. The cursor's position is moved to a point within the bounding rectangle if the comparing determines that the cursor was at a position outside of the bounding rectangle. The cursor image may be displayed in the monitor space that has a closest Euclidean distance—the length of a hypothetical line drawn from the cursor to the monitor space such that the line is perpendicular to the edge of the monitor space—between the monitor space and the cursor.
If the object is a window or other display region (e.g., dialog box, pop-up menu, pull-down menu), the comparison may be based on an area of overlap between the display region and each of the available monitor spaces. In that case, the monitor space that has a largest area of overlap with the display region is chosen for display. If no monitor space has an area of overlap with the display region, then the primary display, determined at the start up of the computer system, may be chosen. Alternatively, the monitor space containing the largest portion of surface area of the currently active window may be chosen. Once chosen, the window or other display region is moved so that it appears entirely within the chosen monitor space.
Positioning of display regions may b
Butler Laura J.
Smith Adam
Kincaid Kristine
Microsoft Corporation
Nguyen Thomas T.
Workman & Nydegger & Seeley
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